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A message by
Rev. F. David Throop, Pastor
February 24, 2008
Third Sunday in Lent
Scripture: John 2:12-25
Please pray with me:
Loving and gracious God, if any of us are in any way disturbed with this image of Jesus overturning tables, and with whip in hand, driving animals out of the Jerusalem Temple area, then help us not only to broaden our own images of Jesus, but help us especially to do our part to keep Your Church as You have desired it to be, filled with purity, and always open to any who are in need. In the name of our Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.
Well now, in terms of what we just read, how’s that for a description of “gentle Jesus, meek and mild?!” Just think: with the same hands with which he blesses little children, Jesus is now brandishing a whip and overturning tables.
Probably like most of you, I have yet to be in a sanctuary or worship center in which the primary, tangible focal point is this image of our Lord overturning tables of the money changers in the Jerusalem Temple. In my many years of ministry, I have yet to be in a worship sanctuary where the primary image of Jesus is one with a whip in hand, driving out lambs, goats, and oxen which were to have become the sacrificial animals during the Jewish Passover.
Like many of you, I have been in a great many sanctuaries over the years, and I have seen a great many crosses up front, mostly ornate ones. I appreciate the intentional effort to design this cross in front of us in a somewhat rough, more natural state. In some sanctuaries, I have seen pictures of a gentle Jesus surrounded by little children. I have seen images of a tender Jesus holding a small cuddly lamb in his arms. I have seen pictures of a faithful, patient Jesus standing next to a door, knocking. But in these sanctuaries across many years, I have yet to see a picture of an upset Jesus, an angry Jesus, an almost out of control Jesus, confronting the injustices created by those whose activities of selling and trading were making a complete mockery of what was supposed to have been a sacred place of worship.
However, this may soon change. As you know, beginning next Sunday and continuing through Easter Sunday, we will once again be worshipping in Key Center, as our sanctuary will be undergoing another “facelift” of sorts, as I will call it. Upon completion, there will be new and brighter lighting everywhere, including two light bars or rails along both sides of the sanctuary ceiling, all new lighting controls, as well as a newly painted ceiling and possibly walls. You will indeed notice, and will hopefully be quite pleased with, a wonderful change when we return to this room in early April.
Now, in reviewing what are sometimes called worship accoutrements or adornments, would any of you have any objections if, during this time of sanctuary refurbishing, we added some new and possibly permanent stained glass or other styled art work around this room, with the central piece being that of Jesus clearing the temple? Would this be okay with you? Would it be in any way problematic for any you to have this piece of art work in such a central location so that anyone, upon entering this sanctuary would undoubtedly see immediately this particular depiction of our Lord doing what we have just shared in the scripture reading of a few moments ago? Or, would this be problematic? Would this in any manner be a possible embarrassment for any of you in case you brought with you some of your out of town friends or relatives to worship here? What are your thoughts?
And finally, if a decision was made to add this type of art work to our sanctuary here on a more permanent basis, do you believe that overall this piece of art work could actually become a big plus in providing to all who enter here for worship an honest and sincere depiction of what we truly believe should be at the very heart of worship, that is, that our worship before God must be clean, pure, and untainted, that our worship before God must be sincere, that our worship before God must be such that all who enter here are more than welcome to be here, and that at the very heart of worship is the clear reminder that this truly is a place of prayer for all people? Just what is your thinking on the possibility of such new art work to our sanctuary?
In case you are interested, to summarize the responses from the two Bible study groups I lead, groups which totaled about thirty-five people this past week, and people who really are at the center of leadership of this church, the fairly unanimous thinking was this: Yes. Yes, with conditions. Yes, it would probably be okay to have this depiction of Jesus somewhere in here, as long as there are many other more normal, usual, standard depictions of Jesus. But such a depiction of Jesus brandishing a whip and overturning tables of money changers would probably not be welcomed as the only or central representation of Jesus.
Now, are you relieved or are you disappointed?
We can well imagine that for some, this scene of Jesus in the Jerusalem Temple is a very disturbing one. We would much rather see Jesus with a bunch of small children or Jesus holding a little lamb in his arms or Jesus calming the turbulent waters of the Sea of Galilee, or standing at the door knocking, but not one of Jesus wrecklessly overturning tables and using a whip in hand to clear the temple of soon-to-be-sacrificed animals.
I don’t really know how each of you picture the Jerusalem Temple during the time of Christ, but let me take a few moments to share with you some of its features. I want all of you to have a much better understanding of this enormous edifice.
