Cleaning House

Some of you may be familiar with the series of children’s books called the Berenstain Bears. In each of the stories the authors not only entertain but share some important lesson for life; like dealing with a bad dream, trouble at school or going to the dentist.

One of the stories in the series is right in line with today’s cleansing of the temple story from John 2. It’s called, "The Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room." It is a lesson about house cleaning.

The introduction warns: "When small bears forget to pick up, store and stash, Some of their favorite things end up in the trash." The crisis in the story comes when Mama Bear gets fed up with the mess in Brother and Sister Bear’s rooms.

Here’s how the story reads: "Well, the mess just seemed to build up and build up until one day... maybe it was because Mama's back was a little stiff, or maybe it was stepping on Brother's airplane cement, or maybe she was just fed up with that messy room, but whatever it was... Mama Bear lost her temper! She stormed into the cub's room with a big box. 'The first thing we need to do is get rid of all this junk!' she said. Brother and Sister were watching in horror as Mama began to throw things into the box." So begins story of the Berenstain Bears and the Messy room.

That's what today's gospel lesson is all about. Jesus finds a horrible mess in the temple. What’s needed is not just a little tidying up around the edges, but a radical housecleaning. It’s more like the kind of housecleaning job that some folks are doing after the ice-storm when electricity shut off and pipes started bursting. One lady I talked with was out of town and her neighbor noticed water coming out of the house after pipes broke and started flowing everywhere. Wet floors, wet walls.. damaged family artifacts… sometimes a feather duster just won’t do it.

Her damage is being repaired. But sometimes it’s better to just use a bulldozer and start over again. I saw that when I went to do some hurricane cleanup in Louisiana last summer. Sometimes a bulldozer is what’s needed.

Try to picture the kind of mess Jesus found in the Temple that day in our scripture and why he saw the need for some pretty drastic house cleaning. Maybe a little background will help.

Every adult male Jew was required to pay an annual Temple Tax, in addition to his regular tithe, or half a shekel - the equivalent of about two days wages. He was also required to make certain sacrifices throughout the year. But when he came to the temple with his money in hand, he had to exchange his money for temple money, through a vendor, before he could pay the half sheckel. You can be sure they got their share of money.

Then there were the animal vendors, who sold animals for the sacrifices. If you brought your own animal, the priests might decide it was not suitable, so you had to go through one of the temple animal vendors.

And all of this was located in the outer court of the temple - the court of the Gentiles - the place which was supposed to be set aside for the Gentiles to worship God. It was not a good place to worship. It was more like a street market, with yelling and bickering, cheating – how could anyone worship I a place like that?

But as far as those in charge of the temple were concerned, that was o.k. - after all, business is business, and besides, it was just in the Gentile area of the Temple where all this was going on.

Gentiles and poor people were the ones who had to worship in the middle of this chaos and commotion; They were also the ones who tended to be the victims of all the corruption and cheating going on. The temple prospered at their expense - it did so well, in fact, that it became Israel’s biggest bank, even the Romans borrowed from it to finance their pet projects!

This is what had become of Israel’s Worship life. The good news of a God’s love and mercy was being lost in the shuffle; lost in the noise, confusion, and corruption.

As Jesus enters the temple, he sees what is happening. And he is furious! This is not right. Something’s got to go! It’s time for that radical house cleaning operation. He cracks a whip. He confronts the money changers, turning over tables, chasing them out of the temple.

Of course, the religious leaders get upset. "What do you mean, disrupting worship?!" they yell, and of course, what they really mean is, "Hey, this is bad for business. Stop rocking our boat!" "Who do you think you are? We’re the one’s in charge here.” And in the name of religion they try to protect their investment.

That's the way religion works when religion becomes just another business. It becomes more concerned about the bottom line, more concerned about the success of the institution than the lives of those it is meant to serve. It loses sight of its mission, it’s very reason for being.

Jesus tells these corrupters of God’s good news: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again." Of course, the religious leaders were so caught up in preserving their business and their building that they missed the point of what he was saying. Jesus was talking about his own body, not the building of stone. They were afraid that he was getting ready to close down their show, and felt threatened by him. Instead he was ready to give his life away for them and for the world.

God has given us a wonderful gift of grace. In love that’s beyond anything we deserve or can even imagine…he sent his son to live with us and to die for us. Through Jesus we have a place in the heart of God, forever.

And it’s absolutely free, ready and waiting for us through faith. The love, the mercy, the forgiveness, the acceptance of God is there for each of us. And we who have it are called to share it with the world, to give it away just as freely as it has been given to us.

But sometimes the Temple still gets messy. We have this human tendency to clutter it up to such an extent that the love and grace of God sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. The message communicated is all too often the opposite of the one the Lord wants his people to deliver.

We who are called to bring healing wind up causing hurt instead. We who are called to encourage sometimes become reason for others to be discouraged about the Church and about the faith we profess.

One of the problems with all those money changers in the temple, is that they lost sight of their true mission. Instead of helping the people toward a closer walk with God, they got in the way of it. Their words and their actions became obstacles instead of bridges.

Sometimes the things we say and do can get in the way of the message of God’s love and grace.

Lent is a good time for soul searching. It’s a good time to humble ourselves before God and admit that our thoughts, our words, our ways, our actions are not always in line with what God wants of us.

It’s a good time to humble ourselves before God, seeking forgiveness for our sins; which reminds me of the cartoon I saw some time ago.

A priest is in the confessional booth hearing the confession of a parishioner. Evidently he’s been there listening for long time.

Finally, the priest says, “PLEASE…limit your confession to your own sins.”

Lent is a good time to remember that, to consider where we have been in conflict with that which is pleasing to God…and to seek forgiveness for that and God’s help to be what he wants us to be in the days to come.

Long ago Jesus entered the Temple and began cleaning house. He raised quite a stir that day. Tables and chairs went flying, coins rolled in all directions, dust flew. It must have been quite a scene. But what he did needed to be done.

May each of us this Lenten season have the courage to pray, “Create in me a clean heart oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.”

Such a cleansing can create quite a stir. It may not be easy or comfortable. Some things in our lives are going to be overturned; some things thrown out. But such house cleaning is an ongoing need in the lives of each and every one of us who seek to be faithful followers of the Lord. Remember that little prayer we so often sing, “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”

I dare you to pray it often.

Amen.