The first
thing to note is that this occurs during Passover.
Passover, the
time when they remembered that God had led the people out of slavery in Egypt.
This was one
of the major festivals of the Jewish calendar, and a time for people to go to
the Temple in Jerusalem.
People would
take sacrifices, as required; but if you are travelling for a week, do you
really want to be taking a bull or a sheep with you? Even in Deuteronomy [14:
22-26], there is allowance for people to sell their offerings of grain and
grapes and animals locally, and use the money to buy their offerings and
sacrifices in Jerusalem.
The temple
tax was not to be paid with Roman coins, so money changers were a required part
of the system.
Another thing
to keep in mind is that the gospel of John is thought to have been written down
about the turn of the first century.[i] The reconstruction[ii] of the Temple in Jerusalem begun under Herod
the Great, who ruled until just after the birth of Jesus. The temple was again destroyed in 70 AD.
This means
that the Gospel if John was not written in its final form until after the
destruction of the Temple.[iii]
So, what
might this passage tell us?
Not to have a
cake stall in the church?
John has Jesus saying: Don’t
make my Father’s house a marketplace
Is that only
animals, or any form of commerce?
I suspect
this passage is considered difficult because we read it at face value, and we
look for today’s equivalents of selling sheep and cattle and doves in the foyer
of the church.
John was
writing to let people know who Jesus was:
“Jesus worked many other miracles for his
disciples, and not all of them are written in this book. But these are written
so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. If
you have faith in him, you will have true life.” John 20:30-31 (CEV)[iv]
“these are
written so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of
God”
John isn’t
writing to tell us everything Jesus did, but who Jesus was.
The Temple
was the centre of Jewish sacrificial religious life. You could hear or read the
Scriptures in the Synagogue, but certain things were only celebrated at the
temple.
For centuries
the Temple was the place where the people of Israel perceived God to be. I know
some people now who believe God is only present in a church building.
The temple
was a place to gather as a people, to worship God. But for some it had become
fulfilling a duty, and making the right transactions.
I have heard
it said that this is a time of transition, but I wonder if ever since time
began, there hasn’t been some kind of changes going on.
In turning over
the tables of the money changers, in driving out the animals from the Temple,
Jesus is saying, things are different now.
“When Jesus,
the Word made flesh, comes, …, everything changes. And among the first of these
changes is that there is no longer a need to sacrifice, as God will interact
with God’s people in a whole new way.”[v]
A few of our
readings in the next few weeks challenge the established religious wisdom of
the day.
Here I think
we are being asked to consider what is at the heart of worship.
In 2 weeks,
it will be where do we rightly worship, and later does worship give life.
Why do you
come to worship?
We can, and I
hope you do, worship God at other times and in other places. Here I am talking
about this peculiar activity of meeting together, such as we are doing this
morning.
Why do you
come to worship?
[space]
Is it because
you are on a roster,
or you have nothing
better to do on a Sunday morning,
or out of
habit?
One way I
think of our worshipping life together, is as a community that strengthens and
encourages each other,
as
we hear the Scripture read,
as
we pray together,
as
we sing,
as
we share some reflections on the Scriptures
as
we spend time together, with God and with each other.
Being a
follower of Jesus is not always easy,
there
are social pressures
and family expectations
and are our own human limitations.
Why do you
come to worship?
[space]
A quote:
What if
church is not the place we go to encounter God
but the place
from which we are sent to encounter God?
what if it’s
the place of preparation,
not the
destination?
What if the
point of church is to attune ourselves to God
so that we
can more clearly notice God out in the world?[vi]
What if this
time together is not the ‘high’ point of your spiritual life,
but a time to
celebrate who we are and who we belong to
a time to
retune our God antennas,
our ears and eyes
and hearts to see and hear God more readily,
to love more
Which has me
wondering, what do we need to worship God as a community of faith?
Looking
around this building, what could we do without?
I could do without
the pulpit,
what could
you do without?
[space]
What helps
you connect to God?
What from
this place, helps you to recognise God when you are in other places?
[space]
In many
conversations in churches worldwide, there are some common issues, such as:
reduced
attendance at worship
an
absence of younger people,
what
does it mean to be at mission?
what
does it mean to be a person of faith?
how
do we talk about faith today?
or
should we talk about our faith
the early Christians
had questions to grapple with as well, questions like:
do
gentiles need to be circumcised?
what
is the role of women in the church
are
we part of the Jewish religion? – that one was answered when Christians were
expelled from the Synagogues.
Towards the
end of the first century, the questions revolved around:
who
was Jesus?
how
did he relate to God?
if
Jesus is divine, how is he also human?[vii]
This passage we
heard this morning, speaks about the difference between God residing in a
building, and God dwelling in our lives.
My experience
is that God dwelling in us, can be life changing,
earth
shattering,
bone-jarring
terrifyingly
life changing.
because we no
longer have a set of required sacrifices
we can no
longer pretend that God is only in one place
we can no
longer say, I have done my duty
Here is a
story:
"Before
he became a bishop, Bishop Will Willimon was for many years the chaplain to Duke
University. Willimon says he got a phone call once from a father who was very
upset. The man was mad because his daughter had gone on a mission trip to
Haiti.
The father
blamed Willimon for influencing his daughter who had attended chapel at Duke
while she was a student there. [I think the father
wanted his tuition money back.]
He said, “She’s got a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Duke
University and now you’ve got her all excited about digging ditches in Haiti!
She’s talking about becoming a missionary! She’s talking about doing this sort
of thing for the rest of her life! I hold you personally responsible for this
ridiculous idea!”
As the
conversation went on, Willimon discovered that the girl’s parents had been
life-long Presbyterians. They had made sure that their daughter was baptized
when she was a baby. They had raised her in the church. They had read her
stories from the Bible when she was a little girl and they had taken her to
worship and Sunday school and sent her to youth group.
Willimon
finally lost his patience and said to the father, “You’re the ones who
introduced her to Jesus, not me! What did you expect? What did you expect would
happen when you took your daughter to church for all those years?
After a
moment of silence, the father replied, “Man, we just wanted her to be a normal
old Presbyterian. We didn’t want it to change her life or anything!”"[viii]
let’s face it
God is on the
loose,
in our lives
and in the world,
and who knows
where that will lead.
[i]
Sacra Pagina, The Gospel of John, [ the Liturgical Press, 1998] p2
[ii]
http://www.windowintothebible.com/the-temple-at-the-time-of-jesus
[iii]
Sacra Pagina, p 12-13
[iv]
Contemporary English Version (CEV) Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society
[v]
http://www.davidlose.net/2015/01/john-2-13-22/
[vi]
https://www.facebook.com/1417287124985228/photos/a.1428361660544441.1073741828.1417287124985228/1516416161738990/?type=3&theater
[vii]
Sacra Pagina, p 20
[viii]
https://www.facebook.com/fpcboise/posts/10152361785000095
