Third Sunday of Lent, cycle B

JOHN 2:13-25
ALL FOUR GOSPELS TELL THE STORY OF JESUS CLEANSING THE TEMPLE, IN ALMOST THE SAME WORDS. MATTHEW, MARK, AND LUKE PUT THE EVENT NEAR THE END OF JESUS' LIFE, AND THERE IS THE HINT THAT THIS WAS THE LAST STRAW, THE THING THAT FINALLY GOT THE AUTHORITIES TO ARREST HIM AND PUT HIM TO DEATH. IN JOHN, HOWEVER, THE STORY STANDS AT THE BEGINNING OF JESUS' MINISTRY. IF YOU'VE DONE ANY READING OR STUDYING ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF THE BIBLE, THE FACT THAT ONE AUTHOR USES A STORY DIFFERENTLY THAN ANOTHER ISN'T A BIG SURPRISE. NONE OF THE GOSPEL WRITERS WERE WRITING HISTORY, AFTER ALL.
BUT THE STORY MUST HAVE BEEN A VERY FAMILIAR ONE TO CHRISTIANS THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE OF ROME, JUST LIKE THE STORY OF THE PASSION. AND PEOPLE THEN, AS NOW, WONDERED WHAT DID IT ALL MEAN?
JESUS WAS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, A PROPHET, AND PROPHETS OFTEN ACTED OUT THE MESSAGE GOD HAD FOR HIS PEOPLE. YOU MIGHT REMEMBER HOW JEREMIAH, FOR EXAMPLE, TOOK A POT AND BROKE IT IN FRONT OF THE PEOPLE TO SYMBOLIZE WHAT GOD WAS GOING TO DO TO THE NATION OF ISRAEL. AND THE PEOPLE AROUND JESUS RECOGNIZED WHAT HE DID AS A PROPHETIC ACT; THEY DIDN'T CALL THE POLICE, THEY ASKED FOR A SIGN THAT THEY SHOULD BELIEVE THAT THIS WAS A MESSAGE FROM GOD.
TO OUR MODERN SENSIBILITIES, JESUS' ACTION MEANS THAT HE PERCEIVED CORRUPTION IN WHAT WAS GOING ON AND WANTED TO PUT A STOP TO IT. BUT HE MUST HAVE KNOWN THAT HIS VIOLENT ACTION WOULD NOT CHANGE A THING; AS SOON AS HE LEFT, THE MERCHANTS AND MONEY CHANGERS WOULD BE BACK. AFTER ALL, THEY WERE PERFORMING AN IMPORTANT AND ESSENTIAL SERVICE. IF YOU WANTED TO SACRIFICE AN ANIMAL OR BIRD TO GOD, IT HAD TO BE A PERFECT ANIMAL, NO BRUISES, SCRATCHES, LUMPS; AND THE MERCHANTS HAD SELECTED EXACTLY SUCH CREATURES SO YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO. AND EVERYONE KNEW THAT IF YOU CARRIED MONEY INTO THE TEMPLE TO PAY YOUR TAX, OR BUY AN ANIMAL, IT COULD NOT BE MONEY WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE EMPEROR ON IT, OR A ROMAN GOD, OR IN FACT ANY SORT OF IMAGE; SO THE MONEY CHANGERS WERE IMPORTANT IN KEEPING THE TEMPLE ITSELF RITUALLY PURE AND UNCONTAMINATED.
SO WHY THIS SUDDEN, VIOLENT EXPLOSION OF ANGER ON THE PART OF JESUS? DID THE APOSTLES WONDER WHO TOOK THE JESUS THEY KNEW AND SUBSTITUTED THIS MADMAN?
