What's Happening Inside

Read John 2:13-22

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day she was explaining to me the amount of work that she has to do at her regular job. She works in sales and she works on commission. Basically, if she doesn’t make sales, she doesn’t make money. But of course, if she doesn’t make sales, the company doesn’t make money either. Therefore, the company encourages their employees to come in to work on their days off. They encourage their employees to work even if they are sick. If they are not making sales they will eventually be removed from the company. I started thinking about the implications of that. I am always reminded of how much people sacrifice rest and Sabbath for the pursuit of money. If for some reason we were given an eighth day of the week for the purpose of rest, I feel certain most people would use it to make money. That is just one of those immoral acts that has become a cultural norm. Money has the power to do that. Give me an eighth day and I am going mountain biking!

I have learned that money has become far more influential and manipulating than any other force in this world. There are people, even people of faith, in this world that will do anything they can to rise to wealth. The great modern day empires of our world have squeezed poor people dry and made them poorer than they already were. I have to wonder if the ethical side of it ever crosses their minds. The health care industries, insurance companies, credit card companies, loan agencies, and many others thrive from taking money from people that don’t have money to pay. I see this and have to ask, what has the world come to? Many will ask, “Where is God in all of this?” I don’t think the question is, “Where is God?” God is in people that welcome God into their hearts. My question is why are people not allowing God to be present in all of this? Why are people not allowing God to do something?

When Jesus recognized the influence money had over people he did something about it. He identified the evil and rebuked it. On Passover, in the temple, he really caused a scene. You know when you are at a public event and somebody starts acting out and someone will say, “Call security; get this person out of here!” People were probably saying that about Jesus that day. He was ticked off and he was making a scene. I am reminded of this video I saw on social media recently. In a classroom full of students one young many stands up and reprimands the teacher, “Will you please teach us something?” He said. The teacher sent him to the office but before he left he carried on with his rant. “You call yourself a teacher but all you do is give out worksheets and sit at your desk and do nothing to teach us. If you want these kids to learn you’re going to have to get out of your chair, be a teacher, and teach.” You could tell that the teacher was becoming infuriated, and possibly threatened, by the student’s outburst. But, after he said what he had to say, he walked out. I am assuming he went on to the principal’s office. Part of me says this kid just got himself in a world of trouble. But, I also wish I had his courage when I was his age. People like this rogue student will make a bright difference in the world some day. It appears he was following the “Jesus influence” from Jesus’ visit to the temple on the Passover. He stood up and made a scene when he noticed something wrong. Not only was there something wrong in the temple that day, it was unethical and immoral.

Many people read this scripture and they take it as a charge to not make business at the church. It does seem that Jesus became angry at the people that were selling goods at the temple, which seems to make a clear statement that Jesus does not like for people to sell goods at the church, right? Not only that, but also this maker of peace picks up a weapon and starts swinging it around in a large crowd of religious, pious lovers of God. So, it seems that if the text has a message it would be that we should not sell stuff at church. Right? I know some of you are doing some math right now regarding the number of cookbooks we have sold in the past several years. Lol. If this is the message you took from this story, you have missed something very significant. As a matter of fact I don’t think that is the message at all. I think that is a good leap from the message in this story.

It was a busy day at the temple the day Jesus visited and made a scene. We know this because it was Passover. It was a Jewish holiday that a lot of God’s people came together for worship and faith practice. Many of God’s people traveled into Jerusalem from miles away to worship. Even the Jews that were scattered around the diaspora came to worship in the temple. So, there were many people in and out of the temple on this particular day.

