Rev. Sandy Lacey
March 03, 2024
We began our Lenten journey on Ash Wednesday, a couple of weeks ago, with the sign of the cross marked on our foreheads, reminding us of our mortality and that while we are here, Jesus has declared us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The first Sunday of Lent we learned of Jesus’ baptism in which God declared Jesus (and by extension, us) to be God’s child and wondrously loved. We watched as Jesus began his ministry knowing his identity in God and how it helped him face temptations. Last Sunday we learned that God’s power through Jesus will look different than the cultural understanding of power. Instead, Jesus tells his disciples that his kind of power means suffering love and self-denial. Lent’s cross lessons have been challenging to hear, and today’s lesson is not any less challenging.
Standing in the prophetic tradition of speaking truth to power, Jesus enters the religious institution of his day with a whip and an attitude. Like the prophets of old who chastised the people for their lax worship and exploitation of the poor, Jesus does the same. A little context for our passage today is in order . . . the Jewish people were in the midst of their annual pilgrimage to the Temple to pay their “head tax” and the finance committee was in the courtyard making sure everything came out right (and probably unscrupulously keeping a percentage of the profit for themselves.) The sacrificial system was still in force and several different kinds of animals were on hand for the pilgrims to choose from (based upon the family’s wealth and status – sizes ranged from large, unblemished cattle, to smaller unblemished sheep, to even smaller unblemished doves. They had to buy them in Jerusalem because who wants to travel with cows and sheep?) So, there were the animals to purchase and just like we do when we enter a foreign country, the travelers also needed the right kind of money to purchase the animals. Money changers were available in the Temple courtyard to change the Roman coins into the proper Temple coins for the tax and sacrificial animal. It was just a bonus for the religious authorities that it happened to be the opportune time for a major capital improvement fundraising campaign and the people were obligated to participate. (The Temple had been a major construction project for about 30 years by the time Jesus walked into it on this visit.)
We don’t know exactly why Jesus was angry. We can easily speculate on a couple of things – one thing, we know the marketplace chaos was inside the Gentile part of the Temple, inside their place for worship . . . so there was certainly nothing related to worship going on in that space – too many feathers flying. The Temple was set aside as a place for worship, not buying and selling. It would be like setting up some shops here in this sanctuary so that you could buy your way to worship and consequently, God’s favor and love.
In John’s Gospel, this event happens at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry right after the other “sign” of God’s glory where he turned the water into wine. Remember that John’s Gospel is all about the signs (rather than miracles) that Jesus performs to point to his identity as God’s son and one who stands in line with the prophets of Israel’s past. Like the prophets of old, Jesus demonstrates his concern for the worship of the people – its purpose and its practice.
When I have performed wedding or funeral ceremonies over the years, I have occasionally gotten some strange requests related to the sanctuary. One person in Dothan wanted the church season banners removed and team sports banners put up in their place. Others have simply wanted to remove some of the religious symbols in the sanctuary – you know, the crosses can be a little distasteful. Each time these kinds of requests are made, I have had to do a little education about how the sanctuary is for worship, and nothing is to be in the sanctuary that does not point to God and is not used for worship – because that is what we are here to do – we are here to worship God alone. This includes weddings and funerals. The Social Hall is different; it is a fellowship space. We might occasionally offer a worship service in the social hall and when we do, we make sure the space reflects that purpose. We light candles to remind us that the space is sacred and holy, invoking God’s presence. We remove anything that distracts from centering on our relationship on God. Worship spaces point upward to our Creator. They often inspire awe and also inspire connection with those who worship with us. In a social hall or Narthex, however, we do not mind selling Girl Scout cookies or tickets to events or Scout camp cards, etc. The sanctuary space is different. So perhaps one reason Jesus could have been angry was that the worship space had been turned into a chaotic marketplace.
Another reason Jesus could have been outraged was the way the poor were being exploited in favor of the upkeep of the institution. In the line of prophets who chastised the nation for ignoring the plight of the poor and disadvantaged, Jesus calls the money changers “robbers” or a “den of thieves” in the other Gospel accounts. Just like the tax collectors often overcharged so that they could keep a healthy profit themselves, these money changers were likely doing the same thing – all in the name of God. It seems the church, the Temple, itself, had become a powerful enterprise existing primarily to take care of itself. And because in those days, the Temple represented the place where God resided, it held great power over the people, and they were obligated to do what was prescribed for them. To be found in favor by God and by the religious authorities of the day was the top priority. So, Jesus might have been upset about how the religious practices of the day were deceptive, not worshipful, exploitive, and way too similar to the marketplace strategies in the Roman culture around them.
Lest we think we are immune to such practices, I invite you to remember that in the 16th century the Roman Catholic Church sold indulgences to the people so that they could purchase eternal life for their loved ones who died. It was the last straw for the reformer Marin Luther who felt the Church had become equated with the powers and principalities of the culture around it and existed mainly to support itself while it exploited the poor.
And it has not been all that long ago that we in the Presbyterian Church sold pews to families in our worship space. How many poor families were turned away because their pride would not allow them to worship with us if they were unable to afford a pew? H. Gloer puts it this way: “Entering the temple, Jesus discovered how deceiving appearances can be. While the place appeared to fulfill its function, closer inspection revealed that it had forgotten its purpose. The trappings were still in place but the place had no heart for its reason for existence. It had been taken over by buyers and sellers, consumers and marketers who knew how to fill the pews and meet the capital campaign goals. The ways of the world invade the church gradually, subtly, never intentionally, always (supposedly) in service of the church and its mission. Soon the church is full of cattle and sheep and turtledoves and money changers!”[1] It is a word of caution for us for we are tempted at times to put ourselves and our church at the service of powers that are decidedly less than God. Anytime we worry more about paying the Pastor’s salary or renovating the Parlor more than we do about mission and worship, we’d better watch out for Jesus and his whip. What are the danger zones for us as a congregation – danger zones in which we care more about maintaining the institution than we do about worship and service? In what ways do we attempt to sell God’s grace? In the past, in this place, it has been when we expected everyone to look and act just like us, and we were unwelcoming to those who were different. But what is the challenge for us today? Where would Jesus “clean house” for us today?
This passage in John is a challenging one. Sometimes it is difficult to see when we, as a church, are the moneychangers in this passage and simply accommodating to the culture around us, rather than doing what Jesus asks us to do, which is to transform the culture from being self-centered to being God and other centered. In order to do that, the Church must look and act different.
The cross lesson for the 3rd Sunday in Lent is that we, as God’s people, are here for a purpose. We are here to worship God and we are here to serve others. Standing in line with the prophets of old, it means that when we see God’s purpose being thwarted, it is okay to be angry and make a change. And when we become complacent and become so well-adjusted to the culture around us, God may just remind us that we had better watch out for the whip. AMEN.
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[1] W. Hulitt Gloer, “Homiletical Perspective” in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 2. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008.) p. 95.