The Passover of the Jews was near. A big deal for Jews! They rehearsed and remembered their divine rescue from Egyptian slavery, a day that is ingrained in the minds of the children of Israel. As it was customary, Jesus would be in Capernaum often teaching about the Kingdom of God. After having spent a few days with his mom and brothers, he went to Jerusalem. In the Temple, the idea was that people of God gather; pursuing holiness and purity in front of a Holy God, so that God, would come and vindicate them. Remember they were conquered by Romans, they certainly had many prayer requests asking God to intervene in their lives. As part of the Passover celebrations were the Matzah: A simple meal, made from flour and water without any yeast: a symbol of the meager rations the Jewish slaves had to subsist on during their enslavement, and a reminder of the poverty and hardship they endured. When Jesus got to the temple, it was business as usual for Israel’s leaders. The very reason to come to the Temple was compromised. I want us to imagine what it must have looked and sounded like to have cattles and sheep and loud marketplace negotiations! Boy was Jesus angry! [Get out of here! Take these stuff out of My Father's House!] I am paraphrasing. John wants us to see that the same God of the Old Testament that is always concerned about what we have turned the House of worship into is exactly what is happening here with jesus concerns. There is a potential danger for us, like Israelite leaders, to step into our own wisdom & thinking, therefore moving away from God’s wisdom little by little and forget his purposes in the process. How did the moneychangers get into the Temple in the 1st place? All the noise had become normal. Israel’s leaders didn’t see the gradual moving away from God’s purposes until Jesus pointed it out. He was saying:
Respect my Father’s house!
I must admit that I did not see how I/we can also be in that role of the moneychangers in the temple. Think about it: If it is business as usual; and accepted widely and does not help anyone’s relationship with God improve, then it is worth being thrown out. You see: The moment we stop worshipping the God of Israel, our creator, we begin worshipping other gods. We replace God's place in our hearts with created things, our little idols, things we love intensely. But one wonders: "
In what way was God not clear?" God said: "
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. You shall not have other gods before me, for I, the Lord your God am a jealous God." Jesus meets us at our ‘business as usual’ level and wants to level with us:
What is it that we are still holding onto, that needs to be thrown out? His wish for us, is to return to our first love of God, and I pray that we sincerely do. Respect our Father’s House.
Perhaps in our business as usual, we failed to see how we have gradually stepped into our own wisdom and thinking. We forgot to truly seek God with all our hearts and repent of things that have never been helpful to us nor to the people around us. One of those is our pride. It can be tough to get off one’s own horse. Of course, the Jewish leaders took it personally. They did not like that Jesus chased away the moneychangers and, in their pride, they asked: [How can we know if you are genuine/ the real deal? meaning how can we trust that you are qualified to do this?] Jesus responded with a charade: “Destroy this Temple and in 3 days I will raise it up.” They didn’t get it but John explained that Jesus meant his own body; that he would be killed and be raised up to life again in 3 days. He is the resurrection and life. The same God of Israel that came to redeem humanity, to redeem us from our pride, to cleanse us from our unrighteousness, and all our nonsense (known and unknown).
Jesus came to cleanse our temples; to clean us up. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit! (1) Cleansing of the temple: God’s house to restore it to its glory, (2) also a symbol of our own cleansing into to the way God created us to be. So, today, we are invited to an introspect exercise and think deeply: What needs to be cleansed in me? What’s been unhelpful to my relationship with God? Throw it out. Be it my pride or my sinful affections, throw it out this Lenten season. Allow space, every day for God’s love, for God’s grace and forgiveness to wash over you and your family. Allow the Holy Spirit to inspire you to draw closer and closer to God. Respect our Father’s House!
Amen.
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