Our Gospel reading for this morning is one that tends to catch a lot of people off guard. When you think of Jesus, you don’t usually think of Him as someone who gets angry, who resorts to violent behavior. We think of him as a tender, compassionate, easy going person who wouldn’t hurt a fly. Yet, our reading for today at first glance seems a bit out of character. What are we to make of what happened that day in the temple? Why did Jesus do what He did? What was the purpose of it? In our time together this morning, we’re going to find out what led Jesus to do what He did, and what that means for you and me.
It’s nearly Passover time in Jerusalem. That means that any Jew who could would be coming into town to celebrate. Jesus and His disciples are among the pilgrims who make the journey to Jerusalem to celebrate this major Jewish festival. As part of the Passover, these Jews were required to make sacrifices of animals. Now if you traveled from a long distance, odds are you didn’t bring an animal to sacrifice, you saved your money, and you’d buy the right animal for the sacrifice once you arrived at Jerusalem.
So if you’re one who thinks with a business type mind, you can see where this might lead. Hmm….if these Jews are coming from out of town, and they need to make sacrifices, and they don’t bring animals with them, they need to buy them somewhere, so I know….let’s set up a place on the temple grounds themselves, and let’s just make it convenient by selling our animals to these people. We could make a fortune, and we’d be doing them a favor! I’m sure no one will mind. We’re meeting a “felt need”, and besides, it’s for a good cause in the end. So right there in the temple courts, you have people selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons to people who needed them as a sacrifice. Great location if you’re looking to make some money.
And if that’s not ridiculous enough, it gets even better (or worse, depending on how you look at things.) Remember, people are coming into Jerusalem from all sorts of places. And not everyone uses the same currency. In fact, within the temple, they had their own currency, so even the locals may not have had the right kind of currency on them. And since you’re doing business in the temple, your money isn’t any good here, you need to use temple currency to buy your stuff here. Well, guess what, you’re in luck, set up right here in the temple are, you guessed it, money changers, who will be more than happy to convert your currency into temple currency, for a fee, of course. I don’t know about you, but it sure sounds to me like there’s a LOT of money to be made at the temple each day, especially during Passover time.
So what is it that makes Jesus so upset that he drives out the people selling animals and overturns the money changers’ tables? This isn’t the Jesus we’re accustomed to seeing. Not only that, but it seems like these people are providing a much needed service here. What’s so wrong with it?
The key isn’t so much what they’re doing, but where they are doing this stuff that makes Jesus upset. The temple, you may recall, is the place where God is present with His people, his earthly dwelling if you will. If you want to draw near to the presence of God, you have to come to the temple. The focus of what goes on in that temple is supposed to be on God and what He has done for His people, and his ongoing presence with them in their midst in that temple.
In fact, it’s supposed to be for that reason that the Jews are coming into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Passover is supposed to be a time for the Jews to remember how God had delivered them out of bondage in Egypt, made His covenant with them, and led them into the promised land. The focus was to be on God, and His mighty acts to deliver His people. It wasn’t supposed to be on the individual, or making money, it was to be on God’s presence with His people to save them, and their ultimate deliverance God would provide through the promised Messiah.
But right here, in the temple courts, the focus isn’t there. It has nothing to do with what God has done for His people. His house has become a place for making money, a place of buying and selling. A place to get rich. The temple courts are supposed to be a place where Gentiles could pray, where they could be in the presence of God Himself. To give you an idea of what’s going on, try picturing sitting here in the sanctuary during this service, and over by the organ, we have one person selling some hogs, over in the alcove, you have someone selling horses, and right in front of the pulpit, we have someone auctioning off some cattle, and back by the elevator, you have a banker set up to exchange your American money into OSLC Currency, or an ATM machine so you can access your bank account, with a nice little $5 user fee attached on to your transaction. While it sounds ridiculous, that’s essentially what’s going on in our Gospel reading in the temple. I can guarantee you, there’s no way anyone is able to focus on God’s presence with His people in that place with all this stuff going on!
So Jesus sees this going on, he sees that these Gentiles who have come to worship can’t do so. Now Jesus isn’t going to allow anyone to get in the way of His people coming into His presence. So He makes a whip of cords, and he drives out those who are selling the animals, takes the coins of the moneychangers, pours them out all over the place, and turns over their tables. You can just imagine the scene! Startled animals going everywhere, people running this way and that, the sound of clinking coins rolling all over the temple floor! People wondering “What’s going on? Who does this guy think He is? What were we doing wrong?” And what does Jesus say as He’s doing all of this? “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade!” The NIV puts it well where it says “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” That’s essentially what these people have done. They have taken a place that’s supposed to be set aside for God’s people to come into His presence, and turned it into a market. The disciples as they see his happen recall the words of the 69th Psalm, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” They see that Jesus is zealous toward people coming into His Father’s presence, and He will not stand for those who try to do anything, knowingly or not, who try to stand in their way.
