John 2:13-22 (Righteous anger in the Temple.)

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." The Jews then said to him, "What sign can you show us for doing this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

I know that time flies, but when I read this week’s gospel story I thought, ‘Is it Palm Sunday already’! The story of Jesus ridding the temple of those who had turned it into a marketplace appears in all four gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke tell the story towards the end of their accounts. They have Jesus cleansing the temple at the start of the week that leads to his crucifixion – hence the right story for Palm Sunday. These three gospel writers record the event as a deliberate act of provocation – a confrontation between Jesus and the religious authorities which would trigger their plans to get rid of him for good. The final battle had been joined. John, however, uses his editorial licence and places the same event towards the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. I am sure that John would have agreed with the other gospel writers that this was an act of great provocation but by placing it in chapter two he is saying that this clash between Jesus’ authority and the temple authorities was there, right from the start. Jesus, the champion of the people set out to confront and defeat both the secular and the spiritual abusers of power. Yes, he was not happy with the traders in the temple courts and he poured out their coins, but his eyes were fixed on the top brass. I am also sure that John would agree with the other gospel writers that such a confrontation would cost him his life. John, however, makes the point that Jesus carried his cross from day one. 

As we journey deeper into Lent we start coming across the comment that ‘Jesus died for me’. Often this phrase has been interpreted in a personal way, suggesting that Jesus died because of something I have done. For some the phrase means ‘He died because of my sins’, ‘He died instead of me’. But it wasn’t the crowds’ sins that drove Jesus to the cross. It was the authorities who did it. Jesus was fully aware of the everyday sins and faults of individuals, and he dealt with them along the way as a matter of course. But what stirred him to righteous anger was the abuse of power, and that was the true enemy that he confronted. And Jesus’ crucifixion was indeed where the final battle was joined – a battle that would lead to an extraordinary and everlasting victory. Jesus allowed both the secular and spiritual authorities of his time to do their worst, only then to prove their combined best efforts to be ineffective. By dying for me, Jesus dismantled the supremacy of power and he re-wrote the laws governing true authority. Through him, Love regained its rightful place as the focus and heart of all things – of life, of the universe, and of course of God. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. I have started my Easter message in advance. I wonder who taught me to do that.