All Consuming Zeal
a sermon based on John 2:13-22
Randy L Quinn
By all
accounts, the temple in Jerusalem was a magnificent building. It was built on a
site chosen by King David, the same site where King Solomon built the first
temple. That first temple lasted nearly 400 years and was the pride of Israel.
After its destruction in 587 BC,
the people were sent into exile, demoralized and despondent. When it was
rebuilt a century later, it was not nearly as grand, not nearly as ornate, not
nearly as impressive. But it became the focal point of the religious life of
the Jewish people, nevertheless.
King Herod, in an attempt to win
the favor of his Jewish subjects, decided to expand on the temple. It became
almost as magnificent as Solomon’s – although no one had pictures of the former
so Herod could honestly claim it was even more magnificent. It included
additional porches and porticos. It included courtyards for Gentiles as well as
Jewish converts. As indicated in our text, it took 46 years to build into the
facility that Jesus was visiting when he came to Jerusalem for the Passover.
To visitors, especially those who
had never been to Jerusalem before, it was impressive and awe-inspiring. Its
location, atop Mt. Zion, allowed it to be seen before the rest of the city came
into view, making it the focal point of all who entered the city. The
architecture was designed to turn their attention to the God of Israel, the God
who made the heavens and the earth, the God who ordered all of life.
Now other people, in other
cultures, and in other generations have done similar things. You can find
temples every place where people live. There are temple ruins of the Maya and
Inca people in the “New World,” for instance. There are also the ornate
Buddhist Temples in Asia. There are elaborate Mosques in the Arab world, and I
suppose you could argue that the Taj Mahal in India is yet another example.
Each time a temple is built – no
matter who builds it – it is designed as a place where people hope to encounter
the Divine; a place where mystery and awe is celebrated using visual cues to do
so.
And lest we begin to think that
the building of temples is always wrong, we need to remember that Christians
have done the same thing, too.
From St. Peter’s in Rome to the
Crystal Cathedral in California, we can find examples of people building a
facility that is designed to turn our attention to the God of heaven and earth.
Sometimes the architect will use granite surfaces to remind us of the eternal
nature of God; often there are high ceilings to draw our attention heaven-ward.
There are stained glass windows and statues to help tell the story of faith as
well as buildings in the shape of a cross to help convey the story of salvation.
Some are in large cities while
others are in small towns. Some have congregations that use the buildings on a
regular basis; some are nothing more than museums where Christians used to
gather. All were built with the same basic purpose in mind: to help us focus
our attention on the God of our salvation, the God who made heaven and earth,
the God who is revealed to us in the love of Jesus Christ and the power of the
Holy Spirit.
But buildings, by themselves, can
only tell part of the story.
The actions and activities
conducted within those buildings tell another important part of the story. We
gather each Sunday to remember the story of Easter, the resurrection of Jesus on
the first day of the week. Jews, on the other hand, gather every Saturday to
remember the story of the Eternal Covenant of God, the Covenant symbolized in
the Ten Commandments in which God calls them to rest on the seventh day of the
week.
Ø
The story, itself, is told through scripture.
Ø
The story is celebrated in song.
Ø
The story is enacted in the breaking of the bread.
But the story only comes alive
when we leave this place.
When Jesus comes to the sanctuary
in Jerusalem he sees the telling of that story; but it seems that the
re-enacting of the great Passover story has taken precedence over the living of
the story. The preparations for worship have become more important than worship
itself!
You see, the money changers and
livestock dealers had an important function to play in the lives of pilgrims and
sojourners. People would see their animals before making the long journey to
Jerusalem. They would then buy another animal to be used as their sacrifice.
Money from far away lands needed to be exchanged for currency accepted in the
Temple. The “marketplace” Jesus found was a necessary part of the worship
experience of the people.
But what he saw seemed to have
taken priority over the worship of God. The market atmosphere had become the
focal point of the temple, not the worship of the awe-inspired people.
In this early scene in John’s
gospel we experience two things that we will see time and time again. Maybe
it’s important to remind ourselves of those things because they affect our
understanding of the story itself. First, John always tells stories in a way
that is rich in symbolism. Much like the ornate sanctuaries of Orthodox
Churches, John fills the story of Jesus with images that speak at a variety of
levels to different listeners to the story.
Secondly, it’s important to
remember that John doesn’t recount any of the parables of Jesus. It is almost
as if he substitutes a pattern of dialog which relies upon the use of words with
more than one meaning. Much like the parables function in the other gospels,
the multiple layered means of speaking causes people to wonder what Jesus is
really saying.
For both of those reasons, though,
this is a Gospel that we cannot read literally.
And with both of those things in
mind, there is no doubt in my mind that in telling us this story early in his
Gospel, John is inviting us to cleanse our lives – the “temple of the Holy
Spirit” according to Paul (1 Cor. 6:19) – so we can make room for Jesus.
When told during the season of
Lent, this story serves as a powerful reminder to maintain our Lenten fast as we
continue our journey toward Easter.
For those who do not have children
at home, you may not know it, but this is Spring Break week. One of the
memories I have of spring break from my own childhood is the ritual of spring
cleaning. (Although I’m not sure it had any “ritual” meaning for my mother
other than an activity by which she could keep us busy. I mean, it was
important work that needed to be done, but as a child it seemed to be little
more than busy work – work to keep us busy.) We cleaned closets, for instance.
We made room for summer clothing to replace winter clothing, and discarded worn
out clothing to make room for new clothes.
Jesus is cleansing the temple, not
just for busy work, but to make room for something new. But the people in the
story don’t hear that. They look at the facility in which they have gathered
and question Jesus’ authority (Jn. 2:18).
It isn’t that they disagree with
him, necessarily; they simply want to know who authorized him to do it! In
fact, one story I came across this week comes from Jewish writings of the time.
It recounts a controversy going on within the leadership of the temple. As a
political move, the Sanhedrin moved their meeting place from the temple
precincts – and in retaliation, the priests moved the animal vendors and money
changers into their old meeting place!
Those who question Jesus might
very well have been trying to determine on whose side he was acting – the
Sanhedrin or the priests.
But Jesus is not concerned with
the political struggles of the religious leaders. He was concerned with the
purity of worship. He was concerned with keeping the focus in the right place –
the right focus on the Holy One of Israel, the God of Heaven and Earth.
Later on in the story, Jesus will
make it clear that the place is not as important as the God we worship (Jn.
4:21-24). And since God is holy, a word that means pure, we must worship God’s
holiness.
To do so, we must recognize our
own sinfulness first; we must recognize our own unworthiness and our need for
God’s cleansing of our lives. Buildings may help us do that by instilling a
sense of awe and mystery, ornate sanctuaries may help us hear the story by using
the sense of sight as well as sound, and our liturgy may help us name our need
for God, but that is only the first step in the process.
We must also turn from the
recognition of our sin to the realization that we cannot erase sin or its
effects. Only God can do that. We simply cannot enter into God’s presence
without the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood.
You see, no matter how ornate the
sanctuary, no matter how elaborate the architecture, no matter how meaningful
the liturgy, if the time we spend in worship does not turn our hearts toward
God, it is no different than having money changers in the temple precincts.
But, thanks be to God, Jesus is
willing to cleanse our hearts and welcome us into the presence of God Almighty,
here, today. Amen.
