Mark 11:11-18; Matthew 21:14-16
Wow! Does Jesus ever let lose in the temple!
Tables are overturned, coins are scattered, and birds and animals destined to be sacri-ficed are driven out the door, quickly followed by their owners chasing after them. //
This exercise of heavenly wrath actually started a few minutes earlier.
We heard in our scripture reading that on the way to the temple,
Jesus saw a fig tree with lots of leaves.
Being hungry, he got his hopes up that there would be fruit to eat from its lush branches. But, there were no figs!!
Christ lays a curse on the fig tree: “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”
By the next morning, the fig tree had withered from the roots up. (Mark 11:20)
Curiously, Mark adds a bit of commentary saying it actually wasn’t the season for figs.
Did Jesus know that? If so, that would seem to elevate the harshness of the curse. //
Does the cleansing of the temple and the cursing of the fig tree legitimize the use of destructive force?
How should we interpret Jesus’ all-consuming zeal, and as his followers, what then is expected of us? What ought we to be doing? //
In our worship series for Lent, today we’re focusing on the Monday of Holy Week. It’s the day after the crowd had escorted Jesus into the city with palm branches waving.
Those in that crowd sensed a tipping point, a moment ripe for revolt – a chance to incite the thousands gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish Passover.
Outnumbered many times over, the limited contingent of Roman soldiers stationed at the garrison wouldn’t stand a chance.
This tipping point is not lost on Jesus.
When Pastor Mark preached two weeks ago, we noted that Jesus looked on the city with tear-filled eyes. He breathed a heavy sigh and said: (Luke 19:42)
“How I wish you knew today what would bring peace! But you can’t see (it).”
Seems he didn’t want this to be a time for swords and bloodshed. Surely most people know that peace gained through violence never lasts.
No, when Jesus looked at Jerusalem from that high vantage point, he saw something greater – a moment that had the potential to unite longstanding enemies and awaken a new era of mutual concern for each other’s wellbeing.
Jesus saw a chance for lasting peace based on foes seeing their own security being dependent on the other’s.
Imagine what could happen if not only the Jews and Romans,
but people from every nationality under the sun,
would find, at God’s house,
an experience of being seen and heard
resulting in an unrestricted outpouring of healing and hope!
And from that experience,
imagine a spirit of unity descending on all humankind
based on every person feeling valued, supported,
and loved by the Creator of all life!
Also imagine the bond that would be created across all people groups,
inspiring a community of kindness where each person commits
to their neighbor having enough
food, clothing, water, medicine, and meaningful employment.
Is such a vision delusional?
The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 says “NO” – the vision is real, with twelve baskets of leftovers to boot.
The miraculous healing of the woman with the issue of blood says community can be restored, erasing shame.
The separate raising of three who had died – Jaris’ daughter, the widow of Nain’s son, and Martha & Mary’s brother Lazarus – all say that nothing is impossible. Not even DEATH can get in the way!!
Fired up with this vision, Jesus begins his Monday morning with a plan.
He’s going to pull a “Samson” move at the temple
and push against pillars that are holding up a system
that keeps people estranged from God.
He’s going to cause “the roof” to come crashing down on practices that exclude,
and in the process, like Samson,
he’ll offer himself up and be consumed –
all for the sake of returning the temple to its original purpose.
What is that purpose?
Jesus quotes from the words we find in the Prophet Isaiah’s writing (chapter 56:7):
“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
Sadly, over time, those in charge of God’s house have let it turn into a marketplace – and a corrupt one at that!
People who have come to pray and lay their hearts open before God aren’t getting in.
They’re being blocked by the high cost of having to exchange their money for the temple’s own currency.
And, they’re also being price-gouged by those selling the sacrifices the priests say are required to get God’s attention.
Sincere humble people,
hurting people,
desperate and afraid people,
are being turned away from a chance to feel seen and heard.
Enraged by these barriers, we know what happens when people speak up and complain, when they advocate for themselves and/or others.
They’re labelled troublemakers by the institution.
They may even find themselves ushered out by security,
their names put on a list, their access barred, even for life.
Jesus decides he can’t let this slide.
Something has to be done,
even if it consumes him,
destroys him.
The disciples are struck by his passion and are reminded of a quote by king David:
“Zeal for your house will consume me.”
It comes from Psalm 69:9.
