Youth from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Elgin, Ill., sponsor a bake sale to raise funds.
Lectionary blog on John 2:13-22
Text for the third Sunday of Lent, March 11, 2012
More than once I have seen a person setting up a table in our church lobby for some sort of sale. They look a little self-conscious. “Money changers, huh?” is the usual question.
Most of us have had some kind of sale in the outer-courts of our congregation: a cookbook sale for the women’s group, bake sale for the new furnace, a hoagie sale for the youth group, tickets for the Confirmation banquet.
So was it this kind of thing that Jesus was so riled up about? Would Jesus overturn the bake sale table and drive out the women’s group with a whip of cords?
My immediate reaction is to tell the uncomfortable parishioner in the narthex, “No, of course not!” But really, the answer is “Maybe.”
First off, what was Jesus’ issue with the money changers and animal sellers? Animal sacrifice was commanded in the Torah (Exodus 29:38-46). Jesus and his family would have participated in it as part of their faith life. Likewise, the money exchange was necessary because the offering to the temple had to be in a certain kind of coinage (Exodus 30:13-15).
The problem wasn’t necessarily the presence of money or things for sale in the narthex of the temple. (Great news for the bake sale, right?) But Jesus still obviously had a problem with what these things represented or he wouldn’t have made such a spectacle of them.
What was it then?
- Maybe it was that in selling things for worship, the poorest people were left out of participating in the temple.
- Maybe it was the fact that all the emphasis was placed on purchasing and exchanging instead of on God.
- Maybe the issue was that all the emphasis was on worship and sacrifice instead of on taking care of the poor and working for justice like the prophet Amos proclaims.
Our congregations are probably guilty of all of them at one time or another, even if we don’t sell anything in the lobby. The Gospel stories offer no absolute answer on the issue. So our table-setting parishioners will have to examine their own actions and ask “Would Jesus turn this over?”
Talkback:
- Why do you think Jesus was so mad at the sellers and money changers in the temple?
- What ministry in your congregation do you think Jesus would turn over? Why? Can you do anything about it?
June Wilkins is pastor of Gethsemane Lutheran Church an ELCA congregation in Columbus, Ohio. She graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 2003. She lives with her husband, two birds and a dog.
You might also like to read:
Acts of God (without the drama)
We are beggars
Words of the prophets
While we can go in many directions with this text as the Holy Spirit leads us, it is good to anchor ourselves in John's spirit and intent. His gospel, unlike the others, is more like a series of meditations on our spiritual life in Christ- a movement that leads us into union with the fullness of God. Each story or conversation is another invitation to look at a facet of this experience in God. The gospel opens with the Word making his home among us, revealing and drawing us into the the very heart of God to us. No sooner does he invite us to "come and see/experience" then he takes us to a wedding feast to be a part of this wedding of God's Bridegroom and People and to receive the new wine. Next he takes us to church--but this is a church "cleansed" (a key idea in John) and reconstructed. Not a building but a Body in which we find our life. At the time of his gospel, the Temple is long gone. The story, which John freely moves to the beginning of his gospel, becomes a setting for deeper reflection on our letting go of place and ritual for the new life in his Body that is ours.
I think there are a couple of other things to consider for this pericope. One is the fact that it is after the cleansing of the Temple that the chief priests and scribes want Jesus dead. The other is the assumption that if we reformed the way we bought and sold in the Temple, (ideally by including the poor somehow, even if the pericope doesn't mention them) we would then be right, and that it's a matter of right discernment (see esp the second talkback-- how can you make it right?)
What I understand Jesus to be doing here is declaring an end to the entire Temple system. In Lutheran-speak, that means "The Law". He's overthrowing the Law because that is not the way we can get to God. This is why the priests and scribes must kill him. He destroys their (and our) entire system by which we are made righteous. As a result, we destroy him, but God still gets the last Word in. Surprisingly, it's not a Word of retribution, but one of forgiveness. This Word of forgiveness, given despite our breaking of Christ's body, is "the Gospel". It's no longer about making the right sacrifices, feeding enough poor people or otherwise being righteous. It's about trusting this crazy Promise. And trusting that Promise, we get to share it with others, along with unconditionally given love and forgiveness of sins.
While those might be very true interpretations, whenever we talk about this (or other stories), it's important that we don't limit the meaning of Jesus actions to spiritual or metaphorical in nature.
Jesus was mad about something in that temple courtyard. He meant something at that moment with his actions. What was it? That's the question I hope we can return to.
Jesus is unhappy with the people obviously living by a insufficient salvation system in the place dedicated to that insufficient salvation system. Rejecting the Temple system isn't just metaphorical; it's literal. He's driving the lawful people, going about lawful tasks out of the Temple, because the Law is not the final Word. My understanding is that the word translated here as 'thieves' is the same one used to describe Barrabas-- it means something a whole lot more violent than just theft. He's accusing them of rebelling against God because they are trusting in their own ability to save themselves. God's judgement for people trusting in their own ability to save themselves is quite grim.