THE THINGS THAT ARE OF GOD
John 2:13-22

A sermon given by the Reverend Beverley F. Edwards
March 19, 2006 / 3rd Sunday in Lent

Imagine Rome in Easter week, decked out for the holy days, packed with an international in-gathering of clergy and lay-people, pilgrims and pickpockets, tourists and taxi-drivers all woven into the frantic fabric of a festival day.

Imagine a nobody priest from the sticks joining the throng on his long-awaited pilgrimage. Suppose he takes offense at being accosted by the skinny street kids and scruffy vendors who litter the steps of St. Peter’s, selling postcards, crosses, rosary beads and extra film. Suddenly he begins to shout and flail about himself, ordering the hawkers away from the holy shrine, accusing them of offending God.

Even worse, suppose he crashes around in the authorized cathedral gift shop, the place just inside the huge doors where they sell guidebooks and slides of the Michelangelo frescos and holy water blessed by the Pope.
Horror of horrors. Suppose he even makes a scene inside the sanctuary itself, whipping those old priests who collect the offerings for candles, missals and holy medals.

The humble, devout priest who caused such a stir would learn new and graphic Italian insults from the vendors. The gift-shop salespeople would cower in tears. The Canons of the Cathedral would order him removed and note his name for future reference. Even the weary Pope might wonder who was challenging his authority now.

The holy temple was to Jerusalem what St. Peter’s is to Rome. Even more, for Jerusalem was a theocracy, ruled by priests. The temple was not only the site of ritual worship to which all adult males made a pilgrimage at least once a year. It was also the financial center, the university, the supreme court and the hub of Jewish culture.

Worshipers purified themselves in the outer courtyard. There they exchanged coins with pictures of Roman emperors for shekels, the only acceptable currency with which to pay the temple tax and to purchase the required unblemished animals for sacrifice.

In the Gospel of John, the only one in which this story appears, this confrontation at the Temple is Jesus’ first public act. It follows the baptism, the gathering of disciples and the miracle at the wedding of Cana. Quite an entrance onto the national stage.

When Jesus attacked the vendors and moneychangers, he was not only making a statement about gouging money from pilgrims’ piety. He was protesting the whole mundane way in which religious institutions support themselves. Imagine what Jesus, in this mood, would think of Bingo, or even PPAC parking.

Jesus was challenging the basic assumptions of the sacred institutions of society, the relationship of economics and religion, of piety and politics. Overturning the moneychangers’ tables was a highly visible piece of political action. Jesus’ basic point was that the mechanics of maintaining the system had overwhelmed and obscured the purpose for which it had been founded. The rituals that involved buying and selling and saying certain particular prayers at special moments, worked against any personal relationship with the God to whom these practices were dedicated.
The edifice of the Temple, which like any cathedral never seems to be finished and always needs money, had become an end in itself, an obstacle to genuine worship of a transcendent God.

"Destroy it!" Jesus said. "And in three days I will raise it up."
At the time, no one understood Jesus, not even the disciples, and his confrontation marked the beginning of the antagonism toward Jesus by temple officials that culminated in his trial and crucifixion. Only in hindsight did the disciples remember this pivotal incident which they interpreted him to have meant, "Do not be impressed by this magnificent building. The temple is an idol. I will show you a better temple, the temple of my body, dead and resurrected, a spiritual temple of God that will be indestructible and more powerful than any building wrought by human hands."

In our present day, the conflict continues. A deep tension exists between people who say faith should be pure and spirit-centered, not mixed with mundane matters, and others who insist that faith-based institutions should be tangible, visible and take stands on matters of civic and national importance, whether these are defined as moral issues, or political agendas, or even party ethics.

Personally think both arguments have validity, and that the goal is somehow to balance a deep spiritual connection to Christ with a worldly wisdom that seeks to fulfill his message of justice and peace on earth but that is surely easier to say than to practice.

Certainly the present relationship of religion to politics in America is complex and confusing. Churches, whether individual congregations or worldwide denominations, preach various positions depending upon their interpretations of "political" and "theological" and "Christian." Often, as institutions, churches collaborate with the political system using it for their own advantage. They invoke the constitutional provision for the separation of Church and state differently depending on whether the issue is something like prayer in schools which they want, or taxes on church-owned property which they resist.

Most denominations, including the Roman Catholics, the fundamentalists, and the United Church of Christ maintain lobbyists in Washington to promote legislation that will help tilt the country according to their moral views. Issues such as abortion rights, civil rights, justification for American involvement in the affairs of other countries, all are argued passionately from a stance of religious conviction.

As individual church members, people whose beliefs and values shape our identity, most of us find outlets within our democratic system to express our opinions without confrontation or civil disobedience. But government, by its nature, is conservative, ponderous rather than prophetic. Always there will be a need for informed, concerned citizens to challenge the assumptions of the "sacred" institutions and the authorities who serve them. If Jesus is our model and the gospel message our foundation, then there will be issues around which thoughtful Christians will feel called to witness in a prophetic expression of moral judgment.

Individual Bible passages can be found to justify every possible political stance on every conceivable issue. But scripture as a whole, circles around God’s will like a compass always pointing toward true north.

And what is God’s will? The forward thrust of the Biblical witness is toward inclusivity. From being the exclusive God of Abraham’s tribe, God’s caring expanded through the centuries to include all Jews, and then gentiles who accepted the Jewish faith and finally anyone who believed in Jesus Christ. Ultimately, God embraces all people and creatures who inhabit the earth. God claims the world and the cosmos, the alpha and the omega.
The theme that shines like a golden thread through all the Bible is God’s special concern for the poor, the orphans, the oppressed and those who suffer and grieve. Anyone who harms "one of the least of these" will find judgment in heaven. From a Biblical perspective, it is natural that political entities will fall and sacred institutions will pass away. Those Roman coins Jesus objected to are collector’s items now and all that’s left of the temple at Jerusalem is the wailing wall.

When people say that churches, as such, should not be involved in politics, I agree as far as party politics are concerned. But, on such issues as economics and homelessness, health-care and war, Jesus sets the example. Christians have no cause to be self-righteous but it’s appropriate to be angry over these injustices. We are called to be well-informed and to do everything in our power to overturn the tables and drive out the money changers. It is the loving act of a committed person to stand magnificent in the name of Christ, to name the blasphemers and drive out those who profane the temples of our time.

Jesus also calls us to look into "My Father’s House", our places of worship and their relationship with God. We need to ask, "Are the churches’ priorities God’s priorities?" We need to examine in what ways our money concerns and the mechanics and the tools of worship, distract us and create distance rather than intimacy with the living God. Even closer to home, within our own hearts, in our solitude, Jesus calls every one of us to examine ourselves and, where we are cluttered and profaned, to allow Christ to overturn our tables, to cleanse our temple, body and soul and to make us a more pure and perfect spirit.

Jesus’ passion for restoring sacred values should be the prayerful concern of all Christians. When we feel called to act on our principles, we may create quite a stir which is why it is more effective to act with others of like mind. We may get in trouble. The authorities may take our picture for their endless files of troublemakers.

But Jesus calls us to be disciples and strengthens us in the work. He tempers our righteous anger with healthy humility. He reminds us that our allegiance is entirely to God and all our motivations must spring from God’s commandments. Within that context, and informed by the Holy Spirit, our task is the rebuilding of the holy temple in all its manifestations. We are privileged to work together for the building up of the holy realm of our God.

SHALOM