Reflection -- No More Business as Usual!

This story is told in all four of the Gospels, but only John places it so early in Jesus' public ministry.  The others place it during Holy Week, between Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and the events of Easter.  Regardless of the time in Jesus’ ministry it may have actually taken place, it is an appropriate story for this holy season of Lent.  What Jesus did was radical and extremely dangerous, and it presents a Lenten challenge.

A little background may be helpful.  Why were there people selling animals and money changers in God’s holy temple? 

First, worship at that time involved slaughtering animals at the temple as offerings to God.  And not just any animals would do, they had to be without any imperfections.  (The Old Testament, particularly the book of Leviticus, provides many details about this system.)  People would have been flooding into Jerusalem from everywhere for the Passover celebration.  It would not have been practical for many of them to bring animals with them to sacrifice even if they owned animals that met the strict standard.  Meeting this need presented an obvious business opportunity. 

Every Israelite also owed an annual temple tax.  (Mentioned at Matthew 17:24.)  It could not be paid with common Roman coinage of the day, because those coins had a “graven image” on them, often a depiction of the emperor’s head.  To do so might risk violation of one of the 10 commandments.  (See Exodus 20:4.)  If you did not have a coin that did not have such an image on it, you had to obtain one to pay your tax.  Another business opportunity! 

With all of this going on, it is easy to see how the temple and its environs rapidly came to resemble a bustling, profitable market place.  So it was business as usual when Jesus came to the temple.  But in the hubbub of business, the holiness and sanctity of the temple got lost.  The real purpose of God’s house as a place to honor God disappeared under the peripherals. 

With Jesus it was seldom business as usual.  Through his radical actions, he called people back to the basics.  But interfering with business as usual is an extremely dangerous thing!  The question asked of Jesus, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" reveals the tension.  Moderns might ask “Where do you get off doing that?” 

Jesus answered the question the bystanders asked with a veiled reference to his coming crucifixion and resurrection.  Jesus has the authority to challenge even the most entrenched practices because of who he was and is; the Holy One of God!

People are comfortable with business as usual and do not like to be disturbed.  As was the case here, there may be very powerful people who profit from business as usual and do not like to have the bright light of attention focused on what they are doing.  (Think of the risks taken by some of the whistle blowers who exposed the seamy underside at Enron.) 

Being a threat to business as usual can even be fatal!  And so it was with Jesus’ actions in the temple.  “And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching.”  (Mark 11:18)

Jesus still challenges us all these centuries later.  As we walk these 40 days of Lent, Jesus challenges us to examine the way we live and how it fits in with God’s plan for our lives.  We are invited to examine our “business as usual” practices.  What practices and habits have we just come to accept, without really thinking about them, that are spiritually and physically unhealthy?  How might they impact our walk with God?  Is it time to let them go?

It is also time to get over the notion that we are not our brother’s and sister’s keepers.  What kinds of unchallenged business as usual goes on around us that dishonors God and God’s people and interferes with their spiritual and physical well being?  Are there equivalents of money changers' tables that we should be helping overturn?

Listen for Jesus’ voice as he challenges you as you walk your Lenten journey.

revclay

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John 2:13-22 

    The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.  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.  He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here!  Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" 

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?" 

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 

The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" 

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.

[NRSV]