Sunday Sermon 7th March 2021

 John 2:13-22 7 MARCH 2021

As we reach the halfway point of Lent, things are beginning to take a more serious turn. Jesus is in Jerusalem, and as we read John chapter 2, Jesus begins to be noticed, but for all the wrong reasons.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke have the Temple clearing taking place just days before the crucifixion, but John has Jesus clearing the temple during the first of 3 Passovers he mentions in his Gospel.

Jesus certainly had an audience. Every Jewish male was expected to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem during the week-long festival of unleavened bread, during which the Passover was celebrated.

So at this time The Temple was crowded with visitors, and the temple authorities crowded it even more by allowing money changers and merchants to set up their stalls in the outer Court of the Gentiles.

We might wonder what made Jesus so angry: it certainly wasn’t his first visit to the Temple and he had surely seen all this before. It wasn’t just that the merchants crowded out any foreigners or Gentiles who might want to worship in the Temple; it was also the money which the Temple authorities made out of the worshippers.

The temple tax they had to pay had to be in local currency, so foreigners and even local people had to change their money for special Temple coins. And if you have ever changed foreign currency, you know that money changers often charge ridiculous exchange rates. They were ripping people off. And because people were required to make animal sacrifices for their sins, they had to pay outrageous prices to the merchants selling animals for sacrifice in the Temple in order to ensure that the sacrifices were spotless and without blemish.

If you grew up in Sunday school singing “gentle Jesus meek and mild”, you might be surprised to find that Jesus was not always a nice or polite person. You might not recognise this image of Jesus.

Yes, Jesus was kind and gracious to most people, especially the oppressed, but he scathingly denounced the hypocritical religious leaders who were burdening the people with unnecessarily strict rules and dishonesty.

Jesus stood up to people who took advantage of others, especially those who should were seen as God’s representatives. Jesus stood up for people when they couldn’t stand up for themselves.

When he saw all that was happening, Jesus was furious; he made a whip and drove out the cattle and sheep, he scattered the coins of the unscrupulous money changers and he shouted at those who were selling doves.

There would have been utter chaos; animals would have been bawling and running around, and the money changers would have been scrambling to pick up their money off the floor. In football terms, it was a melee.

Jesus was passionate about honouring and worshipping God and allowing everyone to honour and worship God. He felt that the Temple authorities had demeaned God by all this trade.

Jesus anger was not out of control, rather his was a righteous anger against what he regarded as abuse. His act of clearing the temple revealed his passion for the things of God, and it also revealed his authority. His authority came from God, and despite much indignation and blustering, the Temple authorities could do nothing. I think Jesus unnerved and frightened them.

We may perhaps struggle with this image of Jesus. We don’t like to think of Jesus as angry. But Jesus was so firm in his identity and his authority, that he would not allow anyone to denigrate the name or the house of God.

The Temple was not only the place of sacrifice to God; the temple was the place where heaven and earth met. it was believed to be the unique house of God, on earth.

There are many opinions about why Jesus cleansed the Temple. For some people, it is a foreshadowing of the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70AD. Some see it as a reference to Jesus resurrection: it is easy for us to understand what Jesus meant when he said he would rebuild the Temple in 3 days: we know he was talking about himself.

But to the authorities, this sounds outrageous. The Temple had been a work in progress for 46 years and it still wasn’t finished. They didn’t get it because they didn’t recognise Jesus as the Messiah. They didn’t get it because they refused to look beyond their own traditions. And their own reputations.

For me, this story is a reminder of the holiness of God, of God’s house and God’s people.

If we think about the great cathedrals of Europe, and indeed the beginnings of our own parish, people took time and energy and the very best of materials to build the place where God would be worshipped and glorified.

Second best wasn’t good enough. That is how we should see our relationship with God and with each other. Second best isn’t good enough.

As we continue through Lent, perhaps this is an opportune time to ask ourselves: do I give God the honour God deserves? Do I begin my prayers by worshipping God and giving thanks for God’s love for me? Or do I just get straight into my shopping list of demands?

This week let me encourage us all by doing just that: let us begin our personal prayers to God with thanks and with worship, and let us see where God leads us.

AMEN