John’s gospel sets the story of Jesus cleansing the temple at the beginning of his public ministry rather than near the end as the synoptic gospels do. When Jesus comes to the Jerusalem temple for the feast of Passover, he has barely begun his ministry. He has called his first disciples and worked his first sign — changing water into an abundance of wine at Cana. Sunday’s gospel passage follows, in which Jesus acts dramatically to cleanse the temple of those who change money for paying temple tax and those who sell animals for sacrifice.
Jesus’ zeal seeks to restore his Father’s house as a place of prayer rather than commerce. His short explanation is a great Tweet. “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disruptive actions of dumping out money and overturning tables might become breaking news today.
Similarly Pope Francis makes direct, quotable statements about repairing Earth, which he reverences as God’s creation and our sacred home. He urges us to stop pollution and our wasteful ways. “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth” (#21). “Earth is a shared inheritance…God created the world for everyone” (#93).
- What similarities do you see between cleansing the temple and caring for the earth?
In each of the synoptic gospels Jesus cleanses the temple shortly after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. In each gospel Jesus explains his actions, saying, “My Father’s house is a place of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.” In Mark and Luke Jesus’ actions result in temple officials seeking a way to destroy him.
In Matthew, the blind and lame seek Jesus out in the temple after he chases the buyers and sellers out. The temple becomes a place of prayer and healing. The chief priests and scribes acknowledge Jesus is doing wonderful things but grow indignant that the sick acclaim him as the messiah. Jesus’ actions stir up controversy and opposition as he makes the temple a field hospital.
- What angers you enough to act and advocate for change?
- How is your church a field hospital? How is it a living temple?
In John’s gospel Jesus’ cleansing of the temple becomes a revealing sign. This gospel writer sets up deliberate misunderstandings that require conversation about what Jesus’ actions mean. When officials ask Jesus for a sign of his authority, he makes a response with a double meaning. “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
Jesus’ words are an enigma to the officials, who think Jesus refers to the temple building. For believers, Jesus refers to their post-Easter faith.
John the evangelist writes near the end of the first century after at least six decades in which Christian communities break bread in Jesus’ name and reflect on who he is in the light of his resurrection.
The miracle in chapter one at the Cana wedding reveals Jesus is the best wine saved until last and available in such abundance that we recognize this wedding celebrates more than a marriage. It is a messianic banquet celebrating the new community gathering around Jesus.
The cleansing in chapter two in Jerusalem at Passover reveals Jesus is the new temple, in whom God dwells among us. He is the Word who was with God and who is God and becomes one of us. We who believe in Jesus, in his resurrection from the dead, become a new living temple, his body, filled with his Spirit.
Sunday’s gospel ends with Jesus exhibiting the serene knowledge of all things that characterizes the pre-existent Word. This Jesus needs no one to tell him about the human heart or the ultimate cost of his actions in the temple. In John’s gospel Jesus is both one of us, experiencing anger and conflict, and one with God, knowing all and freely, generously participating in loving us.
- What insight does placing the cleansing of temple near the beginning of the gospel give you about how Jesus understands his mission in John’s gospel?
Jesus’ cleansing the temple calls us to clean our houses this Lent, to examine our hearts. Our fast-paced, productive lives can erode our relationships with God, make us feel like cogs in the wheels of commerce rather than friends of God who live and love in friendship with the Giver of Life. Coffee and conversation can help us reengage with those we love.
Walks in the emerging spring can reawaken our connectedness to all that is, our place in the holy whole that is our Earth home. Walks can stir us to get practical about caring for creation where we live.
Lent this year calls us to listen to one another, to assess where we have enough and can give. Lent calls us to assess what we consume and what consumes us. It calls us to revive our faith in resurrection as a continuing process in our lives.
- What housecleaning do you need to do in your life?
- What housecleaning do we need to set relationships right in our Church?
- What do we need to clean up in our biosphere so life on Earth becomes sustainable? What can I change?