First United Methodist Church
March 3rd, 2024
Rev. Lauren Hall
Lent 3: Rise Up
The story of Jesus driving the money changers out of the Temple is in all four of the Gospels and it is a story that is familiar to most Christians. The big difference that we see in this one is that it is placed at the beginning of the Gospel instead of occurring during Christ’s last week in Jerusalem. It’s almost as if Jesus – according to John – has an agenda, and it begins with worship. No, wait, it begins with right worship. Not right in form or structure, not right in genre or setting, but right in intention. Right in presence. We spend a lot of time worrying about the songs we sing and the words we say when we design worship, and we should! These are important matters.
But here in the second chapter of John, Jesus is concerned with our hearts when we come to worship.
We could spend a lot of time debating what made Jesus so upset that he would turn over the tables in the temple. Some would argue that it was the whole system that he was rebelling against. We don’t need animals to sacrifice anymore; that was what he was here to do and to be. Others want to point out the injustice of the exchange and that the poor were suffering to have an offering that was considered pure enough to give. Added to this was the graft of the moneychangers and the system that designated some of the animals as worthy and others as not. It was rampant greed and far removed from the purpose of making sacrifices in the temple.
The basic issue was that the Temple was supposed to be kept ceremonially clean. The people who came to worship, to give tithes and to make sacrifices were supposed to bring only acceptable offerings. Roman money and unfit animals would not be accepted. Imagine that for some reason our government started printing inappropriate pictures on one dollar bills. Some people might want ushers to meet people in the parking lot so that they could trade five of those offensive ones for five dollar bills that still had the picture of a president on it. That is a reasonable thing. But suppose that this went on, and people appreciated the ushers driving to the bank during the week and being ready with a stack of acceptable fives on Sunday. Because they appreciate the work of the ushers, perhaps people would begin giving the ushers a little tip to pay for the gas they used driving to the bank. Years later, perhaps the tip would be expected as a standard charge.
The same kind of thing happened with the Roman money that was not acceptable in the Temple. The Temple leaders provided the service of exchanging unacceptable money for acceptable money. Probably they started with good intentions, but later began extorting high fees.
To make matters even worse, the way the Temple was designed, only Jewish men were allowed in the central section. Women and Gentiles were allowed to worship in the outer sections. The Temple leaders wouldn’t allow the money exchangers and those selling animals to disrupt worship in the central area where the Jewish men were, but they didn’t mind interfering with the worship of the Gentiles or the women. Do you see what happened? By the time of Jesus, the Temple was overrun with greedy, noisy people. By the time of Jesus, there was no place in the Temple for women or Gentiles to worship.
I doubt the Temple leaders realized how terrible this situation was. They started with good intentions, but over many years they gradually ended up perverting God’s House. The people and the leaders failed to have a true passion for God’s house.
And this is what Jesus sees when he walks into the Temple. Before we allow him to get away with his temper tantrum, though, let’s remember that Jesus has been traveling back and forth to Jerusalem his entire life. So, it’s not the first time he has encountered the money changers. So what is going on this time?
Let’s take a moment to think about what happens when a small child has a temper tantrum. Yes, they are angry. And yes, they are out of control. And yes, they are probably angry because they didn’t get their way. But the real reason their anger turns into a tantrum is because from their perspective, you don’t understand why their way is so important. I don’t throw things anymore, but periodically I have a silent tantrum as I fume about the way the kids do the dishes, or the way other people drive, or other things that really don’t matter, because they don’t seem to understand that my way is the right way. I continue to huff and puff about the issue until I finally have my come-to-Jesus-moment and remember that each one of us sees things from our own perspective.
But back to Jesus. Is Jesus having a temper tantrum? Or is he having a come-to-Jesus moment? Not for himself, but for the people of Israel. One of the ongoing themes in the Gospel of John is Jesus claiming his identity. He makes several “I am” statements – I am the bread of life, I am the living water, I am the resurrection and the life.
Notice that Jesus doesn’t, as in the similar accounts by Mark, Matthew, and Luke, accuse the moneychangers of making the Temple “a den of robbers.” Rather, he says they’ve made it a marketplace. And he’s right. They had to. In order to sacrifice according to the law, people need to be able to buy animals for sacrificing. Moreover, they need to be able to change money because you could not buy these animals with the Roman coin – complete with an engraving of Caesar proclaiming himself the “son of god” – that they would use for all their other transactions.
All of which means that Jesus’ actions make it impossible to offer sacrifices according to the law. Without the moneychangers, without the livestock, the required ritual was temporarily stopped. Why? John the Baptist told us earlier: Jesus is, according to John, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
In other words, when Jesus, the Word made flesh, comes, everything changes. And among the first of these changes is that there is no longer a need to sacrifice animals, as God will interact with God’s people in a whole new way. Jesus is doing more than cleansing the Temple – he is preparing the people to change the way that they relate to God.
So what does this mean for us personally? As I have read and re-read this Scripture this week, I have had to ask myself this question over and over again. And I’ve arrived at this conclusion:
When Jesus drove people out of the Temple, he forced individuals to move, to stop what they were doing—and end business as usual. What needs to be driven out of our lives to make space for the new thing that God is doing among us?
Let’s begin with anger. In our society, anger causes a lot of problems. But Jesus shows us that anger is appropriate when others are mistreated. At the time of the crucifixion, Jesus didn’t get a whip and run people off. He submitted to the abuse he received. But when the money changers wouldn’t let Gentiles and women worship, Jesus took a whip and drove them out of the Temple. Jesus became angry when others were mistreated, but not when he was mistreated. What a wonderful example for all of us. Perhaps what we can learn from this passage is the difference between fighting for “my rights” verses what is best for the greater community. Let us keep that distinction clear—Jesus became angry when others were mistreated, not when he was crucified. The lesson is that it is OK to be angry on behalf of others, but great caution is necessary for any selfish anger—any anger that has to do with how we are treated. Do we need to have selfish anger driven out of our lives?
When you think about it, there are probably a lot of things that Jesus needs to drive out of our lives. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” In order to be ready for the resurrection, we have to be cleansed in order to make room for Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is now housed in our bodies, the new temple. Here in the Lenten season, as we look forward to Christ’s resurrection, we also need to experience some cleansing, so that we can be raised up with Christ in the Resurrection. Amen.
