Third Sunday of Lent 2009 comments on John 2:13-22 - Jesus clears the Temple

Here's the core of last weekend's homily:

What is the meaning of this solitary recorded incident of violence in the life and work of the Prince of Peace?

Jesus previewed the Temple market in place of foreign worshipers, subverting the original vision of global blessing.

Here was the purported site of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac, in Moriah. This was Jerusalem, the home of the priest-king Melchizedek to whom Abraham tithed. There are layers of history here: This was the hilltown David, Jesus’ ancestor, the psalmist-king, took from the later Jebusites to make his capital and fortress. Remember God’s counter-offer and covenant promise to David, to build him a permanent temple/house? God responded, “No, but I will build your house” i.e. lineage or dynasty (see 2 Samuel 7:11-16 esp.). Solomon built the first Temple, post-Exile refugees had rebuilt a lesser marvel, and Herod had refurbished and replaced it with a new “attraction.”

Jesus had seen it before, at least annually, across more than half of Herod’s ambitious building campaign since 19 BC. (So John dates this at 27 AD.) But instead of a magnet attracting the nations to the blessing of knowing and worshiping the Living God, the premises sustains a convenient trade in sacrifices that...stank – physically and ethically, because of its profitability for the Temple elite and the space it took from any Gentile would-be worshipers.

Jesus planned - He himself handcrafted the whip of cords he would use to stampede animals and drive out moneychangers. This was no sudden outburst of spontaneous rage, but an action calculated to get the close attention of the Jewish Temple authorities without arousing much interest from the Roman soldiers garrisoned nearby.

Jesus passionately and decisively confronts the stark reality and gaping gulf of his generation’s separation from God caused by sin. By contrast, my expressions of anger are usually spontaneous, sarcastic and passive-aggressive.

Jesus prophesied - This intervention was a prophetic denunciation of business as usual, a warning of impending destruction within a generation, and the promise of a greater center of worship and launch pad for global mission.

No one asked him why - only for authorization. A corrupt Temple leadership was caught with its fingers in the coffers, and everybody knew it. What everybody didn’t know was what this prophet had in mind for how to replace it with a permanent place of prayer for all nations. The Holy One had come to visit his own “house,” and nothing could be exactly the same anymore. His three days from crucifixion to resurrection would change everything.

Jesus lived the Law like no other. [Earlier we read the Ten Commandments and parts of Psalm 19 and Romans 7.] He recognized its original intent and freely committed himself to its fulfillment: to reveal God, to demonstrate what it means to belong to God. Jesus’ full obedience to the moral code and bodily sacrifice at the Cross in parallel to the ceremonial code has led to his reign in civil relations between those who receive his own righteous standing with God. His gift brings both an undeniable longing to obey God out of gratitude and the power to increase such compliance through the same indwelling Holy Spirit who accompanied his.

So, what is the meaning of this solitary recorded incident of violence and show-of-force in the life and work of the Prince of Peace? With fierce love, he joins the force of law (from Sinai) with the power of sacrifice in his zeal to fulfill both on that second mount, Zion.

What other God allows himself to be “consumed” on behalf of his worshipers? All other competitors to Yahweh would consume us! Who had more right to obedience? He who obeyed – zealously. Take his gift and yield to him; it’s the only way forward.