First of all, the temple in which Jesus challenged the orthodox Judaism of his day was really the third temple of Judaism in Jerusalem, the first one being the Temple of Solomon and the second one being the Temple of Zerubbabel. This third temple, known as the Temple of Herod, was built on the same site as the other two and was impressive almost beyond imagination. However, while Solomon’s Temple lasted roughly 400 years and Zerubbabel’s Temple about 500 years, Herod’s Temple lasted a bit less than 100 years, as it was finally destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Roman army initially under the direction of Vespasian, but completed later on by his son, Titus.
In trying to imagine Herod’s Temple, do not imagine a building anything like the one we are in right now, nor anything like any church building you have ever seen. Rather, imagine instead something which would take up several city blocks. You see, to speak of Herod’s Temple is to speak not just of a singular building but of an entire expansive temple area.
Based on descriptions of a first century historian by the name of Josephus, it is estimated that the temple area itself was approximately 500 yards long and 325 yards wide. Now, to put this into perspective, a football field, as most of you know, is exactly 100 yards long. Thus, the entire length of the outer north/south dimensions of the Jerusalem Temple area was equivalent to that of five contiguous football fields, and the width was just over the length of three contiguous football fields! In fact, the entire temple area has been estimated to be equivalent to about thirty-five acres of land! Again, to put this into perspective, the land mass of our PPC property is about three and a half acres!
The temple proper consisted primarily of five different divisions, the first and largest being what is called the Court of the Gentiles. It was here in the large rectangular shaped Court of the Gentiles that Jesus overturned the tables of the money-changers and then drove out the animals. This part of the temple was mostly open-air and was enclosed by a portico along the sides, each of which was supported by four rows of columns. These columns were approximately thirty-five feet high and so massive that it would take three adult persons with hands joined together to surround each column at the base. By the way, to understand the magnitude of the temple construction project, there were on average about 10,000 workers employed daily in the construction of this temple, and the construction project involved took most of ninety years, and some maintain that when it was finally destroyed in the year 70 A.D., it may not even then have been completed.
So, the first and largest area was called the Court of the Gentiles, the second division was called the Court of Women, the third was called the Court of Israel, the fourth was called the Court of Priests, and the final area was the innermost temple itself which included the Holy of Holies, the most sacred room of all in which only the high priest would enter and on only one day each year, that being the Day of Atonement.
It is important to note that each court or area of the temple had certain restrictions in terms of who was allowed to enter. Beginning with the outer court, the Court of Gentiles, anyone could enter, including all Gentiles, all foreigners, and even women, as long as they were not in the midst of their period. The next division was the Court of Women, and it was here that only a member of Judaism could enter, both men and women, again with the exception of women in their period. At the entrance of this court was a carved notice which gave very clear warning that no Gentile was to enter any further into the temple without risking the penalty of death which would surely follow. It was in this part of the temple, the Court of Women, that offerings were made, as there were thirteen trumpet-shaped offering boxes located around the perimeter, with each receptacle designated for a particular designated offering such as offerings for the wood which would be used for the sacrificial fires, offerings for incense, offerings for oil and wine, offerings for priestly vestments, and so forth.
Immediately beyond the Court of the Women was the Court of Israel, and only Jewish men could enter this area. All were required to stand, with the only exception being the King who himself would be seated.
Next came the Court of the Priests, and it was here that the Jewish priests performed slaughter and sacrifices of domestic animals, including oxen, lambs, doves and pigeons. Beyond this area finally was the inner most sacred part of the temple itself, the Holy of Holies.
Now, to get an idea of the magnitude of trading and slaughtering that was going on when Jesus entered the temple area, which was the Court of the Gentiles, it was reported by first century historian, Josephus, that in the year A.D. 66, the year Herod’s Temple was mostly completed, some 255,600 lambs were sacrificed during Passover! Imagine now, if you will, how congested this part of the temple must have been just with animals. Imagine the sounds and smells and pure chaos, not to mention the droppings all of these animals surely left behind! If you can imagine the stench and the remains from the slaughter of just one lamb, imagine the stench and the remains from over a quarter of a million lambs! And all of the trading of sacrificial animals was taking place in the Court of the Gentiles, the only place within the Jerusalem temple where a Gentile — a non-Jew — could worship.
Try to picture a typical Passover. It was a requirement that every male Jew who lived within twenty miles of Jerusalem should attend the Passover and offer a sacrifice. Not only this, it was the dream of every Jew throughout that entire part of the world to be able to celebrate the Feast of Passover in the Jerusalem Temple at least once in their lifetime. According to those who have done research in this area, it would not have been at all unusual for upwards of two million Jews, or even more, to gather at Passover in Jerusalem each year.
