Demo Time w/ Jesus
John 2:13-22
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both 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 the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
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Main Idea: Lent is a time of preparation as we near the festivities of Easter. For many Christians, this takes the form of creating time for intentional prayer, acts of repentance, charitable giving, and self-denial. But what are we preparing for? And does our prep work involve any sort of demolition work? You know, the tearing down and ripping out of things that we thought were of God but weren't actually. We may think that we are doing a "good enough" job; however, if our Lenten preparation doesn't involve some demo work, we shouldn't be surprised if Jesus busts in swinging a cord and starts overturning our tables.
Cultural Context
We are people who get ready for things.
Judaism: Jesus is visiting the temple during a time of preparation. People are traveling from all over to Jerusalem to purify themselves for Passover.
Christianity: In our contemporary reading of this text, we find ourselves in a similar position. We are getting ready for the celebration of Easter.
This is not about who is right and wrong.
We should be clear that the reading for today is not about who was right and wrong. That kind of reading leads to a hurtful interpretation that has lent support to anti-Jewish sentiment. Instead, we're invited to stand among the crowd that was eagerly awaiting the celebration of Passover. We are invited to share in the questions of, "What is it that we are getting ready for, and are we sure it’s what God desires and not our own?”
HGTV & Messy Renovations Gone Wrong
What are we preparing for?
There are times when we think we are following God's footsteps, and it turns out that we are going in the complete opposite direction. This is one of those times where we think we are doing a "good job," and then Jesus enters the picture and lets us know we really messed up. Jesus is appalled by what he witnesses on the temple grounds. Seeing the merchants and money changers exchanging denarii into smaller bits for people to give the priests works Jesus into a frenzy. He fashions a whip out of cords and enters a state of righteous wrath. Jesus even yells at the merchants to, "Take these things out of here!"
Jesus refers to the temple, a physical place of worship, as a marketplace. From Jesus' perspective, the temple no longer is a place of spiritual renewal and instead is a place dedicated to monetary gain. Like the Old Testament prophets, Jesus challenges the economic exchange that is taking place. And like the Old Testament prophets, Jesus questions our motives and asks if we seek after wealth/power or service/prayer. “Do we worship our image of God (who we think God is/who we want God to be) or do we worship God because God is God?” (Dr. Choon-Leong Seow)
It may take a little demo work, turning over tables, and purging from the temple for us to find an answer to the question Jesus poses to us today. For the people gathered in the reading and those of us today, it can be difficult to see how our work has gone astray if we can't see past the cultural and spiritual bubble surrounding us. There's no shame in Jesus coming in and turning things around. It's better than believing that we were continuing on the right path when we really weren't.
This purging of the temple, this purging of our hearts, is a reminder that our worship happens outside of the four walls of a church building. The demo work we do with Jesus is also a reminder of why we give our time and talents. And it's giving what's leftover, and it's an intention giving of our time, talents, resources, prayers, etc.
So how are you using this Lenten season to grow? In preparing for the good news of Easter, which came at a high price, what are you doing to prepare? How might you prepare for our God, who doesn't care so much about the physical temple but the hearts of the people who enter through the doors?
Conclusion: This past week in our Lenten faith study, we talked about the idea of the "abrasive" feeling we get in our gut when challenged or when our worldview bumps up against an opposing notion. Letting Jesus turn over tables is an abrasive feeling, but it's not bad. It's what is necessary for us to see the world anew. Perhaps turning over tables with Jesus will make us feel better. Exposing what needs renovating in our hearts may help us realize that what we thought was valuable was actually holding us back, holding others back, and holding them down. Demo time with Jesus might be what our souls require this Lenten season.