“The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body.  After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” John 2:13-22

1. S. Lewis’ third book of his Narnia series, The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’ provides a wonderful illustration of what I’m talking about. If you remember, in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the four Penvensie children travel from war-torn London to Narnia and there meet the great lion (and Christ-figure), Aslan, and with his help defeat the White Witch who holds Narnia captive in a perpetual winter. In the second book, the children travel back to assist Prince Caspian in obtaining his rightful throne, and at the end of that book Aslan tells the two older children, Peter and Susan, that they will not return to Narnia. Now, at the end of the third book, Aslan meets Lucy and Edmund at the edge of the Eastern Sea and tells them the same, that this will be their last trip to Narnia. Lucy is distraught at the prospect of not seeing the beloved lion again, but he reassures her that she will see him in her own world. When she is surprised that Aslan is present in her world, he tells her that the whole reason for bringing her to Narnia for a time was so that, coming to know him well here, she would recognize him more easily there.

 Isn’t that a great image for church? We come to church because in the proclamation of the Gospel and sharing of the sacraments we perceive God’s grace most clearly. But then we are sent out to look for God and, even more, to partner with God in our various roles and venues to love and bless the people and world God loves so much.”  (David Lose, …in the Meantime, Igniting Centrifugal Force, March 2, 2015)

The people from our text were in the Temple because of the Passover festival. The money changers would have been in the Temple –  Animals were kept in the Court of the Gentiles for the first time in or around 30 ad. “…The merchants and money changers would have been there for a very specific reason…. these people were not only licensed by the temple authorities, they had no reason to have a bad conscience with respect to their occupation—without which the payment of the temple tax and the actions of the temple cult could not be carried out.

We can easily visualize the money changers, the oxen, sheep, pigeons and the general chaos in the Temple area, especially in the Court of the Gentiles. The historian Josephus informs us about the bazaars held by the High Priest Annas at this time.  We recall that Annas was the old man of the high priests, and that he had four sons and one son-in-law named Caiaphas who were also high priests. This family made big money off the temple business. It was the biggest racket in town. People would bring their Roman and Greek coins with images of the emperor on those coins. Such coins were inadmissible in the temple because they were unclean due to the pagan image of the Caesars on those coins. Those coins with the image of Caesar would have to be exchanged for a Jewish “kosher” coins – the half-shekel. The money-changers made good profits. Larger animals like oxen and sheep were also bought and sold, as were pigeons for the sacrifices for poorer people. In equivalent dollars of today, Annas had an annual $170 million dollar business going. Yes, Annas and his high priestly family, had the best and biggest business in the country, and it was concentrated in the temple.

It was business as usual, and Jesus had a different message for them – and he was coming to give them a wake-up call – with whips and all.  You see, we can’t boil this story down to just the fact that Jesus wanted to express anger to show his humanity – we can’t cheapen the richness of this story by focusing only on the righteous anger….It was a wake-up call to the religious leaders to which G-d was doing something new….  Their way of doing the business of the Temple was getting old and Jesus was to usher in the new age.  What would be the new age?  Well Jesus would replace the Temple – he would represent the closest thing to G-d that anyone would be able to imagine – and so the sacrificing of animals would not be necessary – a new way of worshipping G-d would be inaugurated through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is saying to us that cleansing and renewal are necessary throughout our lives and throughout the life of our churches.  Cleansing and renewal can be the start of new growth and new life.  It is why wildfires are so important in wooded areas of our country.  While the wildfires can be devastating to people and property, out of the ashes of the fires springs new growth and new life – it renews the earth.  The same is true for our lives and the life of our congregations as well.  It happened in the history of this church – there have been wildfires in this congregation – and out of the ashes have sprung forth a renewed church with renewed energy and opportunity.  The fires of our lives can open us up to a new understanding of the cleansing that they can perform. 

Cleansing and rebirth – cleansing and rebirth…sound familiar

It is why it is most important to recall often the original cleansing that each Christian received at their baptism – the cleansing of the Old Adam, of original sin and the establishing of a new person clothed in the righteousness of Christ.  But, you see, that is not the only time that G-d, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are going to break into your lives and turn things upside down…In fact, if we are paying attention, G-d continually breaks into our lives to remind us where our place in line is – squarely behind the Cross of Christ.  Jesus wants us to understand that it is dangerous to live our lives with the attitude that it is always business as usual, either in our faith life or in our interactions with others.  Business as usual can mean complacency – even in our faith life.  So, be prepared, G-d is working in the life of this church and seeks to be actively working in your life….  This Lenten season, be open to G-d uprooting your business as usual attitude, and be open to listening where G-d is calling you next.

Pastor Dave