When Jesus arrives at the temple the text tells us that he became angry about two things. Familiarizing ourselves with these two items of interest will change the way we look at this story. 1) There were moneychangers and 2) people selling cattle, sheep, and doves. First, who were these moneychangers? We must first remind ourselves that Israel was under the rule of the Roman Empire. The common money used in Jerusalem was Roman coin. The Roman Emperor wanted Roman coinage to be used because it was a form of propaganda. These coins depicted images of Caesar on them with inscriptions proclaiming Roman domination. They felt like these coins would influence the Jews to serve a master of money, opposed to serving Yahweh. Let us also take into account the fact that worshiping God at the temple required money. If you were unable to tithe and pay temple tax, you were not welcomed in the temple for worship. However, here is another problem for God’s people seeking to worship; the Jewish authorities in the temple did not accept Roman currency. They felt like it was an insult to God. Now, that does make sense, especially taking this culture into consideration. But, it sure made it difficult for poor people who just wanted to worship God and had no means to pay for it. So, here we have a resolution to the problem: the moneychangers. Moneychangers were people that had a wealth of Tyrian shekels, a form or currency accepted at the temple for tithing. Roman currency was worth more on the streets than the shekel but it wasn’t accepted in the temple. But wait, if I have a whole bunch of Tyrian shekels, a rare commodity needed to worship God, and it is Passover and there are a whole bunch of folks that need what I have and will give me more money for it, what do I do? Inflation. The moneychangers were selling the shekels for two, sometimes three times what they were worth. You know what its like… You have been to the movie theater and purchased popcorn and a soda. But, this was different because these people had to make this purchase to worship God. These moneychangers were taking money from poor people and using God as leverage to do it. Jesus became mad.

The story also tells us that Jesus was mad at the people for selling cattle, sheep, and doves in the temple. Why was that? Because they were making a mess on the floor? No, that’s not why. In ancient Jewish culture, to offer God a sacrifice, the believer offered an animal. The larger the animal, the greater the sacrifice. With that said, these faithful believers wanted to offer God as much as they could afford. Many of these people were very poor and they could not afford much. Let’s keep in mind that this was a huge Jewish holiday and it was a day that faithful believes wanted to offer God extra. You know how more people come to church on Christmas and Easter than the rest of the year? That is what this is like. These people wanted to offer God the greatest sacrifice because it was a special day and some of them had traveled a long way to worship at the temple on this day. So, the religious authorities sold animals to the Jewish people so they could make a sacrifice. Can you take a wild guess at what they sold them for? They sold them for so much that the people could not afford them. They forced people into debt to simply purchase a pair of doves for sacrifice. They felt like people would pay the money if they felt like they were doing it for God. The poor people would even put themselves in debt for as long as needed to please God. To make things worse, the people in charge of this whole scheme were the elders and religious leaders. Who got mad? Jesus.

In the midst of all of God’s people lifting up their best to the Lord and praising God and giving their very last cent to God a commotion broke out! Coins of all types go rolling across the temple floor, tables broken and overturned, the doves get loose and start flying around, and this madman starts snapping a whip at the people working in the temple! Call security! The authorities show up and reprimand him. “Who do you think you are doing this?!” They ask. Jesus replies, “Destroy this temple in three days and I’ll raise it up.” They didn’t get it. He was talk about himself. Imagine Jesus pointing at himself and saying, “You will destroy me in three days and I will rise.”

Hmm. This temple… This story doesn’t have anything to do with people making business in the place of worship. Though it’s very important, this story doesn’t have anything to do with what’s going on inside our churches. What this story is addressing is our “temples” and what’s happening inside. It’s addressing what is happening in our hearts and it is addressing how we are using it to help or hurt our neighbors. The story is addressing the lives we live and how we are using them for or against the will of the Spirit. The Jewish authorities were using the temple to marginalize poor people further than they already were. They were using God to hold people underfoot. They were hurting people who were already hurt and they were using God’s name to do it. Jesus became very angry because of how these people were using the temple and faith practices to weaken the people that wanted nothing more than to be loved by God. They wanted to show their love for God and receive God’s love and blessings in return. But, the world took their love and desire for God and used it for its own benefit, to make money. How can we use our temples to do the opposite? How can we show the love of Christ with these temples?

We can still find the ethic of the moneychangers in our world today. Actually, there is a lot more of it today then there ever has been. It is far more complex than ever and people have found ways to mask what it really is. Can we live ethically? Can we pursue the ethics of Christ and make a difference in the world. Can humans set their love for money aside for the sake of their neighbor? Or, will we live always trying to make a buck off of the less fortunate.

It is my hope for the world that more people will stand up and flip over tables. I hope that more people will say, “If you are going to be a teacher then get up and teach!” I hope that people will identify evil when they see it and point out wrongs when they are happening. And I hope that people will use their temples to serve their neighbors rather than using their neighbors to serve their temples. The Spirit of Christ is with us and it gives me hope. I have hope for the world. I believe the world can change. Do you?