Temple tantrums

‘… for he knew what was in each person’  (John 2:25)

John 2:13-25 (Year B: Lent 3)

Fully human

To avoid any heresy in the matter we ought to constantly remind ourselves that Jesus was not only fully God but fully human as well. In case there might be any doubt about this we have the witness of all four gospels, including John (which might be viewed as a theologically ‘high’ gospel), that Jesus threw a tantrum. Not only did he make a ‘whip out of cords’ and physically drive out the money-changers and venders along with cattle and other animals, but he ‘ would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.’ (Mark 11:16). In other words, Jesus practiced obstruction on the grounds of a very sacred place in a very sacred city. This, surely, would be grounds for calling in the security staff and removing the person from the premises. A court fine would appear to be in order – if not worse. I don’t know about you but I would not fancy being around when all of this was happening. I would have taken for the hills around Jerusalem.

#Templeriot

As the story goes, there is no evidence that Jesus was, himself, actually removed from the Temple. It seems that the religious authorities were too afraid of the crowds. They were waiting for their opportunity and time. Neither is there any evidence that Jesus was supported by others acquiring a whip or helping to overturn tables and drive out cattle.  It was, by all appearances and accounts from the four gospels, a one-man temper tantrum. This was hardly a story of a pale, meek and mild Jesus dressed in blue silk and with the manners of a well turned out young man from some famous private school. It was raw emotion and ‘righteous anger’ spilling over in the midst of a very sacred place. Let’s say that Jesus created a big scene and this was going to be the talking point of people for a least a few hours. Had twitter been around in those days #Templeriot would have been trending in Jerusalem along with a huge number of likes for a video grab on facebook (apologies and congratulations to those not addicted to such matters!).

The red button

Somehow, someone or something had pressed Jesus’ ‘red button’. It happens to all of us at some stage. We are human. In some temperaments such outbursts are frequent and even calculated. In other cases they are extremely rare and almost unstoppable by the person doing the outburst once every 15 years. It can tell us something about the person and what they care about and why.  There is plenty of time for philosophers like Aristotle to contemplate how one might be ‘angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way’ He suggests ‘that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.’

It would be misleading to imagine that Jesus was lashing out (literally in this case) at the Temple and its associates because he had no time for temple worship, ritual and sacrifice. In fact Jesus came from a very Jewish family and remained very Jewish in his practice to the day of his death.   Going up to the Temple was the done thing for Jews at this time. The evidence from the gospel of Luke would suggest that such a journey for Jesus and his family was a regular annual event. It was for purification. We should remember that Jesus was presented in the temple shortly after his birth in a purification rite involving the offering of two pigeons (Luke 2:22-24) – instead of lambs which would have been the normal offering. Jesus’ family was not able to afford a lamb (see Leviticus 12:8) which tells us something about God’s choices and values in relation to Jesus’ life, family and milieu.  As a young boy Jesus was found loitering with intent in the Temple courts asking and answering questions (‘…they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions’ Luke 2:46).  Was there another ‘scene’ in the Temple that day? We don’t know. Luke did not report this. What we are told is that in response to a scolding from Mary, Jesus replied:

Why were you searching for me?’ ... ‘Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’ (Luke 2:49-50)

Many years later he would be in his Father’s house – not asking questions and listening but engaged in a very robust protest to say the least.

Pilgrim journeys

Here was someone who had a mission but also knew how to interrogate that mission and grow and deepen in knowledge of tradition, the scriptures and reason. Jesus learned how to speak from his experience as a human being and integrate that with his learning over the years. The upshot of this was a rich tapestry of stories rooted in the land, in nature, in people, in first century politics and customs. After all Jesus was fully human….

A modern day (religious) equivalent might be a visit to a shrine such as Lourdes, a pilgrim’s walk such as the Camino or a mountain climb such as Croagh Patrick in Ireland. The annual Jewish Passover reminded God’s people of their deliverance. It was a time of remembering, purification and renewal and coincided with spring time in the Northern Hemisphere. Such a time or renewal and cleansing is necessary in every culture and time.

