The
Rev. Shelby Ochs Owen
John
2:13-22
March
11, 2012
When
our oldest son Graham was just a little boy, maybe around 7 or 8 years old, I
read the story from the Old Testament to him about the prophet Isaiah’s call. This is where God is calling him to be a
prophet, and protesting, Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of
unclean lips.” And then one of the seraphs, one of those strange heavenly
beings, brings a hot coal from the altar and touches Isaiah’s lips with
it. Graham’s response was a very
poignant and resolute, “There is violence again in the Bible!” It would not be the only time I was speechless
to my children’s utterances. Graham was right.
There are many instances of violence in the Bible, including today’s
Gospel reading.
When
you think about Jesus, what comes to mind?
Gentle shepherd? Teacher, healer? A quiet man with children surrounding
him? Meek and mild, kind and humble? Well in today’s passage from John, we have
anything but those common images, anything but the meek and mild Jesus. Here we have a strong and powerful man who
literally turns tables over, pours out the coins of the money changers, and taking
a whip, drives out sheep and cattle which have been in the temple court.
As John is apt to do throughout his Gospel,
the writer shows Jesus here as in control of the situation, as “large and in
charge”, as one who knows exactly what he is doing and as the ultimate
authority. This is no meek and mild man
who would show such inner strength, such conviction, as enacted through this
burst of righteous anger, and an act, yes, of violence. This is the side of Jesus many of us do not
usually think much about, not the side most of us snuggle up to when we are
feeling sentimental.
When
Jesus gets physically and verbally involved in the temple scene, he is reacting
to the entire system itself, as well as its abuses. The religious establishment is entrenched in
its own practices, many of which have moved away from justice and truth, away
from the love of neighbor, away from the reign of God. Jesus’ setting things right is a response to
the Jewish leaders not being open to the fresh revelation of God. Since the building of the temple until this
time the Jewish understanding was that God’s presence here on earth was centered
at the temple. And here is Jesus as the
instigator of a major temple upheaval that would not have made him friends with
the authorities. In the cleansing of the
temple, John shows the contrast between Jesus’ authority and the authority of
the temple leadership. And this marks
the beginning of an ever-deepening conflict between Jesus and the Jewish
leaders, one that will lead to his crucifixion.
If
we imagine this event would have upset the so-called authorities, Jesus will
only continue to challenge them, continue to irritate, continue to throw the
status quo on its ear as he heals people on the Sabbath, eats with tax
collectors, talks to prostitutes, gives time and care to the Samaritans, whom most
Jews considered enemies. It seems that
at his every step and turn, Jesus is doing the most loving thing for those whom
he encounters, through acts of justice, truth, love and kindness. And it also seems that at every step and turn
Jesus is doing something to upset the establishment. This temple cleansing is a necessary
upheaval, a necessary shaking of a foundation, a necessary violence, if you
will. Jesus himself is the temple of God
and here he shows unwavering determination and singleness of purpose to set
things right, to bring the situation into the reign of God, to put the priority
of love back in its proper place. And
we see that this new life poses a very deep threat to the existing order.
What
does this mean for us? How might we put
the priority of love back in its proper place and let God’s love flow through
us to build up this world to his glory. We might need a somewhat violent (maybe
a better word is “aggressive”) change in order to get ourselves in line with
the vision of God for us. Jesus calls us
sometimes to make radical changes as members of the body of Christ, both as members
of a world-wide body, as well as our own seemingly individual lives. Those changes he calls us to all point to
the question: “What is the most loving
thing I can do in this situation?” With
each situation, on every level, we can ask ourselves and ask God, “What is the
most loving thing I can do?
~When
we encounter economic injustice or our poorest are deprived of health care, the
most loving thing might be to get
politically involved or to work for justice from another angle.
~When
we are working out our own personal finances the most loving thing would be to set aside enough so we can help
others in need.
~When
we have become safely embedded with our own bitterness, anger, or self-righteousness,
the most loving thing would be
forgive others and ourselves, even when it seems ridiculous.
Sometimes
it is difficult to know what exactly the most loving thing in a given situation
is and sometimes the loving thing is difficult.
We must love anyway. When we find
ourselves allowing anything, be it the establishment, pride, perfectionism,
ambition, power, money, or self-comfort, to get in the way of loving God,
loving ourselves and our neighbors, and we find ourselves unwilling to do the
most loving thing, it might be time to overturn some tables.
Amen.
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