OVERTURNING OUR TABLES

A Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year B
by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 2:13-22

Now I don’t know if you can believe this or not, but when I was a kid, I was—well, let’s just say I was prone to outbursts. My sister was the reason for it, of course. She could set me off in an instant. And I found great satisfaction in using drama do deal with the anger she could so easily rouse in me. I would stomp around or slam doors or pretend to sing opera at the top of my lungs in vehement protest.

And so when I was introduced to today’s gospel lesson in Sunday school, I took great interest. How exciting, I thought, Jesus has a temper just like mine. He can throw an even bigger fit than even I can. Why, I have never even dreamed of turning over a table or getting out a whip. So if our Savior can get away with this kind of angry behavior, shouldn’t I? My mother didn’t buy this argument. And you shouldn’t either if your kid tries to pitch this idea to you.

There is a lot going on in this story and we have to consider all the facts if we are to understand it. First of all, there was a system of commerce in the Temple in Jesus’ time that is a bit confusing for us. You see, once a year, Jewish men would have to pay a temple tax. But this tax could not be paid with the Roman or Greek coins used in regular commerce—it had to be paid with special temple coins. Now how do you get your hands on such coins? You would have to exchange them. To make it convenient for people, the temple authorities set up money changing booths in the temple courtyard. It wasn’t a very fair exchange, however. The fee for the exchange was sometimes as much as the exchange—thus, doubling the cost.

On top of that, animals were offered for sacrifice at Passover. These animals had to be without blemish according to the Jewish laws. If you brought your own animal to sacrifice, it had to be inspected by the authorities to see whether it would qualify as perfectly suitable for sacrifice. Almost none ever qualified, as you might expect. It was easiest, then, to just buy a pre-approved animal in the temple court. These animals went for substantially higher prices than they could be purchased elsewhere. Sometimes it was several times the cost.

This scene is depicted very dramatically in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. In the 1973 film of it, they show the temple filled not only with ancient items for sale but modern things too, like a rack of postcards, a rack of mirrors, guns, hand grenades and the like. Jesus approaches them and it looks like he’s blown a gasket. He throws over the tables and drives the market people and their animals out. His high pitched singing wails: “My temple should be a house of prayer! But you have made it a den of thieves!” Then he screams in full voice: “Get out! Get out!” The merchants and shoppers all flee the scene and there is nothing but an eerie silence.

John tells us that it causes great chaos when Jesus does this. Even the disciples are stunned, confused and amazed at what has happened before their eyes.

This confusion seems to grow when Jesus says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." That makes no sense to them. The Temple had been under reconstruction for 46 years . How in the world could it be rebuilt in 3 days? It was physically impossible.

As with so many things, the disciples only figure it out later—after the resurrection has made it clear. The temple Jesus was talking about was his body, not the stones of this magnificent building. He was foretelling his own resurrection.

But why does Jesus choose to cause such a scene in order to talk about his resurrection? Well, it seems he understands what the temple authorities are doing with their temple marketing. They are intentionally overcharging and taking advantage of the poorest of people. It is clearly a misuse of their spiritual authority. Injustice in God’s name doesn’t sit well with Jesus.

It could also be related to the Ten Commandments that we’ve just heard again in our first lesson for today. Could it be that Jesus’ anger is not just about the fact that they’re overcharging for the merchandise, but the fact that this institution—the Temple—is failing to promote the worship of God and instead turning people's attention elsewhere? This is a violation of the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me." Because this word is translated as "before" it may lead people to think you should put God first and everything else second. But the heart of the meaning is really that you should put God first and nothing else second. God should be our all and all.

Jesus is angry that the church of his day is getting people caught up in commercialism. The frenzy of the Temple’s looks just like the world’s marketplace. This is pulling their focus away from true worship. God is not just another product to buy. God is God and demands absolute loyalty.

Today this is still a problem. Perhaps if Jesus came into our modern context to do a little temple cleaning, he'd find more abuses that needed changing. No, we’re not selling calves and pigeons in the fellowship hall but we do fun the risk of taking our eyes off God. We cannot let other loyalties interfere with our devotion to God—our nation is not more important than God, our denomination is not more important than God, even our congregation is not more important than God. To forget this is idolatry. We can never substitute devotion to an institution for devotion to God. Institutions can provide good guidance, but they are not always right. No, not even our denomination is always right. As much as we may love it, we have to remember this.