But, what made Jesus so angry? Could it be that he had it in for the traders and other hanger on personnel in the Temple? Or, was he raging against the religious authorities who stood to gain from this whole market in livestock? Recall that people could not bring their own livestock lest it be deemed impure – they had to buy the necessaries in the outer Temple courtyard which was the equivalent of a modern-day airport duty-free area which was beyond the main thoroughfare but not, obviously, in the holy of holies.  Jesus’ answer to those who stood in shock watching the unfolding event was:

Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market! (John 2:16)

The Gospel writer goes on to tell us that

His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ (verse 17)

The source of rage is the hijacking of religion for purposes that corrupt and destroy the very point of religion which was and is to liberate. Instead, a system of accounting, debits and credits was introduced to mediate the mercy and healing of God. At the same time, some people made a living out of this (possibly a handsome living where demand was brisk and supply was scarce). Markets have a way of corrupting human values especially when those who occupy positions of prior authority and domination use them to extract surplus value.  Mixing markets with the free grace of God’s love is a recipe for trouble.  A brisk market in relics and indulgences in the 16^th century was a trigger point for what came to be known as the Reformation in Western European Christianity. A mean market Mind-Set did not vanish with the reforms ushered in both by the reformers and those reacting to them.  Notions of days bought out of purgatory were common place until relatively recent times. It was against this abuse of religion that reformers rebelled. They wanted to return to the notion of God’s love as a free gift and not something earned by particular deeds or, in this case, market sales and purchases.

Dealing with Mind-Sets

But a mixing of markets and religious grace is not the only form of corruption. A subjugation of religion to the affairs of state, ethnicity or social class has spelt disaster for the gospel as we see from the 1980’s film The Mission which tells the sorry tale of European and religious treatment of people in South America in the 18^th century.  Likewise, those familiar with Irish history will see how a particular mixing of state and religion had a disastrous impact over the centuries (and, in the case of Ireland, this did not stop with the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland in 1870 or the introduction of political independence in the south of Ireland in 1922 which was the prelude to a new theocracy that lasted many decades).

The problem that Jesus had to deal with in the Temple was not just what was taking in place at that time and in that place. It was the Mind-Set and values of those involved in this whole dastardly affair. Verse 25 (which is omitted from some Sunday readings on the 3^rd Sunday of Lent) provides a crucial insight:

 ‘…for he knew what was in each person’  (John 2:25)

And so ….

Jesus knows what is in your heart, in my heart and in someone else’s heart. Sometimes, this is not always to our liking and we can dodge and ditch and twist and turn. But, life catches up and the truth comes out in the end.  In case we might be inclined to theorise or condemn persons and institutions at a remove by reason of time or space we should look inside our own lives, minds and hearts. Are there tables to be overturned and stuff to be driven out?  A whip of cords might be appropriate? No, rather, a gentle loving call to reform of life by reaching out to others in compassion. And the positive will drive out the negative. Institutions are rebuilt from the inside out and from the bottom up.

Given the importance of this event in challenging a particular religious Mind-Set the placing of the story, in John, at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry rather than, as is the case in the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke) just at the very end before Jesus’s arrest and crucifixion, is significant. The Temple incident characterises Jesus’ public ministry as a journey away from a particular Mind-Set to a new way of worshiping in God and in spirit. Matthew, Mark and Luke end up in the same place but by a different sequence. In any case scripture scholars maintain that the Gospel of John was written after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem around 70 C.E.

If there was one thing that drove Jesus to anger on a scale recounted in this passage of John and the other gospels it was the corruption of religion by money, power and politics. Now, money, power and politics are a necessary part of human society but those who profess to follow Jesus must work these spheres in a way that challenges oppression and that sets people free from false religion. The job is not complete.