It’s not clear what the situation was when David said these words.
Is he on the run from King Saul?
Or has he just been driven out of Jerusalem by his son Absalum?
What we do know is that David has gone through many tough times.
It could be any of them
– times when he tried to do right by God
only to get pounded with curses by his enemies
– even by members of his own family.
His commitment to prayerfully discern and do the right thing,
even to show mercy to his enemies,
feels like it is consuming him
– eating him up from the inside out.
Are we supposed to be impressed and inspired by such loyalty and devotion?
Or are these words reflective of someone who is misguided, perhaps self-absorbed, or worse, delusional? //
The “Easy-to-Read” translation says that Christ’s zeal for God’s house will destroy him.
That word fits when, in John’s gospel account of the cleansing of the temple, Jesus answers the Jews who ask him to prove his authority for doing what he did.
Jesus says: “Destroy this temple and I will build it again in three days.”
John provides a bit of commentary here, saying that Jesus was referring to his own body, and that God would raise him to life after three days.
Looking back on holy week, that’s what happened.
But what if Jesus was also saying to his critics:
“Don’t be so attached to what you have built.
Aspects of it might be keeping people out.
In fact, why don’t you destroy it and see what happens.
I guaranteed that in as little as three days,
God will bring to life a new version
one that more accurately reflects its original purpose.”
How crazy is that, right?
The Jews that had asked him to prove his authority thought he was referring to the temple building – a structure that had taken 46 years to remake under King Herod.
But look at what happens.
These offended Jews
who ask Jesus to perform a miracle proving his authority
actually get one right away!
It doesn’t take 46 years!
It doesn’t even take three days!!
It starts to happen minutes after Jesus had “destroyed” the market-like barriers.
Matthew’s gospel reads that
the blind and the lame came into the Temple and found healing (21:14).
Is that not a sign? An awesome miracle?!
It’s interesting that Matthew centers out the blind and the lame. Think about it.
People who can’t see God’s grace being held out to them creep through the entrance.
They feel their way into the presence of God,
and suddenly, now can see it, and take hold of it! //
And people who are paralysed by their fears,
afraid that the Lord could never forgive their failings,
crawl through the gate
and find the strength to run into God’s arms! //
This simple strategic act of overturning tables and shooing out the animals has opened the doors wide, and people are flooding in! //
Another interesting observation.
It seems the formerly blind and formerly lame
are keeping their healing on the downlow.
None of the gospels speak about them celebrating, shouting praises to God.
It’s understandable, right?
Wouldn’t you and I be a bit nervous, worried we might get arrested, having skipped the rules about changing our money and offering up a sacrifice?
Well, the adults may be quiet, trying to keep a low profile,
but not the children!
They are shouting!!
“PRAISE GOD FOR THE SON OF DAVID!” (2x)
They feel God is there!!
They feel something has shifted,
for the better,
and it’s HUGE! //
I don’t know what the Temple’s policy was regarding children.
I don’t know how welcome they were inside there.
What we do know is that their shouting was bothering the leading priests and teachers of religious law.
Probably both the volume,
and what they were saying – pointing to Jesus as the Son of David.
But the kids are NOT worried about the priests and teachers of the law.
They’re focused on Jesus who has put them in touch with God.
They feel connected and blessed.
They feel joy.
They feel seen and loved and valued!
And friends,
these miracles and blessings all started happening within hours,
maybe within minutes, of the temple being cleansed.
“Destroy this temple, and watch how quickly it will be built again,” Jesus said! //
Seems every generation runs into restrictions that bottleneck and block seekers courageously coming to bring their prayers and petitions to God.
About one hundred years ago, my grandma Penner was kept from partaking in communion because of how she was baptized.
She had declared her loyalty to Christ through water poured on to her head,
but the church she had married into required immersion – a full body dunking.
She was told she could only “partake” IF she was rebaptized. To that she said: “No.”
She would not make a mockery of God’s grace poured out for her at her baptism.
Pastors and deacons came to visit and put pressure on her to be rebaptized.
But she did not bow down.
I never heard how my grandfather responded.
He would have been caught between
a tradition of male headship
and wanting to honor his wife – his second wife
who not only married him
but had become the new mom to his 8 children,
and then had 4 of her own with him.
