Preaching Paths 3 March 2024 (Lent 3B)

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

The violence of Jesus’ clearing of the Temple courtyard in today’s lection (John 2:13-22) can lure an unwary preacher into presenting a sermon with an anti-Semitic slant. It is crucial for preachers to make clear that John is a Jewish gospel. Jesus is a Jewish teacher and reformer. Here, Jesus acts and speaks symbolically, in accord with the Jewish prophetic tradition’s concern with worship. It will also be helpful to note that John’s gospel was written long after the Temple’s destruction (70 CE).

The scene reads like a dramatic script. Multiple voices speak—Jesus as protagonist, the temple priests and rulers in the role of antagonist. The disciples, looking on, are a (silent) chorus, invoking recollected psalmic precedent (v. 17) for Jesus’ prophetic action. When the temple authorities demand that Jesus provide a “sign” of his authority for acting as he has, Jesus replies with a riddle of sorts: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I shall raise it up” (v. 19, NRSV). The final voice to speak (vv 21-22) is the omniscient narrator, who contributes a post-resurrection interpretation of this opaque reply. The varied voices, including chorus, as well as the “riddling” reply of Jesus, bring to mind features of classical Greek drama. Scholars have noted parallels with that genre.

Jesus has come to Jerusalem, like thousands of other Jews, to celebrate Passover. He finds in the Temple’s outer court, the court of the Gentiles, a noisy, crowded marketplace. Peddlers of various services hawk their wares. Throngs of diaspora Jews, in town for the sacrificial rites of Passover, would shop for unblemished animals. Everyone needed the image-free coins required by Jewish law to pay the Temple tax; money-changers supplied these, for a fee. Jesus weaves a whip of cords, then chases out animals and upends tables covered with carefully sorted coins, shouting over the mayhem, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” (v 16). In word and action, Jesus embodies the tradition of prophetic critique of Temple worship, attested in Jer 7:1-11 and Zech 14:21. The latter specifically (and negatively) refers to “trade” in the Lord’s house.  

Jesus’ retort to his challengers hints at the new reality announced in John’s Prologue (1:14): “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son.” God’s “glory,” that sign of divine presence that—ages earlier—hallowed the Tabernacle (Ex 40:34) and later the Temple (2 Chronicles 7:1), dwells now in Jesus. Jesus’ mysterious statement can be understood as a coded invitation to fellow Jews to welcome him as God’s new mode of presence with them, transcending the (doomed) Temple. Yet, there is no reason to interpret (or preach) this invitation as some sort of “Christian replacement” for Jewish worship. Jesus speaks to fellow Jews, indicating an intensification of God’s presence and accessibility among his people, Israel. Each of Jesus’ “signs” in John serves to unveil further the mystery of God embodied among them.

We must ask some hard questions. In what ways, in our own churches, has the God’s house of prayer been overtaken by a business model for institutional success (e.g. “twelve best strategic principles to grow your church”)? Is personal business acumen and success more highly valued for church leadership than humility, spiritual wisdom, active compassion, prayerfulness, or courageous pursuit of justice? Are we better at attracting religious consumers than forming followers of our crucified Lord? The “glory” of being the biggest, most popular, high-tech church in town is too easily confused with the “glory” of God. In his day, Jesus cleared the Temple; today, he might cut the power lines. In the dim quiet, might we rediscover the intimate nearness of the glory of God revealed among us? For God’s glory is revealed in Christ’s body, a living community filled with truth and grace.