Wheeling and dealing is perhaps not my best skill. If I you ask politely, maybe you would be willing to serve on church council or assist in worship. Or I might tell you that the Holy Spirit has clearly revealed to me that you should chair the property committee.
Who doesn’t love a deal, right? I have done well at free furniture trade. But as much as some want me to try to make deals based on my pastor status or for a special church price, I generally shy away from using religious position for discounts. But that’s not the way deals work.
There’s some temple deal-making going on in the gospel lesson today. Animals were sold for the temple sacrifice. Think of it as a currency exchange center. Roman money was changed into Jewish money to pay the temple tax. It was a transaction. Yet to Jesus, it was a raucous marketplace in the house of God! And Jesus gets peeved. The scene has led many to question whether they allow bingo, raffle tickets, or yard sales in church.
That may be beside the point, but when we get filled with some good, righteous anger we value a Jesus who isn’t meek and mild. Righteous anger fuels a passion for justice on behalf of the poor and oppressed. Especially if Jesus is angry at raw deals made by the money changers that cheat those already short on resources.
Then Jesus starts comparing the temple to his body. “Destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days.” For John’s gospel, written at the end of the first century, Jesus is the real deal. The locus of the “holy of holies” has moved from a holy sanctuary to a holy person. And Jesus is now the temple, the presence of God dwelling among the people.
All is well and good. Jesus is good news for the world. No more cutting a deal with God.
Yet, dismissing the law of the Torah, Ten Commandments and Old Testament can bring an unhelpful anti-Jewish perspective, even if not intended and subtle. The cleansing of the temple could reinforce that thinking. Jesus is the table-turning prophet who is against the legalistic deal-making of Judaism. Yet, the Judaic prophets in Israel railed against temple worship that ignored widows, orphans, and immigrants. The temple to God was cluttered with complicated trade, rituals, and requirements; what was intended to help one another had become idolatrous.
Amy-Jill Levine is a Jewish New Testament scholar who helps put Jesus in his rightful Jewish context. She suggests that Jesus’ fury in the temple wasn’t at the greedy merchants. Rather, she wonders if Jesus was upset by people who had spent their week sinning and then came to the temple, offered a sacrifice, and thought everything was okay. Is that any different today from the inside trader making big money on trades during the week who comes to church, puts $50 in the plate, and thinks everything is okay between themselves and God?
So, let’s talk about the law, the Torah. Can you name all ten commandments? Or how are you with following the commandments? Yet for Jews, the Law is more a gift than a demand.
So the psalmist exclaims, “Oh, how I love your Law.” And the psalm refrain for today: “The commandments of the Lord give light to the eyes.”
The Ten Commandments don’t begin with ‘Here are ten commandments, obey them.’ Instead, they begin with a sweeping announcement of freedom: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery’ (Exodus 20:2). The first commandment is not a challenge, but a covenant of grace. Obeying the commandments flows from a relationship with God and marks a relationship with God and others. Because the Lord is your God, you are free to not need any other gods. You are free from the tyranny of lifeless idols. You are free to rest on the Sabbath. You are free to enjoy your parents as long as they live. You are set free from murder, stealing, and covetousness as ways to establish yourself in the land.
Political and economic deals are often a zero-sum game of winners and losers with the penalty of harsh casualties. Ultimately, it doesn’t come down to the art of deal making with God but about the covenant promises from God. There are differences between Jews, Muslims, and Christians, yet we are all people of the same covenant with the same God. And we all trust in God’s mercy and faithfulness from generation to generation. We live in a relationship with the God of mercy and with all people who need God’s mercy.
Even as Jesus cleanses the temple, this is the time for Lenten spring housecleaning. Perhaps our fasting, prayers, offerings and works of love, will lead us to grow in our own need and understanding of justice, righteousness, and holiness.
After all, we live in grace, we live in mercy, we live in the covenant. And with Jesus, we can burn with zeal not only for the house of God but as a house of prayer for all people. In God’s mercy, God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. What a great deal!
