Lectionary Reflection — 04 March 2018, Third Sunday in Lent
13-14When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle, sheep, and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength.
15-17Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants, “Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture, “Zeal for your house consumes me.”
18-19But the Jews were upset. They asked, “What credentials can you present to justify this?” Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”
20-22They were indignant: “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.
Other readings:
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On this Third Sunday of Lent, we’re presented with one of the most famous stories about Jesus ever told — the “Cleansing of the Temple.” It’s found in all the canonical Gospels,2 so it’s one that the biblical writers and / or editors thought was important enough to include it.3
But it wasn’t really a “cleansing,” was it. It was actually more of a momentary disruption of the daily routine. I mean, we all realize that the merchants (or “loan sharks”) were back the moment Jesus left the area, right? And I’m sure Jesus knew this, too. So what was his point of this disruption? What was the point of the writers capturing the story? Is it to show that Jesus got angry? Was it meant to show that Jesus used violence to get his way, to get his point across? Was it meant to give Christian people and “out” when they react violently to situations and circumstances?
Whenever I point out that violence is never the way nor the proper response, inevitably, someone will point to this story as a proof text against my position. Now we can debate the nuances of Jesus’ use of the whip all day,4 but I think this detail misses the point of the story. And, no, it’s not about Jesus using violence or that violence is okay sometimes. If that were the case, then Christian history wouldn’t be filled with pacifists from the very beginning. Remember, the early church was constantly being persecuted by the establishment (both secular and religious) for several hundred years. And yet, those early followers of Jesus refused to resort to violence. If this story was really about the necessity of using violence sometimes, we would have seen that in church history. But we don’t. So what else could this mean?
As I was meditating on this passage I was struck with a thought. What if this is a poetic story of the inward journey? Look at the setting. It takes place within the Temple. Jesus called it his “Father’s house.” It’s the place where God lives. In another place, Jesus said God would dwell within people (John 14.23). And in other places, we learn that Christ lives within our hearts (Ephesians 3.17).5 So, if God’s home is within us, what, then, would this story be telling us?
I think this story goes back — way back — to the idea that God is jealous6 and won’t allow anything else to usurp God’s position in our lives. So the overthrowing of the tables, the driving out the livestock, and “loan sharks” are poetic images about the cleansing of our hearts from the things that make up our false selves. This isn’t a one time event, either. As I stated earlier, this story is found in all four Gospels and at different places. So, it’s an on-going “cleansing.” Just as we understand that the “loan sharks” would be back, we often run back to our falseness when our lives become too difficult (like the ancient Hebrews wanted to do). It shows us that God will not leave us alone (Hebrews 13.5, etc). God will always be with us (Matthew 28.20, etc.), challenging us (Hebrews 12.4-11), and shaping us into the image of Christ (Romans 8.29, etc.).
So, this story isn’t about God giving us a pass when we act violently. It’s about God changing our hearts and lives to become like Christ. It’s about removing all of the falseness — the sin — to which we’ve become addicted. It’s about preparing us for resurrection. It’s about theosis — preparing us to be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1.4; NET).
And that, dear reader, is what the Lenten Season is all about.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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1. Scripture quotations marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
2. The Synoptic Gospels have it near the end of their stories whereas John has it at the beginning.
3. John ended his Gospel by stating, “There are so many other things Jesus did. If they were all written down, each of them, one by one, I can’t imagine a world big enough to hold such a library of books” (John 21.25; MSG).
4. There’s a meme making the rounds on social media that states, “If people ever ask you, ‘What would Jesus do?’ Remind them that flipping over tables and chasing people with a whip is within the realm of possibilities.” Like the meme, some people think that Jesus used it on people — I don’t. It just doesn’t seem to fit the way he’s portrayed in the rest of the stories. More likely, I think he used it on the livestock to drive them from the Temple area. If you’ve ever worked with livestock, some of them can be pretty stubborn and need a little encouragement. I don’t think he beat them, though. All that’s needed is a little smack on the hind quarter to get them moving.
5. See also: Romans 8.9-10; John 14.20, 23; 2 Corinthians 13.5; Galatians 2.20; Colossians 1.27; Revelation 3.20.
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