Lent III B 2009

Theme: Remove the inappropriate

Let us pray.

Most holy, Lord God, protect us from all dangers: those things that go bump in the night, from people taking financial advantage of us, from threats to our families, and the generally inappropriate invasions to our lives; give us the strength and the wisdom to resist those forces, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

It was the middle of the night a week ago today when the bedroom glass came crashing down on Beat Etlin and his wife, Verity Beman. The Swiss family settled outside Canberra, Australia. You know how when something wakes you up and your brain is still addled, trying to make sense of the sensory inputs it is receiving? Beat thought some “lunatic ninja” had crashed into his bedroom.

Well, a lunatic ninja was just as likely as a crazed kangaroo, which it was. The bleeding kangaroo began bouncing on the bed as the couple took cover under the sheets. And it stayed there, like a kid using the bed as a trampoline.

Next the frantic kangaroo bounced over to their son’s bedroom. Ten-year-old Leighton screamed, “There’s a ‘roo in my room!” Beat now surmised that the situation became dangerous.

Beat jumped the 90 pound kangaroo. They were the same height. He pinned it to the floor. He put the kangaroo in a headlock in the hallway and dragged the beast to the front door. He fumbled for the doorknob, opened the door, and shoved the kangaroo into the dark. Beat beat the ‘roo.

There were claw gouges in the wood of the bed in the master bedroom and a trail of blood throughout the house. Beat said, “I had just my Bonds undies on. I felt vulnerable.” Beat considered himself lucky, because he only suffered scratches to his legs and buttocks. His underwear was shredded.

Canberra university professors say that kangaroos don’t break into homes unless they were frightened by something. Verity said, “I think he’s a hero: a hero in Bonds undies.”

Beat was willing to let the kangaroo do its thing until he perceived a threat to his son. Then he took action. Beat drove the animal out of his home, which he probably thought of as a sacred space.

Jesus thought of the Jerusalem temple grounds as sacred space. He didn’t like seeing the animals there. He drove them out, though he didn’t use a headlock.

In John’s gospel, Jesus makes three trips to Jerusalem. The one we hear about today is his first trip. It occurs right after the wedding in Cana. It is the Passover. Faithful Jews traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and make the required sacrifices. What Jesus saw, he didn’t like. People were selling all sorts of animals.

Obviously, if you are not a farmer, you don’t have ready access to livestock and probably not doves. So when you show up in Jerusalem, there are vendors for your convenience to sell you the necessary animals to be sacrificed at the temple. And for this particular case, these are the proscribed animals to be sacrificed for the Passover. Why specifically doves and not other birds? It is because if a family was not wealthy enough to offer a sacrifice of a larger animal, then a dove may be substituted.

Jesus also saw people who were called money changers. Now money changers are not people that break a twenty into a ten, a five, and five ones. They are more appropriately called money exchangers. Since the Roman money has the image of the emperor, it is inappropriate for it to be seen in or around the temple. It was perceived as idol worship. Of course, it didn’t help that the emperor was declared to be divine. Since the currency of the empire was not allowed to pay the temple tax, Roman currency was exchanged to temple currency. Then people could pay their allotted temple tax.

They didn’t bother with pledges. They told you how much you were going to pay to the temple. This would be an assessment on top of what you would pay to your local synagogue. Again, these money exchangers were providing a public service. All of this likely happened in the Court of the Gentiles – a ways away from the temple building itself, but on temple grounds. There was probably little to no room for the gentiles to come and worship in the midst of all the temple commerce.  

Seeing this, Jesus was ticked. This did not look like sacred space. In a height of irony, he made a whip, a flagellum. The Romans used the flagellum in scourging people who were about to be crucified. It was a leather whip of cords with sharp metal pieces on the end.

He chased out the livestock and turned over the tables of the money exchangers. Money exchangers are on their hands and knees picking up coins. The livestock salesmen obviously chased after their inventory. I say that Jesus whipped the animals and not the people, because he needs to go back to get the dove salesmen out. It’s hard to whip a dove. He ordered the dove salesmen to get out. He told them to stop using his Father’s house as a supermarket.

On seeing all of this commotion, the disciples remembered scripture, “My love for your house burns in me like a fire,” from Psalm 69:9. They probably didn’t remember the scripture right then, but later, after the resurrection, when they actually began studying scripture.

Jesus is acting out Zechariah 14:21, “There shall no longer be traders in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day.” That is, this is the day when the Lord comes to Jerusalem. Jesus, the Lord, has come to Jerusalem and the traders had no business being in the temple.

The temple leaders asked Jesus for a miracle to explain his actions. In a major disruption to the operations of the temple, the leaders want Jesus to produce a miracle? What planet are they from? They want tricks and signs instead of taking seriously Jesus’ message. Perhaps it is because they knew of Zechariah 14:21 and wanted Jesus to present his credentials. The temple authorities were not prepared to have the Lord’s anointed showing up. In John’s gospel, a request for a sign is only made by people who lack faith. Jesus didn’t do much preaching here. He acted.

Jesus’ response to the temple leaders is, “Tear down this temple and three days later I will build it up.” The leaders were incredulous. “It took 46 years to build this temple. Who do you think you are to say you can rebuild it in three days?” The leaders made the mistake of taking what Jesus said, literally. Jesus was talking about his body, about his arrest by those same people, about his crucifixion, about his death, and about his resurrection and not the temple building. They wanted to know how Jesus could pull off such a miracle.

After the resurrection, Jesus’ disciples remembered what he said and then they got it. It was then, not earlier, that the disciples believed Jesus and the scriptures with the help of the Holy Spirit.

The temple cleansing story shows what happens when a business model infects the church. The people who come are thought of as customers from whom you gain as much wealth as the traffic will bear. Prices and practices are based on how much people will pay. Church policy is based on what will bring in the largest number of people and generate the highest givings.

John’s message is clear. We cannot understand Jesus until we have the whole story. We are to read and study the scriptures, particularly during Lent. When Jesus’ disciples remembered his words, they put them in the context of scripture, what we now call the Old Testament. During Lent, we are reminded that Jesus’ story culminates in the cross. But it does not end there. If we take parts of the story, then we cannot see the whole picture. We cannot understand Jesus. Then we may be tempted to build a temple of our own making, praying to a different God.

We now pray: Gracious God and giver of all good gifts, help us understand the teachings and actions of your son, and in so doing, may we make the right choices for ourselves and those we love, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Text: John 2:13-22 (NRSV)
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.[1]

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[1]  The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. 1989. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.