Title: Can we contain our anger, or should we?
Word Count: 1546
Tabs: Lent 3, Anger, Rage, Corruption
Exodus 20:1-17 Psalm 19 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 John 2:13-22
Summary: Why did Jesus get so angry in the temple when legal trading of animals was necessary as part of the ceremony. Look for the anger which resulted from the corruption hidden in the name of God.
This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s,
in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 11th March 2012.
(A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Prayer: In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit let these words speak for you, and bless each and every one of us as pray these words speak for you. Amen.
Introduction
Anger, rage, and belligerence are not the normal words we associate with Jesus; yet that is what we read in today’s gospel.
Christians are not supposed to get angry, (or so the non Christian say), yet Jesus got into so much a rage that he turned over the tables in the temple and worse. So we must ask, why did Jesus do this? And why do we even have this story the bible?
To make a start, we need to recognise that this story is not just in John gospel, it is also in Matthew, Mark, and Luke gospel; so straight away we must acknowledge that it is important.
The story takes place in the temple and ends with a cryptic statement about destroying and rebuilding a temple; and in the story Jesus gets angry about his father’s house being made a marketplace where a few “religious racketeers” were making money from genuine worshipers.
What were they doing that that was so awful? Well it couldn’t have been the marketing of the animals or exchanging money, because they had to do that as part of the preparation for the ceremony; as not everyone had animals. So a sort of market grew where people could buy animals; animals that were suitable for sacrifice as described in the Old Testament.
This is understandable, and generally accepted, along with the money which was exchanged because normal coinage had an engraved image on it, and image of the emperor, so some sort of exchange service was required. They simply exchanged their Roman coins for Tyrian coins.
What was not acceptable was the corruption, corruption which was particularly nasty when tied into religion. For example; advantage was taken by manipulating scripture; implying things like “if you do not buy this perfect animal, (at my price), then God will not accept it nor bless you”.
And I will give you a further example; have you heard someone saying something like, “you should not swear”, them forgetting about the argument they had with their partner on the way to church; and that swearing, still on their mind; twisted and used to condemn you, or at least to put you down.
Not that swearing is correct but it is context which it was said in, a context to make you feel bad; because what they were saying is that if you do not do this, if you do not do what I am telling you, then God will not bless you. Can you see the manipulation, the logic and evilness behind it? In engineering terms we call it the “if - then - else – logic”.
A sort of example is this; “if you stand on one leg, and with one hand in your pocket, and the other hand in the air shouting Hallelujah then God will bless you, else (and this bit is always implied) he will not bless you, i.e. he will curse you. Can you see how this can be abused, and used as a put down?
When I hear “you should” in a sentence; I treat it with the contempt it deserves. I have found the Pentecostals are particularly bad for this, always imposing something on you; and it gets me angry and sorry for the rant, but this kind of talk is not of God.
I am not getting at anybody here, so don’t look into it, but I hear this kind of talk regularly; and it is wrong; and it stops people coming to church, and it detracts from what the New Testament where God says he will love and bless us because of Jesus … and because of nothing else.
That’s what is being said today, so can you imagine what it was like all those years ago, and you can understand why Jesus was very angry; particularly at a few who were abusing the house of the Lord to line their pockets by exhorting money from genuine worshipers.
They used the same logic I described earlier, the “if then else”, logic; if you buy this sheep or goat which is presentable at my prices, then God will bless you, else God will not bless you. And I have no doubt there would be a violent tone of intimidation in their voice. A wealthy few therefore made a killing; all in the name of religion.
How then could Jesus tell the people that God loved them if they were getting abused by people who were meant to be from God? People who were using God’s retribution as a weapon to exhort money from them?
Can you see why Jesus was so angry, he could not preach about a loving God under those circumstances. So he took his cue from Zechariah 14:21 which said “And there shall no longer be traders in the house of the LORD of hosts on that day”. So Jesus became angry and drove them out the temple.
To move on, why is this story in the bible; well there was a long tradition in the Old Testament for two days of waiting and then a dramatic third day of action by God.
One example is where God said to Moses in Exodus 19:10 “consecrate … the people … today and tomorrow, … and let them be ready for the third day … for on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all.”
And in so in keeping with that tradition, and to authenticate himself as the messiah, Jesus announces to the people; “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
There is double and triple and quadruple meaning here; Jesus is saying that he is the messiah, and he is trying to change the peoples’ hearts. He is also trying to stop the corruption, and by chasing the rogues from the temple, he provoked a reaction.
Verse 21 of our Gospel reads, “he was speaking of the temple of his body”. Jesus was referring to the new temple, himself, being raised on the third day, and from then on the presence of God will be found not in a temple made of stone but a temple in the very person of Jesus.
There are therefore two reasons why this text speaks powerfully to us today.
First, just like in those days, we are surrounded by gross injustices and great suffering, and it is not OK. Following our Lord, we are authorized to be passionate about the destructiveness of evil which causes suffering.
It arouses our passions; and we Christians have been taught to share in these sufferings. Jesus has led us to have different values from the rest of world and to be passionate about injustice and evil. We therefore need this disturbing story of Jesus, filled with rage at the unfairness; to encourage us in a similar manner as we cannot help but be passionate in the battle against evil; and we need to know that Jesus himself was also tormented with the people’s sufferings.
However I must give a big warning of caution, as we all love to be right; and crack the whip like Jesus did, at people who disagree with us. We need to exercise caution when we feel a righteous rage coming on, because it will result in consequences.
The consequences here enraged the Jewish leaders enough to have Jesus brought to the trial where he was crucified. So be careful!
But the second reason we need this story is completely different and I think more important. We need this story because in it, Jesus tells us what his whole mission was all about: Jesus came to tell us that God love us regardless; Jesus came to give us direct access to God, Jesus came to be Emanuel, God with us; a walking temple without the corruption.
Jesus has gone back to be with his Father in heaven; and so he is present to us everywhere, and he is with us all the times. Jesus is present here and now, and so, God is always present in the form of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us; even though we may not feel it.
We need to know that God is with us; that he is there to cry out to; when ever we need his support.
Yes, we did need this story: we need to be passionately engaged in God’s struggle against evil; but we also need to know that the un-corrupt temple is always is here in the presence of Jesus.
Amen.
