Download The Attack Of Jesus On The Temple

THE ATTACK OF JESUS UPON THE TEMPLE
A sermon preached by Professor John Hull
in the chapel of the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education
on 11th March 2015.
It is interesting to note that whereas the three synoptic gospels place this memorable incident at the
end of their stories of Jesus, and regard it as the final outrage which led inevitably to his arrest and
execution, the Fourth Gospel has it more or less at the beginning of the public work of Jesus. It is,
perhaps, difficult for us to imagine that a major event like this, which would have created a sensation,
could be simply switched from the end to the beginning of the gospel, and we must ask what the author
of this final gospel had in mind.
So let’s take a quick look at the opening chapters and see if we can find a thread running through them.
In the first chapter, we have the impressive introduction to the whole Gospel, the eternal Word of God
becoming flesh. This is followed by various descriptions of his first reception – how John the Baptist
greeted him and how he began to gather a group of friends around him. Then we move into the second
chapter, in which two incidents are described. The first is the turning of the water into wine at a
wedding feast, and the second, following on almost immediately, is the description of the attack on the
temple. What have these two stories in common? Both speak of renewal, the first one in joy and the
second one in anger. In the wedding feast, the old, rather tasteless and boring water is turned into the
best wine. In the second story, the old, vicious and corrupt things are thrown out. These are the two
aspects of the work of the prophet, first to bring blessing, and second to bring destruction.
These two themes then work their way out in the rest of the gospel. In chapters three and four, we
have Jesus meeting with two individual people, one a teacher of Israel, whose old teaching is replaced
by a new birth in the spirit, and then a woman from Samaria, for whom the ordinary water becomes the
water of eternal life. In both cases, the old is destroyed, and the radically new bursts out.
At this point the lectionary readings come to our assistance. The Old Testament lesson which
accompanies the reading from the Gospel of John is the giving of the Ten Commandments.
‘Hear O Israel! I am the Lord your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt, out of the House of
slavery! You shall have no other gods beside me.’
In his attack on the corrupt temple, we see the prophet of God recalling Israel to the worship of the true
and living God. For the temple had become a false god, taking the place of the true God. Both John the
Baptist and Jesus had bypassed the temple rituals and had opened up a new and living way into the
presence of God. Then we have the shattering words ‘Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it
up’, announcing the newness of the resurrection, and the new world that was to be born.
The true and living God is the giver of freedom. All false gods enslave people. In the story of the temple
we see God at work overthrowing three great false idols.
The attack on the temple was an attack on religion as a false god. Moreover it was an attack upon the
market. ‘How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market place?’ And another god also fell down –
the money god, for he spilled the coins of the money changers and turned their tables over.
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I wonder about these three gods today. Do we not see clearly that religion can become a powerful
distortion of our humanity? The fanaticism which religion can provoke is all around us today.
Under what conditions does religion become pathologised? When it becomes tribalised, competitive,
when it becomes a technique to aggrandise the ego, when the sacred buildings, the sacred traditions,
the sacred rituals become more important than bringing good news to the poor. What was the attitude
of Jesus toward religion? He saw that the holy Sabbath had become the lord and master of the people,
that the proper keeping of the religious law had become more important than saving life itself. He
replied to the disciples who were admiring the temple that not one stone should remain upon another.
Did Jesus found a new religion?
And what about our idolatry of the market? True, the market may be the most powerful way of growing
wealth, but it is also the most powerful way of excluding people from wealth.
And what shall we say about the money god? When we see St Paul’s Cathedral in the hands of the City
of London, when we see whole nations kept in poverty because of the need to serve a huge
international debt whose repayment of interest is nothing but the tribute paid by the poor to the rich,
and when we see how the bankers attempt to justify their massive bonuses … is it not all too obvious
that none of those exposed to the direct power of money can resist it but gather around the trough,
each struggling to push his dirty little snout more deeply into it? Yes, the gods of religion, the market
and money still dominate our world.
What else is there to say about the actions of the Lord Jesus Christ? In him the one who had called the
people out of slavery acted in person to deliver them. And what we have to emphasise is that he acted.
He taught, indeed, and his teaching is for ever true; his words were wonderful, indeed, the wonderful
words of Jesus. But beyond his words and his teaching and his prayers we find this: His actions. He did
something about it. He made a whip and drove them out.
Oh dear Master, when I get lost in my dreams, when I am content to pray and pray and pray, when I
become fascinated by the depth and beauty of my theology, when I read the papers and feel sad but go
on sitting there, when the survival of the church seems to me to be more important than the lives of the
poor, remind me, gracious Saviour, of what you did that day.
Let me hear the sounds of the scattering animals. Let me listen to the panicky shouts of the traders as
they scrabble on the floor for their money.
And O my Master, let me see you standing there, your eyes blazing with anger, let me hear the crack
of your whip, and above the tumult, let me hear your voice ringing out, ‘How dare you turn my Father’s
house into a market place?’
Then, my Lord, give me the guts to act.
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
References
Exodus 20.1-17
John 2.13-22
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