Now, in order to enter the Temple itself, each person had to pay a temple tax which was established as one half shekel. A shekel was strictly a Jewish coin, and only shekels were allowed as payment to enter the temple grounds. Now, imagine the tens of thousands of foreigners from the surrounding areas of Rome, Greece, even Egypt who wanted to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. As they came, they brought with them, of course, the coinage from their own country. The problem was, any coinage other than the Jewish shekel was considered “unclean,” and thus had to be exchanged into a shekel.
Therefore, upon entering the Court of the Gentiles, this outer most court, people were required to pay their one half shekel temple tax. In doing the math for the exchange rates, it cost on average roughly fifty percent of the foreign money value just to exchange it into the proper one half shekel per person. A half a shekel may not seem like much, but in those days the shekel was the equivalent to almost two day’s wages. That’s a lot of money. And so, just to enter the temple for the purpose of worship cost the equivalent of almost one day’s labor, and this did not include the offerings which would be required. Part of what angered Jesus so much was the exorbitant rate of exchange being extracted from those who were entering the temple that day. And most of those entering were the poor.
Next came the purchase of a sacrificial animal or bird, and the requirements were very specific. Jewish law required that any animal offered in sacrifice in the Temple must be perfect, flawless, and unblemished. So important was this requirement that the temple authorities had appointed inspectors to examine each animal or bird which would be offered. Once again, there was a fee for this inspection, the equivalent of a quarter day’s work. If a worshipper brought the animal in from outside the temple, it was examined and almost all but certain that the animal would have been summarily rejected. The problem was, the cost for the same bird or the same animal from inside the temple was many times the amount of the cost of that same bird or animal if purchased and brought in from the outside.
Got the picture? Everywhere Jesus turned in the outer court, the Court of the Gentiles in the Temple that day there was rampant extortion, and this extortion was at the expense mostly of impoverished people, and always at the gain of insider Jewish religious insiders. Blackmail and graft were at their very worst in a place where people should have been welcomed with open arms to worship God. The social and religious injustices Jesus saw that day were simply more than he could stand.
And so John tells us that on seeing these things, “Jesus made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers, and overturned their tables. And to those who sold doves, he said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!’” Or, as Matthew, Mark, and Luke have it, “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a den of thieves!”
The bottom line in his anger? Not only was God’s house being desecrated, but worship was being made irrelevant. People, poor people wanting simply to worship, were being forced to pay exorbitant sums of money just to enter. And because of all of the commotion going on, those non-Jews who simply wanted a place to worship and a place to pray had no place of their own. Their place of worship had been taken over by oxen and sheep and goats and birds, along with all the mess of their remains. Reverence for God was nowhere to be seen. Respect for each other was non-existent. And the only concern, or so it seems, was to devise a way to extract every last penny, every last shekel from anyone and from everyone who entered the temple. It is no wonder that on seeing this, Jesus became angry.
And if there is anything which should cause today’s church to become angry as well, is it not those ways in which people today may be prohibited from their right to worship? What is it today — snobbishness, a club atmosphere, highly sophisticated clothing, lack of a welcoming presence among others? — anything which makes a mockery out of worship today also becomes an offense to our Lord.
So now, what are your thoughts? Would it be sort of okay to have a picture of Jesus here, whose anger was to make certain that everyone, no matter who they are, will have an opportunity to worship the living God and to have for themselves a place of prayer?
As for me, I think . . . it makes a lot of sense.
(Numerous resources were used in compiling the information on Herod’s Temple, including The Gospel of John, Volume 1, William Barclay; Saint John, John Marsh, Pelican Gospel Commentaries, Penguin Books; The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, George Arthur Buttrick, Editor, Abingdon Press; and The Gospel According to Mark, James R. Edwards, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. There are also numerous sites used from the internet, including: www.newadvent.org/cathen; www.en.wikipe-dia.org/wiki/Herod’s Temple; www.biblehistory.com/ courtofwomen/edersheim_with_the_holy_place;www.orion.mscc.huji.ac.il/symposiums/4th/papers/Schiffman99
Descriptions of the Jerusalem Temple; and www.goodnewspirit. com/herods temple) Copyright © 2008 by Rev. F. David Throop. All rights reserved. No part of this sermon may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except in the case of a very brief quotation, which will acknowledge the source. |