He owed her big time. There was no way he could join the church in pressuring her. //
I don’t know how long it took,
but one day, things changed,
and grandma was welcomed to the communion table.
Some apologies were made, and she accepted. //
I think for my parents’ generation, a big issue constraining participation was the rule that only men could come to congregational meetings and vote on motions.
I never heard if any tables were tossed to overcome that rule. But something happened and the congregation (and larger conference body) let their temple be destroyed, calling on God to build it again in a more inclusive fashion. //
Then there was my generation – the Baby Boomers.
In the 1970s we reacted to there being too many unwritten rules defining what a Christian ought to look like.
Boomers who wanted to stay threw wrenches into the gears to disrupt tradition.
Instead of suits and dresses,
jeans were worn to church.
Instead of clean-cut appearances, and conformity,
there were beards, long hair, higher hemlines, tie-dyed T shirts, and guitars.
In the end, those churches that wanted to include their youth recognized what had become barriers, and set them aside – not an easy thing to do.
After the Boomers, subsequent generations have come up against other bottlenecks and barriers to inclusion. We continue to find that sexism has deeper roots than we thought. Racism too for that matter.
We continue to run into prejudice and discrimination – assumptions that value one person over another, be it based on wealth, education, disability, or sexual identity.
We have only taken baby steps to appreciate how our being Church has much work to do to dismantle and destroy assumptions that leave Creation and its prayerful groans outside our purview.
Having said all that, we can be grateful for those who have given themselves to disrupt patterns and pull-down pillars, to open the way for all to be welcomed in and experience an eager God hearing their prayers and honoring their needs.
Friends, the good news is this.
When you experience the miracle of connecting with God personally,
or witness it in others,
of the blind being able to see,
and the lame being able to walk,
And once you hear the children shouting for joy,
praising the presence and caring of the living God,
there is no going back.
You will want to let go of your life – trying to protect it, and conserve it.
You will want to follow Jesus and put it all on the line,
following as the Spirit leads,
knowing these miracles are worth it.
You will realize the cost
– it is no small price to pay.
But deep down, you’ll know it will be worth it.
What would you say is narrowing the doors into God’s presence today?
Maybe it’s not even a generational thing based on age differences.
One thing I wonder about is if we sometimes fall into the trap of
making our worship and life together too perfect,
too scripted,
too controlled
– in a sense, too much about us and not enough about being real.
I wonder if sometimes we’re “all leaves” – lush and shiny, but no fruit of God’s power at work in our imperfects and neediness.
I think about how hungry the world is for tasting and seeing that God is present, providing.
That fruit – examples of God’s faithfulness – would be so desired and so delicious!
And as Pastor Janet pointed out to me this week,
there is a price to pay too for not having any fruit to share
on account of being zealous for keeping God’s house static and restricted.
Hanging on to control – enforcing traditions that don’t make sense, that keep people hungry and left on the outside – will destroy us too!
May God help us be open to learning from one another, especially from those who feel hindered and left out.
Please join me in a closing prayer:
Dear God, to be honest,
sometimes,
maybe most of the time,
we can’t see You.
We can’t see You loving us.
We are blind to Your grace.
Sometimes,
maybe most of the time,
we can’t move our legs and get ourselves closer to You.
We are paralysed, scared stiff You won’t find us good enough.
Today, we’ve heard a story that offers us
a bit of courage to believe You actually love us as is,
all thanks to Jesus turning over tables,
dumping rules that keep us outside the doors,
that keep us from evening trying to pray,
that keep us doubting You won’t want to hear about our hurts and troubles.
How amazing that Jesus let our hunger for love and meaning consume him.
He welcomed us to trust You,
and today,
we have this chance to see and walk and come closer.
We are here, Lord God.
See us, heal us, raise us up into a life stronger than death.
Set us free, and we will shout like those children in the temple!
Cause us to bud and flower,
Pollinate our prayers
and let the fruit of Your daily mercies and provisions
hang in all fullness from our branches
to be given away and shared with those who hunger
to believe You really do exist and care about the world.
Forgive us our narrowmindedness and control.
Destroy even the things we find precious, knowing that what You raise up will be truer and better suited for this day’s expression of the Kin-dom of heaven here on earth.
We commit to hold all things loosely, so that You will find our hands responsive to share freely of the abundance we’ve already received.
In the name of Jesus, we pray.