As Christians in the 21st century, it’s easy for us to look back on the events of this Gospel text, and say “You get ‘em, Jesus! Throw them money grubbers outta there!” We look at our churches today, and we look around, and we don’t see any money changers or people trying to sell you animals for sacrifices. But, before you think you’re off the hook, let me ask you this. Are there other things that we do in churches that, even with the best of intentions, draw our attention away from Christ’s presence with us through Word and Sacrament, that draw us away from the message of Christ Crucified? Are we always focusing what we do here on the fact we are coming into the presence of God, and having our sins forgiven, or are we wanting to do other things to put more people in the pews, or make our churches like going to the movies, complete with the popcorn, cappuccino machines, and the whole nine yards? Is our focus on gathering around God’s Word and Sacrament, and hearing what Christ has done for us at the cross, or is it on something else, or someone else? Maybe there are some of you who don’t like hearing that this morning, who don’t like the idea that the church isn’t here to entertain you, or meet what you perceive to be your “felt needs” are in this life.
There were some Jews in the Gospel reading who didn’t like what Jesus was saying, either, who probably had similar thoughts. They wanted to know “what sign do you show us for doing these things?” Essentially, they’re asking: Jesus, what gives you the right to do this? Who made you the “Temple Police”? Jesus answers right back, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews didn’t get it. They were so fixated on the temple building, that they didn’t understand what it was that made that building the temple in the first place. Remember, the Temple was where God was present with His people. It wasn’t the bricks and mortar that made it the Temple, it was God’s presence. Here, Jesus, God incarnate, 2nd person of the Trinity, is right there. The temple he’s talking about is his body. That’s how He is present with His people. The Jews were so misled, they thought they knew what the temple was, which is why they so adamantly objected to Jesus’ statement by saying “It has taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ They didn’t get it! They had totally lost their focus on what it was that made the temple, the temple. They lost focus on God’s presence with His people to deliver them. It was apparent, with the money changers, the animal dealers, everything that was going on. If they truly understood that the Temple was where God was present with His people, none of this would be going on!
I wonder if the church in our day understands this concept? I wonder if many of you really understand this concept. What is it that makes this building a church? What is it that makes this particular space special? Is it the stone exterior, the vaulted ceilings, or the pews? No, it’s Christ’s presence with us in Word and Sacrament to deliver us from our sins. That’s what makes this place so special. When we lose respect for that, when we forget that worship isn’t about our giving something to God, but about God coming to us , telling us about how much He loves us by sending Jesus to die for our sins on the cross, to deliver forgiveness, life, and salvation through that message, our focus isn’t where it belongs anymore.
St. Paul wrote about this very problem in our Epistle reading when he writes “The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18) To the world, to the unbeliever, when they look to the cross, it doesn’t look powerful or glorious at all. They see a man, dying a shameful death reserved for a common criminal, not God in human flesh, dying to redeem the world from sin, death, and the devil. It doesn’t look glorious. It doesn’t look powerful.
And so today, we have people who want to avoid the cross. They turn the church, a place where Christ is to dwell with His people through Word and Sacrament, and downplay these things, and instead, turn it into a group therapy session, telling you how to live your best life right here and now, give you handy investment tips, or tell you to look inside of yourself to find what you’re missing in life. The money changers are the ones who are offering you material things of the world, but are preventing you from going to the cross.
Through our Gospel reading for this morning, Jesus is once again bringing out the whip. Through the preaching of His law, through reflecting on the 10 commandments He gave us in our Old Testament reading for today, he’s overturning the money changing tables of our pride, and showing us how we have failed to live up to God’s expectations of us. He shows us how we have selfishly put ourselves above our Lord. He shows us how the false gods of greed, pride, and worldly things have crept into the church, and into our lives. But, the good news, is that Jesus took on the temple of human flesh, lived as one of us, kept each of those commandments you and I break on a daily basis, and suffered and died on the cross so that we could be forgiven, and delivered to our promised land, paradise, eternal life.
Folks, that’s the message of the cross. That’s where the true power of God is. That’s why the cross is central to our theology, the way we speak about God in this place. That’s why Christ Crucified is the ONLY message we have been called to proclaim. Christ’s death and resurrection is our Passover from death to eternal life. From sinfulness to forgiveness. All the worldly stuff will only last for as long as you are in this world, if even that long. Fortunes are lost. Markets go sour. Jobs are lost when companies go belly up. Droughts or floods happen and we lose our crops for the year. We get sick. Our bodies slow down.
When I visit someone that’s on their deathbed, or close to it, all the “having your best life now” type of talk, the stuff of the modern day money changers, isn’t going to do them any good. Instead, I bring them to the cross, I show them where their forgiveness, life, and salvation truly are. It’s there, they see that Christ, through His death and resurrection, has destroyed the power of sin and death, and that Christ will deliver them, as they pass over from this sick and decaying world, into the promised land, eternal life in heaven, where they will never know sickness, pain, or sorrow ever again.
So while this Gospel text may be a difficult one to understand, we see that when Jesus clears the temple, He does it for us. He does it yet today through the preaching of His Word. He does it when His Word brings us to the cross, so that He can deliver us from death to eternal life. May all that we do as a congregation in thought, word, and deed be centered around the message of the Cross, because it is there, that we find our reason for existence, and the one who has delivered us. Amen.
