Making a whip of
cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, 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
doves, “Take these things out of here! (John 2:15-16)
I wonder if there exists, in some church in Italy or Spain,
a tattered grubby bunch of cords claiming to be a holy relic, Jesus’s
whip. Given the state of religion, it
might even have special powers attributed to it, such as repelling tax
inspectors. This is one of those
irritating times when the lectionary gives us a major event in the gospel
story, something attested in all four gospels… and it’s an embarrassment. Jesus furiously charged through the temple
precinct, overturning tables, scattering money, chasing traders and their wares
out. And I can assure you, if you
consult 100 different preachers and commentators on the numerous websites
available, there is nervousness and an inability to come to terms with the fact
that Jesus raged, shouted and hit people.
During Lent we are looking at the pre-Easter Jesus, various
pictures provided by the gospel records – and we are asking what we find there
for our grown-up faith and our senior years.
One writer I came across this week was remembering his childhood and
youth, and how, on entering church he would be reminded at the door to be quiet
and still. Yes, we were expected to
compose ourselves. The writer’s point is
that he mourns the loss of reverent stillness in worship and in the sanctuary.
But this story is not about how to behave in church. Jesus found the house of God given over to a
racket. You have to imagine the
sacrificial animals waiting to be sold and slaughtered, their vendors calling out
the prices and herding the animals, the racket in more than one sense of the
money changers – because you had to buy your animal with the temple currency,
not Roman. Ordinary folk coming to
Jerusalem to fulfil their religious obligations were being royally ripped off,
exploited by the powerful of the temple cult.
So Jesus was angry. My Father’s house, he quoted[1], shall be called a house of prayer for all
nations, but you have made it a den of thieves.
Jesus taught and practised a very different response to
God. In
returning and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust will be your
strength, said the prophet Isaiah.[2] Prayer is not trying to impress God with how
busy or sacrificial we are, but entails the opening of the heart in stillness
and silence, in love and trust. It is a
matter of being fully present to God – which is often difficult amid liturgical
busyness and chatter. The church doesn’t always make it easy. Jesus intervened on behalf of ordinary folk,
and in the interests of peace and simplicity.
The temple had got between God and the people, and was making money out
of it. Yes, I think he was very angry.
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