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John 2:12-25
Sometimes we get stuck in a rut and the only way out of it is for someone to shake us up. Jesus certainly had that effect on the religious establishment of his time. He'd been looking forward to going to Jerusalem and the Temple for Passover. People from all over the world would be there to worship. Just being there with other pilgrims was exciting.
When Jesus arrived at the Temple, he was upset by what he saw. There in the Temple courtyard people were buying and selling cattle, sheep and doves for sacrifices. The merchants selling the livestock thought they were providing a service for those worshippers from out of town. They would not have to travel with cattle or sheep; one was available for them to purchase to sacrifice. Temple workers also exchanged foreign coins for Temple currency. Again, they thought they were doing the people a favor. People were required to use Temple currency when they made their donations.
Temple employees were providing a service exchanging foreign currency into Temple coinage, but they also were taking advantage of people by charging a large fee to make the exchange. Perhaps what angered Jesus the most was that they were taking advantage of the people who could least afford it. Charging one day's wages to exchange coins was outrageously high. The Temple became wealthy from this questionable practice. It seems the more money they made the greedier they became charging higher rates of exchange. Jesus was upset by what he saw. We aren't accustomed to seeing Jesus angry. We like to think Jesus was always kind and loving to everyone he encountered. We'd like to think Jesus never said a harsh word to anyone. Jesus was so angry he had to do something to get the Temple officials' attention.
Sometimes we get the idea that we should be quiet, gentle people who never show our indignation. Consider one woman who couldn't hide her indignation. A robber in Oceanside, California wearing a motorcycle helmet and carrying a gun strode into the branch bank where she worked as a teller. He decided to confront her because she appeared fiftyish, soft, kind, an easy mark. He handed her a note demanding money or her life. The woman reached for the cash drawer. Then she looked again at the note and her eyes flashed, her lips clenched.
She pulled the entire cash drawer out, but instead of giving him money, she clobbered the robber over the head with the drawer. And again, and again. She was scolding him. Money was flying everywhere, and she was beating him and shouting shame on him and bouncing blows off his helmet, until the young man turned and ran. Police caught him in a nearby shrubbery. Then they asked the woman teller why she was about to give him money at gunpoint and then, suddenly, instead, became enraged? She said, "In his note there was a very naughty word."
Different people get upset at different things. But there are times when all of us get angry. And sometimes the worst thing we can do is hold that anger in. In a study of 139 patients with chronic headaches, researchers at St. Louis School of Medicine found that depression usually accompanies frequent headaches. Moreover, suppressed anger amplifies the depression and this, in turn, magnifies the pain.
"It's a vicious circle," notes Paul N. Duckro, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior and director of the Biobehavioral Treatment Center. "Patients with chronic headaches get depressed because they're in pain and the pain interrupts their lives. In turn, depression makes headaches worse. And if the patient is one who tends to hold in anger, the more depressed they become." Anger is not a problem. It is the tendency to avoid expressing it appropriately that seems to be associated with increased depression.
Everyone gets angry from time to time. Sometimes the worse thing to do is to deny that anger and hold it in. Instead, why not go to the person who is making us angry and make peace, if possible. Of course, it's not always a person who is responsible for our anger. Sometimes it's a situation. Like Jesus' anger with the moneychangers in the temple. Jesus got angry. People had traveled great distances to go to the Temple. The Temple was one place where they could feel closer to God. The sanctuary was a holy place. It was a place to feel God's presence in their lives. Amidst all the commotion of cattle, sheep, doves and money changers, people had a hard time praying. There were too many distractions, too much noise. Something had to be done. Jesus, filled with indignation, made a whip of cords and drove out the merchants selling animals and overturned the tables where Temple employees were exchanging coins. It was a chaotic scene as feathers were flying, cattle running through the temple courtyard, and coins clattering on the ground.
Jesus shouted, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" Jesus got their attention. Sometimes we need to get angry as well, especially about the evil and sin that destroys so many lives in this world.
Upsetting the religious officials by overturning their change booths and letting animals run through the courtyard didn't endear Jesus to the temple establishment. What right did Jesus have to do what he did? They wanted to know who Jesus was, was he the awaited Messiah? Only the Messiah could get away with something like this. The religious officials asked Jesus a question, "What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered, "Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up." As is often the case in John's gospel, Jesus' reply is not understood. They think Jesus is speaking of the Temple. In shock and disbelief, they inform Jesus that it had taken 46 years to build the Temple. It wasn't possible to rebuild the Temple in three days.
Following Jesus' death and resurrection, the disciples remembered this incident. Afterward they remembered his words and understood them in a new way, as words of faith. Jesus wasn't talking about the physical Temple. He was speaking of his own death and resurrection. Bury his body and within three days it will be resurrected. You cannot keep his body down, particularly if you understand his body to be the church. For Christians this is the Temple, not a building made with human hands, but a communion of kindred hearts. Wherever people are worshiping Christ and serving him, there is the temple of the living God.
I understand some years ago Franklin Graham was visiting a camp which held nationals from Kuwait. These people had traveled for days across the hot burning desert in buses. He noticed a woman who looked very distressed. She had small children around her. As Franklin began talking with her, he discovered that she'd given birth to a baby just three days before she and her family were evacuated from Kuwait.
The newborn baby was dirty and smelly. Franklin was able to help this young mother with needed supplies. He saw to it that she received medical attention as well. The mother thanked him for helping them. As they continued their conversation, she revealed that she had once been a Christian, but affluence had come between her and God. She had gotten herself into a rut and was unable to get herself out of it. She drifted away from God. Franklin, she said, had rekindled the dormant flame within her. As he shared with her God's willingness to forgive her, she found new fellowship with God.
The last thing she said to Franklin was, "I just thank God for allowing my family to lose everything in Kuwait so I could find Him again." She found Him not in a temple built with human hands, but in fellowship with one of Christ's followers.
Jesus wanted to get people's attention. He did it with a display of anger. Sometimes it's good to get angry. In Jesus' case, he wanted to make a point, that God is not to be found in a building. God is to be found in the fellowship of Christ's people.
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Rev. Charles Eldredge is a member of Maitland Church of the Brethren. He has a Facebook page and can be contacted by email: ce1133 @verizon.net.