John 2:13-22
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 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. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." 18 The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" 19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 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.
About one hundred forty years ago, Alexander Graham Bell raced another man named Elisha Gray to the patent office in order to receive a patent for his invention that would come to be known as the telephone. About five years after filing his patent, there were over 132,000 homes with their own version of Bell’s telephone. By 1930 that number was well over 15 million.[1] Ever since its introduction the telephone has certainly undergone a great deal of changes as it has evolved.
In the beginning, phone calls depended on operators connecting wires between telephones. Then, along came the rotary-dial phone that allowed one to dial another’s phone number directly. Not long after that, the world was introduced to the touchtone phone, which replaced the somewhat complicated rotary dial with individual buttons for each digit. Then came the cordless phone, answering machines, caller ID, and then the device that has come to define a generation—the cellular/mobile phone. Phones could be carried in bags in one’s car or as large, grey, plastic blocks in a purse or brief case. Cell phones became extremely popular, and over the years they became smaller, more affordable. Before long, cell phones were small enough to fit in one’s pocket.
Then in the 1990s, cell phones became more than just portable telephones, used exclusively for making phone calls. They became entertainment devices as one could play games on his or her cell phone, change ringtones, play music or send text messages. Before long, cell phones became small computers, able to send and receive emails, take pictures and shoot video (in High Definition no less!), download files, and keep track of one’s schedule and all of his or her contacts. These “smartphones” have become so popular it’s predicted that in four years one billion people will be smartphone users.[2] The telephone has come an awful long way since that day Mr. Gray and Mr. Bell raced to the patent office, but it’s a clear example of how an idea, an invention, has only gotten more useful and more important with each iteration since its introduction.
But then there are those ideas, those inventions and processes, that begin as good ideas and along the way, as they evolve, they actually become less useful, maybe even harmful. Take for instance, the way we preserve food. Just a few generations ago there was no such thing as “organic” produce, no such thing as “locally-grown, farm-raised, free-range” livestock. These things didn’t exist because everything was already locally-grown, farm-raised, free-range, and organic! Yet, sometime around the middle of the twentieth century, we decided that we could have “better living through chemistry,” and we developed chemical preservatives for our food, new pesticides that would help us yield larger crops to be preserved by these new chemicals. We genetically engineered produce that was robbed of many of its nutrients and tasted worse just so we could ship it across the country in trailers filled with gas preservatives. We did all of these things with the initial intention of making food cheaper and available year-round; it started as a noble, good idea. Of course, these days we know of the health hazards of most of these preservatives and how the chemistry we once thought would lead to better living has only lead to carcinogen-laced foods and tasteless tomatoes. Yes, it seems that not all things that begin with good intentions and right motives evolve into something that truly improves the quality of life. I suppose one could make the case that the temple in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day sort of falls into this category.
The Jewish temple was first built by Solomon around the year 957 BCE, replacing the elaborate tabernacle used by the Israelites during their period of wandering in the wilderness. Solomon’s temple was attacked several times after its construction, and eventually destroyed by the Babylonians around the year 586 BCE. According to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, when the Jewish people were released from exile under the reign of the Persian king Cyrus, they returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt a much smaller, less impressive, temple (around the year 515 BCE). This temple would stand for some time and see its share of rulers attempt to worship idols within its walls. But it was around the year 20 BCE that King Herod the Great began an elaborate renovation project that would restore the temple to its former glory. It was in this iteration of the Jewish temple that Jesus would have worshipped.
While Herod’s Temple was elaborate and beautifully adorned, it had come a long way from the center of worship it had been in the days of Solomon. In order to accommodate for those pilgrims who had traveled from distant lands, livestock was sold in the courts of the temple for sacrifices. Well, this presented a bit of a problem as the currency used for temple business was not the same as the currency used throughout the Empire, and since the Roman government forbid the Jews to issue their own currency,[3] money changers were brought in and set up tables at the entrances of these courts in order for these pilgrims to have the proper currency to buy their sacrifices. Well, as you can imagine, both the sellers of livestock and the money changers found themselves quite busy (especially during the celebration of the Passover), and so the money changers began charging a fee for their services and the sellers of livestock began turning a profit[4]—all perfectly acceptable actions if you were to ask anyone in the business world.
