The Message of the Cross 3-11-12

The Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

For the message of the cross is complete absurdity to those who are headed for ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation, it is the power of God. Scripture says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and thwart the learning of the learned.” Where are the wise? Where are the scholars? Where are the philosophers of this age? Has not God turned the wisdom of this world into folly? If it was God’s wisdom that the world in its wisdom would not know God, it was because God wanted to save those who have faith through the foolishness of the message we preach.
For while the Jews call for miracles and the Greeks for wisdom, here we are preaching a Messiah nailed to a cross. To the Jews this is an obstacle they cannot get over, and to the Greeks it is madness—but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

THE GOSPEL: John 2:13-22
Since it was almost the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the Temple, he found people selling cattle, sheep and pigeons, while moneychangers sat at their counters. Making a whip out of cords, Jesus drove them all out of the Temple—even the cattle and sheep—and overturned the tables of the money changers, scattering their coins. Then he faced the pigeon sellers: “Take all this out of here! Stop turning God’s house into a market!” The disciples remembered the worlds of scripture: “Zeal for your house consumes me.”
The Temple authorities intervened and said, “what sign can you show us to justify what you’ve done?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They retorted, “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to raise it up in three days?” But the temple he was speaking of was his body. It was only after Jesus had been raised from the dead that the disciples remembered this statement and believed the scripture—and the words that Jesus had spoken.
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The Message of the Cross 3-11-12

God, when we see things being turned upside down for the sake of Your justice, we know you are there and here with us as we study your word and seek your face in worship. May the words that I say and all the things that we think in our hearts be blessed by you through your holy spirit. Amen.

