The Other Side of Jesus...

Addresses the Other Side of the Church

John 2:13-22[1]

There used to be one of those God billboards between here and Greensboro. I haven’t seen it lately so maybe they took it down. It said, “Don’t make me come down there! – God.” Most of us have seen a number of these billboards but they are just a little too cheesy and small-minded for me. I don’t like them much. I think they sell one-dimensional images of God that have some pretty shallow theology. Anyway, I especially didn’t like the one between here and Greensboro. Images of an angry God are unsettling. While our perceptions of God must not exclude images that reveal God’s displeasure with sinful humanity, too many people never get beyond an image of God who’s out to get us. But these billboards do cause us to stop and think, don’t they?

Take for a moment the Jesus we meet in our text today. Of all the images we embrace for Jesus, the Jesus we encounter in our text today makes us squirm a little. This account of Jesus’ aggressive behavior doesn’t mesh too well with our cherished views of Jesus as teacher, healer, comforter, and gentle shepherd. When we think of this story, most of us will soften it in our minds. We are prone to think that surely Jesus didn’t swing the whip too hard after he made it. And even if he did whip it around forcefully, he certainly didn’t hit anyone with it.[2]

We have a lot of hymns in our hymnbook that tout Christ as the Gentle Shepherd, but not too many that talk about Jesus tearing up the place. When we think about the crucifixion of Christ, we admire his strength of character by dutifully accepting the cross so that we might have eternal life. We cherish the fact that when they spit in his face and beat him he didn’t retaliate. But here in our text today, we don’t have the soothing, genteel Jesus. We have Jesus going on the offensive creating a public disturbance. We’re not used to seeing Jesus this mad. If Jesus did this kind of thing today, the authorities would have broken out the tear gas and rubber bullets. So, what do we make of this story?

All four Gospels include this account of Jesus cleansing the Temple yet only John places it at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Matthew, Mark, and Luke place it in the midst of Christ’s final steps to the cross. It’s most easily understood that Jesus might lose his cool in his final days before the cross, but here in John, it’s right after the wedding feast in Cana. In John’s Gospel, we don’t know of anyone at this point who has argued with or frustrated him. While John’s placement of this story is not something we’ll dwell on today,[3] once again in this Gospel, the symbolism assigned to the historical event is more important than the event itself.[4] So again, what do we make of this story? What symbolism here is relevant for us?

If we see the other side of Jesus in this story then I believe the message to be heard is for the other side of the church. The other side of the church? What in the world am I talking about? Some of you are probably wondering right now if someone sitting on the other side of the aisle from you did something this week. Did someone get in trouble, have it out with the preacher, or get arrested?

What I’m talking about when I refer to the ‘other side of the church’ is the side of congregational life where tradition and Gospel sometimes get their wires crossed. It’s where what’s always been done becomes more acceptable than what the Gospel commands. I’m talking about that which is common to us all, but may not be as righteous as we think. I’m also talking about, when I refer to the ‘other side of the church,’ a message from Jesus that smacks preachers up side of the head a little harder than the rest of the Church because we can hold onto tradition much more tightly than anyone.

What Jesus encountered on this particular day in the Temple is exactly what I’m talking about. If you were a Jewish male, from the age of twelve on up, you were expected to go to Jerusalem in the latter part of March or early part of April[5] to attend the Passover. It was the most important celebration of Jewish life, which commemorated the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage.

Part of the celebration included offering a sacrifice at the Temple. And since your sacrifice had to be screened and approved before it was offered, most didn’t bring their own animals. It was just too risky to tote an animal all that way and then have it rejected. So most purchased their pre-approved sacrificial animals once they arrived. And unfortunately for the travelers, it turned into a large moneymaking scheme for those who were selling the animals because prices were inflated. For example, a pair of pigeons worth a nickel might be sold for five bucks! It’s kind of like when you go to a sporting event and you pay five bucks for a hot dog when you could have brought your own for twenty-five cents. It’s not worth the hassle to bring your own hot dog so you just pay it and go on.

And furthermore in the Temple, since the only currency accepted inside this holy place was Jewish coin, those who worked at exchanging foreign currency for Jewish currency also took a healthy cut. So it’s not hard to see that the Passover celebration, which was supposed to be one of the holiest moments during the year for Jews, had turned into a moneymaking racket.

Most people just came to accept that this was the way things were. After all, what could they do about it? Not much, so they just acquiesced and went on. But when Jesus arrived on the scene, he didn’t just go with the flow, he went against the tide! He challenged what became the accepted practice from a deeply held sense of conviction.

Can’t you just see it? Here comes Jesus into the Temple. He smells the stench, sees the mess, and observes activity that more closely resembled the livestock sale in Siler City than a place of worship. And Jesus goes off! He runs out the livestock, maybe even those people selling the animals! He also scatters those exchanging money for Jewish coin. Can’t you just hear the commotion with venders all running around yelling, “Security! Security!” Like I said, this is not the Jesus we’re used to meeting in the Gospels. But then maybe this is also a side of church people we need to see more often – those who are willing to confront and stand alone even when it’s not popular?

There was once a missionary who went to another country. As it turns out, the man grew to sincerely love the people in the village where he served and the people loved him. Once his term of service was up, he decided to stay on, and live among these folks and continue his work even though he didn’t have to. Being a good and righteous man, he also won their respect, trust, and love.

Well, one day the man died unexpectedly. Because he was not of their faith tradition (he was an evangelical Protestant in a community of Roman Catholics), the priests of the local parishes were distraught over where to bury him. You see, to be buried in the local cemetery, you had to be Roman Catholic – which everyone in this village was. In order to preserve the integrity of their tradition, the decided to bury him outside the parish cemetery, but because he was so well-loved, they decided they would get him as close as possible to being inside. Well, they buried him along the fence that formed the cemetery perimeter. It seemed a reasonable compromise. But during the night following the funeral, a group of people from the parish came and moved the fence so that this outsider’s grave was now on the inside.[6]

I wonder how many among us would have moved the fence? How many of us would have just resigned ourselves to say, “Oh well, that’s the way things are.”

The Gospel calls us to be a community of fence movers in so many areas: We are to accept those who are unacceptable. We are to set the example of living sacrificially in a world that is so ego-centered that if they can’t see where it benefits them, then they want no part of it. What fence do you need to move? Where is Jesus calling you to step in and tear up the place a little bit even though it might ruffle some feathers or unsettle the status quo?

Amen.

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[1] I also preached on this passage at Cane Creek on March 23, 2003. This sermon uses some of the same material.

[2] I’ve adapted the comments in this paragraph from Robert Z. Bryant’s words in “One Disruptive Lord,” Preaching, March-April 1997, p. 36.

[3] Most biblical scholars feel that historically the event happened during Passion Week.

[4] Gerhard Sloyan, Interpretation, John (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988), p. 40.

[5] This corresponds to the 10^th of the month in Abib or Nisan.

[6] This illustration came from Robert E. Dunham’s sermon, “Jesus Word and the Church’s Destruction,” preached on March 2, 1997. He got this illustration from Lynne Kogel, an acquaintance of his, who heard it from Donald Messer, president of Ileff Theological Seminary in Denver.