THINK ABOUT THE TEMPLE. THE FIRST TEMPLE HAD BEEN BUILT BY SOLOMON; IT'S MAIN PURPOSE WAS TO HOUSE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, WHICH HAD BEEN PUT TOGETHER IN THE DESERT BY THE WANDERING HEBREWS BEFORE THEY ENTERED THE COUNTRY GOD HAD PREPARED FOR THEM. BUT THAT TEMPLE HAD BEEN DESTROYED, AND THE ARK HAD BEEN CARRIED AWAY. WHEN THE PEOPLE CAME BACK FROM THE EXILE, THE BUILT THE SECOND TEMPLE, AND NOW, HEROD WAS IN THE PROCESS OF RENOVATING IT. BUT EVERY JEW KNEW THAT IN THE EXACT CENTER OF THE TEMPLE, IN A ROOM THAT WAS HEAVILY GUARDED, THERE WAS THE SPECIAL PRESENCE OF GOD. ONCE A YEAR THE HIGH PRIEST WOULD ENTER THE TEMPLE, PRONOUNCE THE NAME OF GOD, AND OFFER THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE. THE REST OF THE TIME, OTHER PRIESTS COULD GO IN THERE ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE; BUT THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES COULD ONLY STAND OUTSIDE. THE TEMPLE WAS THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN. BUT IF YOU LOOKED AT THE DESIGN OF THE TEMPLE, THERE WAS A PLACE RESERVED FOR THE LEVITES AND PRIESTS; ANOTHER FOR JEWISH MEN, A THIRD FOR JEWISH WOMEN AND CHILDREN; AND A FOURTH FOR GENTILES WHO BELIEVED IN THE JEWISH GOD BUT DID NOT WANT TO BECOME JEWS. AND FURTHERMORE, THE TEMPLE WAS SET APART FROM THE WORLD BY THE MERCHANTS AND MONEY CHANGERS; THEY SET UP THEIR STALLS ON THE TEMPLE GROUNDS, AND IF YOU WANTED TO GO INTO THE TEMPLE PROPER, YOU HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM. THE TEMPLE, IN OTHER WORDS, HAD BEEN MEANT TO BE A “HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL PEOPLE” ACCORDING TO ISAIAH, BUT HAD BECOME A SYMBOL OF DIVISION; GOD FROM MAN, CLERGY FROM LAITY, JEWS FROM GENTILES, MEN FROM WOMEN. IT DID THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO DO, WHAT HAD BEEN ENVISIONED BY ALL THE PROPHETS.
AND MAYBE WHAT JESUS WAS DOING WAS ACTING OUT THE DESTRUCTION OF TEMPLE; BY DRIVING AWAY THE ANIMAL SACRIFICES AND THE MONEY CHANGERS, THE TEMPLE NO LONGER COULD FUNCTION; AND JESUS THEN SAID ABOUT HIMSELF, “DESTROY THIS TEMPLE, AND IN THREE DAYS I WILL RAISE IT UP. JESUS IS THE NEW TEMPLE, THE NEW MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, THE TEMPLE THAT CANNOT BE DESTROYED, NO LONGER A TEMPLE THAT DIVIDES, BUT IN JESUS, UNITES.
LATER WE WILL HEAR JESUS PRAY, “THAT ALL MAY BE ONE, AS I, FATHER IN YOU, AND YOU IN ME, THAT ALL MAY BE ONE IN US.” AND AS WE FOLLOW JESUS THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER, WE SEE HIM UNITING THE BLIND WITH THE SEEING, THE LEPERS WITH THOSE WHO ARE NOT DISEASED; EVEN THE DEAD WITH THE LIVING, BECAUSE IF YOU LOVE ENOUGH, ANY DIVISION HURTS YOU. EVERY INJUSTICE, EVERY SIN, BEGINS WITH DIVISION; AND HEALING THE EVILS OF THE WORLD MUST BEGIN WITH OVERCOMING DIVISION.
TODAY, WE CELEBRATE THAT JESUS IS OUR TEMPLE, JESUS IS THE PLACE WHERE GOD AND HUMANITY MEET, NOT ONLY MEET, BUT BECOME ONE. AND WE ASK, WHAT KINDS OF DIVISION AM I RESPONSIBLE FOR? HOW CAN I HELP TO OVERCOME DIVISION? HOW CAN I TAKE THE ONENESS WHICH IS PRESENT IN THE HUMANITY AND DIVINITY OF JESUS, THE UNION WHICH IS PRESENT IN THE FATHER AND THE SON, AND EXTEND IT TO ME, TO THOSE I LOVE, TO THOSE I DON'T EVEN KNOW, PERHAPS. HOW CAN I HELP ANSWER THE PRAYER OF JESUS, THAT ALL MAY BE ONE.