This is a great story—the one where Jesus swings a whip and throws out the money changers and merchants and clears the Temple of those who would seek to make a fortune because of the laws that were in effect at the time. Those of us who studied this story in Sunday School where all the R-rated portions of the Bible get watered down into G-rated versions, may have missed some of this story along the way.
The assumption behind most of those Sunday School lessons is that Jesus is furious because the animal merchants and moneychangers are there. Yet, according to the Torah, they had good reason to be there. The Torah demanded certain sacrifices be made to God in the Temple and the moneychangers were there, literally, to change the money from those who had travelled from other countries into the coinage that the Temple could actually receive for the purchase of the sacrifice animals, as well as, the half-shekel tax that was levied on all Jews. It does not appear that the presence of the merchants and moneychangers bothered the Jewish pilgrims and, in fact, they actually served a purpose in making the sacrifices readily available. But Jesus took offense.
Now we know that there are four writers of the various Gospel stories: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—each written with just a bit of difference of perspective and perception. The first three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke share much more in common with each other than they do with the Gospel of John. John was a poet, and in his writings, there is a great sense of poetic justice particularly where God’s people are concerned. It is interesting to note that the main differences between the recollections have to do with timing. John places this event close to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry where it serves to serve as a jumping-off place for his earthly ministry. In the other three gospels, this incident serves as the proverbial “last straw” for the religious leaders in Jerusalem who, from that point on, begin to plan to kill Jesus. Now there may have been two incidents when Jesus drove the merchants from the temple—maybe not. The important thing to grasp is that if this incident occurred at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, it says to us—right up front—that things are never going to be the same again. That Jesus is turning the world upside down, just as he turned over the tables of the money changers. And whether or not the money changers were cheating the pilgrims becomes secondary to knowing that in the new Temple, the one that Jesus was going to build in the lives of his followers, that sacrifice would no longer be necessary. John also places this incident against the backdrop of the Festival of Passover. There are two possible reasons for this—this first is that John wants to illustrate that the ministry of Jesus is set in the context of the ancient laws and observances. The second, far more subtle meaning is found in the specific Festival during which the incident is set—Passover, the time when God spared the Hebrew children—just as God will spare and bless the ones who come to believe in this Christ.
Think on these things as they relate to our Lenten study of the radical change that Jesus brought to this world. I have a vision of Jesus, with whip upraised, that I would like to share with you. Imagine that the merchants and moneychanges represent all those things that come between us and God. The Jews had to purchase, according to their status in life, a particular animal or bird, to sacrifice. If they did not have the means to make such a sacrifice, they could not enter the Temple. Jesus, in his all-inclusive ministry turns this concept on its head. Once Jesus raises up the new Temple—that Temple of Jesus himself in the people of God—the Church, no sacrifices are needed. In fact, the earthly Temple itself is gone and replaced by the inner temples of our lives and our hearts on fire with the message of the change. Change which renders God accessible, directly accessible, to all of us. Different from preaching to the crowds, or healing the sick among the people, this one act is one of the most radically inclusive acts of Jesus recorded for us. It’s a somewhat brash act, and it generates trouble with the authorities whether it comes at the beginning or end of the story. In one swing of his whip, Jesus destroys the intermediary, whether that intermediary be a seller of doves, or someone restricting the right of the children of God to be in God’s presence. Laws regarding what we must do or who we must be are banished by Jesus’ radical act—an act played out through his ministry, and finally, his death and resurrection.
So back to my vision—now mind you, I am not a violent person, so it’s a bit of a stretch for me to go here, but it’s a momentarily gratifying stretch. Imagine, just for a moment, that the people Jesus is chasing from the Temple are all those people who have sought to regulate the rest of the world’s access to the Reign of God’s Justice. Think for a moment, about all those who have limited your access to worship God exactly the way God made you. Think for a moment, of all those well-meaning people who say that bullying is really just teasing, and that each and every church has the right to place their own understanding and requirements upon all those that would seek membership. Imagine just for a moment, a very angry Jesus chasing those folks from the Temple—sweeping it clean and suddenly inviting all of us in to worship and praise in a relationship with God, free from rules, prohibitions, and damnation. Ah yes, just as the merchants and money-changers were limiting the access of the poor, the dis-enfranchized, the marginalized of the time; so does anyone who stands between us and God and says, “you are not worthy to enter God’s temple unless you make the sacrifice of changing who you really are into something or somebody we deem acceptable to God.” Now, let me be clear here. I am not just talking about my gay and lesbian, bi and trans brothers and sisters. I am talking about those who are poor, those who dress and act differently than the rest of us. I am talking about women refused the priesthood and those with physical and mental challenges that make us have to work a little harder to say “welcome”. Imagine Jesus’ anger at all those attempts to restrict membership in the Temple of God or make it anything other than the pure, free gift of God through the living, dying, and rising again of Jesus himself.
This is, indeed, the message of the cross. This is a message that you simply can’t understand unless you want to. Why, because it is nonsense unless one is open and ready to receive it. We look around and find that there’s a lot out there other than the message of the cross. Just as Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth—there are those who want miracles, those who want great wisdom and knowledge, and what do we have to offer?—the simple message of the one sent from God to turn everything we know about the world upside down, by walking with, loving, and healing all without discrimination, without judgment. It’s not an easy message to bring, but it is the true message that grants all access to the glorious grace of God. It’s not a message of prosperity—so popular in the mega-churches of our day, but it’s a message that all are welcome into the Temple of God whether rich or poor, learned or simple, sophisticated or plain, gay or straight, young or old. It’s not a message of elitism—there are no special folks who have all the answers, who somehow walk a separate walk with God.
And, it’s not a message that the world longs to accept. Jesus tells us clearly that there are many who will not hear. Perhaps we should be less surprised than we seem to be when it happens again—when we are damned and rejected because of any number of things which keep us from meeting the expectations of the world. And perhaps we should be more careful than we tend to be that we are not moneychangers ourselves—regulators of others’ access to God. “To those who have been called…Christ is the power and wisdom of God”. May we relish our calling and always stand on the side of the One who is that power and wisdom of God.” Indeed, great are you, Lord. Amen and amen.