Before long, however, it was that business that began to dominate the temple mount. It became easy to see the temple, not as a holy site or a place of worship, but as a place of obligatory custom and a place to do business. The temple had become a machine, a corporation, and a center for commerce. It was a tourist site, and as with all tourist sites, there were those who were eager to capitalize on its popularity and the mass of potential “customers.” Into this commercial circus, we’re told in verse 13, Jesus came to celebrate Passover.
Now, the events that took place on that day are familiar to those of us who have read the gospels; they are perhaps some of the most interesting events, because they seem so unlike Jesus. In verse 15 we see Jesus reacting to the scene before him in the temple: 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. But why does Jesus react in this way? If this is how things were, how the religious machine worked in the first century, then why is Jesus lashing out at those who are just playing the part to which they’ve grown accustomed? Well, listen to his words in verse 16: He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" Jesus entered the temple, looked around and saw nothing more than a marketplace, an area to do business. No longer was the temple a place of holiness or reverent worship; rather, the temple had become a place for the faithful few to wade through the immoral and irreverent practices of those seeking to make a profit and those seeking to simply acknowledge their own cultural and religious heritage. Is it any wonder Jesus, the Son of the God to whom the temple was built, takes such bold action when he enters the temple?
Now, in verses 17 and 18 we see the way others responded to Jesus’ actions: 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?" They don’t get it. They want to know why in the world is Jesus behaving like this; where does he get off driving out the livestock and the money changers? Doesn’t he understand that these people rely on their income here in the temple? Doesn’t Jesus understand that this is the way the temple works now? They want some sort of sign, some justification, as to why Jesus has done this, but after Jesus answered them in verse 19, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," all they can say is, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" It’s as if they only understand the temple in terms of the stones that built the walls and the money that changed hands. They seemed to only be concerned about the influx of pilgrims and the money to be made from such a large celebration as Passover.
Jesus challenged them to destroy the temple, and the evangelist lets us in on exactly what Jesus meant in verses 21 and 22: 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. They didn’t understand. They completely missed the point of the temple. Over the generations, the temple went from a pious attempt to create a central location for the worship of God to nothing more than an expensive complex for commerce. This wasn’t Jesus cleansing the temple; this was Jesus completely rejecting what the temple had become, and with his words Jesus teaches us that the true temple, the true dwelling place of God, was found in his Son.
Now, let’s imagine for a moment that it’s Christmas Day or Easter Sunday (perhaps the closest thing we Christians have to Passover in terms of mass popularity and attendance) and Jesus has come to church. What would he witness? What about on any given Sunday? Would Jesus see a group of people coming together to worship the Almighty God with hearts filled with hope, joy, and reverence? Would he witness a multitude of believers gathered under one roof out of love for God and each other? Would he even be allowed in the door? Would people greet him with a genuine smile, perhaps a warm hug, to let him know he is welcome in the House of God? Is that what Jesus would witness?
Or would he see a machine, a corporation, simply trying to survive out of some small desire to meet a cultural norm? Would he see individuals—not a group—gathered together in order to simply feel better about what’s going to happen to them after they die? Would he witness a group of people who are only interested in seeing more people like them come into the business in order to generate more money so more people can come and bring more money so the whole machine can grind on without the slightest bit of sacrifice and devotion from those who claim his name? Would he come into this room today, walk down the aisle and begin turning over pews, pouring out the offering plates, and driving us out in rejection of what the (C)hurch has become?
Are we missing the point of it all? Do we fail to understand what it means to be Christ’s Church, the temple of God? Have we let generations of evolution, decades of so-called “advancements” and “improvements” in ministry, lead us away from our calling as Christ’s Church? Let us begin this very day—each and every one of us—to come together to be Christ’s Church. Let us shake loose those things we’ve come to expect as acceptable if they lead us further from our true calling as followers of Christ and worshippers of God. It’s time to turn the tables, time to reverse the habits and practices that cause us to be little more than a religious machine. It’s time to turn the tables of apathy that allow us to feel as if we’re accomplishing something simply because we claim to have the desire to see things change. It’s time to turn the tables that have brought us to a place where we can say “that’s the way it’s always been” as if it’s some sort of righteous justification. It’s time for us, Christ’s church, to turn the tables and begin focusing on those things which are eternal, or I’m afraid, my brothers and sisters, Christ may just turn those tables over on us and reject the machine that has come to be called the Church. Amen.
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