Matthew 21:12-17
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”
And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
So our Caravan has finally made it. After three weeks of traveling from our homes, through the wilderness, we are finally in Jerusalem. The Holy City! And we're here just in time for the festival of Passover. Passover is one of the most exciting times of year to be in Jerusalem. It's easily one of the largest and most important of the three annual pilgrimage festivals. Jews have come from all over to share in this special celebration. And non-jews, too have come to see what the fuss is about. The streets are busy and alive. It feels like the whole world is in this one place.
The first thing you do once you've checked in with the inn or the relatives you are staying with, is make your way down to the temple to pick up your animal. See, as part of the celebration, you will be offering a sacrifice to God in the temple later in the week. Because people come from all over, it's not practical to travel such long distances with an animal. Luckily, in the temple there are money changers who will exchange coin for the appropriate offering. So wanting to make sure you get the best lamb for the meal, you decide to get to the temple court as soon as possible.
You enter the temple courts just in time to see a Galilean Rabbi absolutely flipping his lid about something! Now the festival usually brings the crazies out of the woodwork. It's not uncommon to see some religious nut try to make a scene in the middle of the temple or in the market place. They're usually dealt with quickly. But there was something different about this guy. He's flipping over tables and yelling passages from Jeremiah-- doves fluttering away as silver clangs against the stone floor. And the guards seem ready to haul him off. But then suddenly he's got a parade of people around him crying out and singing songs. Not a mob of troublemakers with clubs; a parade of beggars and children.
And then the mysterious Rabbi begins to heal people. You wouldn't believe it if you weren't seeing it with your own eyes. Blind people walking away with their sight. Lame people getting up off their mats. The mute joining in the songs of Hosanna. What in the world is going on in Jerusalem this week?
What was that all about? Why was that man so angry?
We still puzzle over it today, don't we? What was going on in the Temple that got Jesus so upset?
Some say he was angry at the idea of commerce in the temple. Maybe it was the buying and selling. But the thing is, the moneychangers were performing a simple service. One that was actually helpful to people who had to travel long distances and couldn't bring their sacrifice with them. Some argue that maybe it was the WAY they were doing it. The implication is that the moneychangers were cheating people. If that's the case, the Bible doesn't say it and I'm not sure there's much reason to think that was the issue. Besides, the charge has an all too familiar antisemitic ring to it.
I think the thing that got Jesus so angry is simpler than that. All you have to do is look at who came in after Jesus drove the money changers out... who he was making room for.
I remember reading in the weeks and months before the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, how the city was "cleaned up" in preparation for the games. "Cleaned up" meant getting rid of all the poverty. Poor people were removed from their homes, which were then bulldozed so that the infrastructure needed to host tourists from around the world could be built. At the same time, the homeless and the beggars that normally walked the street were rounded up and thrown in jail or relocated where they would be out of sight and out of mind. The most vulnerable members of society got the short end of the stick so that Brazil could put its best foot forward. They didn't want people to have to walk past vagrants and beggars on their way to the games, so they crowded them out.
A similar thing was happening in the Temple at Passover time. Normally, the temple court was a place where the blind and the lame were welcome. They could sit on their mats and call out for spare change from people who were feeling especially charitable. But not during Passover. During passover, the whole world is looking at Jerusalem and it was best foot forward time. So the poor and the beggars are removed from the temple in favor of the infrastructure needed to handle the crowds of tourists during the Festival.
See you have to picture the scene from the outside. Imagine being lame during the 1st Century. There's no public safety net. You are totally reliant on the kindness of strangers. So every day, someone brings you to the Temple courts and you cry out to worshippers: "Have mercy on me!" all day long as they come and go. Some do and some don't and you make enough to get by. But the week of Passover is your big chance! There will be more people at the Temple in a single day than are there the whole rest of the year. But you get there and you're told that you're not allowed there today. The official reason is that the money changers need the space. But you know it's because they don't want the tourists to see you.
So it's mid-afternoon and you're sitting on your mat in an alley somewhere. No one has hardly walked by all day. Suddenly your friend shows up and grabs you. "Come with me! They're letting us all back in the temple!"
They aren't doing anything. He is. The mysterious stranger. He's just flipped over the tables and run out the money changers and now all the beggars are flooding in again. Hours ago you had been locked out of God's house. Now you're looking God in the eyes. And-- get this-- for the first time in your life... you're walking home!
This week, all of us are on the outside. We're usually the ones in our pretty outfits who come into the Church welcomed and prepared to celebrate. All the accommodations have been made to make us feel special. But this week, the doors are locked and we have to stay away. We're going to experience Easter from the outside. Maybe God can use this time to help us reflect on what it feels like to be crowded out of the Church. What it feels like to pass a building where we know wonderful things happen but feel like we can't go in. Maybe we can reflect on the times that we've let the business of the Church get in the way of the mission of the Church. Maybe we can search our hearts and ask ourselves if everyone truly is welcome in our midst and, if not, what can we do to change that.
I have no doubt that one Sunday very soon our doors will be unlocked once more. The question is, will they be open to everybody?
Lord, Just as you cleared the temple 2,000 years ago, clear out the temple of our hearts. Drive out the moneychangers we have let set up shop there for too long exchanging good for good and evil for evil. Then make space for the most vulnerable so we can love them as you love them. Amen.
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