There may be yet another reason for Jesus' outburst, however. In Mark's version of this story, Jesus notes that the temple is a "house of prayer for all nations." The Jews also had laws about who could and could not enter the inner part of the temple. The outer court, in which this incident occurred, was the only place non-Jews could be. It was the place where even Gentiles could come in order to approach God. Now that the outer court has become so cluttered with business transactions, it is not a suitable place for prayer and worship. Therefore, Gentiles are no longer able to worship God in the temple. It has become exclusive. Perhaps Jesus was crying out against this kind of selfish hoarding of God's grace and mercy, of shutting God away from the people who needed him desperately. Again, we can see this offense alive and well today as Christians draw lines of "saved" and "unsaved" when that judgment is for God alone to make. We see houses of prayer becoming exclusive clubs that purposefully keep outsiders out.

But perhaps there is still a deeper reason why Jesus braided together a whip to drive away the merchants of the temple. Perhaps he is trying to drive home the point that animal sacrifices are no longer relevant. The prophets had already been telling them this for years. Hosea said of the people: “They love sacrifice; they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but the Lord has no delight in them.” Somehow the people felt that God worked like a cosmic vending machine: put your animal sacrifices in and out pops a blessing from God—an even exchange. People are thinking they can balance the scales with the God who had created them, who had delivered them from Egypt. But the reality is that they owe God so much more than a few burnt offerings here and there and an annual temple tax could buy. In fact, they have no hope of keeping the law and there is virtually nothing they can do on their own to make themselves right with God. They are enslaved by their sin and will always fall short of the glory of God. And there they are in the temple courts, brazenly believing they can win God's favor and perhaps even make God owe them blessings by following the religious sacrificial customs. And into their self-righteous faces, Jesus jumps in with a big "NO!" They just can’t save themselves—not with all the flawless animals in the world. They need a Savior and the one that shocked them by driving them from the temple is the very same one who will soon surprise them again by taking on that role himself and making the ultimate sacrifice for them. That’s why he’s on about rebuilding the Temple in 3 days. It is all about the salvation he will offer through his resurrection.

Christianity not about balancing the books, you see. We don’t come to church to get bonus points with God—it doesn’t work that way. I remember when I was a child at Christmas time. I wanted to get my parents presents, but since I had no income of my own, they would slip me some cash to get them presents. I’d pridefully ride my bike over to the dime store and pick out some marvelous treasures for them, like cheap after shave my father probably still hasn’t used up. I’d make my purchases, hustle home, wrap them up (sometimes Mom would even do that for me while not peeking at her gift, of course) and I would joyfully present them to my parents on Christmas eve. They’d open them and receive them with grateful hearts. But I wasn’t giving them anything they hadn’t already given me. I could never out-give them—I simply didn’t have the means. I was ever-indebted to them. Yet as loving parents, they didn’t mind—they were just happy that I loved them in return.

Our relationship with God is similar. Everything we have is God’s. We cannot out give God. And all the sacrifices we offer are like the petty gifts I would give my parents for Christmas—that I had purchased with their money. We must come to realize that we are indeed debtors to God—we cannot impress or control God with our devotion.

Jesus has overturned the tables of the law because what he wants from us is faith. Martin Luther said, “True faith in Christ is a treasure beyond comparison which brings with it complete salvation and saves us all from evil...What person is there whose heart, upon hearing this, will not rejoice to its depth, and when receiving such comfort will not grow tender so that they will love Christ as they never could by means of any law or works?”

In this Gospel scene, Jesus may appear to have an anger management problem. He may look altogether unloving, but he is acting this way because he is showing us that God desires a whole new relationship with us, one of unbelievable love and tenderness. He wants us to stop striving to obey on our own and impress him and to accept the free gift of grace in Jesus Christ—to really accept it. And having been infused with this marvelous grace, we will desire live according to God’s will in response to this good news.