John 2: 13-25 (Jesus’ vision of God)
There is a story of a man who walked into a shop that sold religious items. Near the cash register there was a display of caps bearing the logo ‘WWJD?’. He was puzzled over what these letters could mean, so he asked the person behind the counter. She replied that the letters of the logo stood for ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ and was meant to inspire people to emulate what Jesus would do if they found themselves in a particular situation. The man thought for a moment and then replied, “Well, I’m sure Jesus wouldn’t pay Rs. 300 for one of those caps!”
Through today’s Gospel Jesus brought a new way of approaching God. Jesus was offended because God’s house had become perverted from its main function as a house of prayer, and turned into something resembling a market. The actions and words of Jesus are those of an angry prophet, not an ordinary Passover pilgrim. ‘Righteous anger’ is channeled in seeking to correct that which is on opposition to God’s will for humanity. Righteous anger is an anger that is willing to speak truth when power is being misused and abused which destroys human life in one form or another.
The cleansing of the temple shows Jesus brought a new way of approaching God. Jesus cleansed the temple and stopped the worship of animal sacrifice of the Jews. The people Jesus ran out of the temple weren’t interested in worshiping there; they were interested in earning a buck. They should have been there to worship the Lord God, but they were involved in commerce. It was an anger directed at those who could care less about worship as long as they could make a profit.
Jesus wants us to be concerned about worship. The reality is that life has become cluttered with things, busyness, and preoccupations that quench our desire to worship God. When our lives become so commercialized with the cares of this world, that we have little or no desire to pray, or study God’s word, or to be still before the Lord, or to minister to others who may come to us in need. The season of lent is an opportunity for us all to take stock of our lives, to reexamine our priorities to be sure that God is once again at the center of our lives.
A man confided to his friend, “I went to see my doctor about my heart ailment. He told me to change my lifestyle. No smoking, no drinking, no meat.” “So what happened, did you change your lifestyle?” the friend asked. “No, I changed my doctor,” he replied.
Isn’t that our attitude too; we change God if we don’t like his prescription or commands for us? Jesus brought a new way of approaching God. Jesus told Nicodemus that it’s not being physically born into the family of Abraham that brings salvation; it’s being born again. Jesus told the woman at the well that it wasn’t on Mt. Gerizim or in Jerusalem that people should be worshiping; instead, they should be worshiping in spirit and truth. Jesus brought a new way of approaching God by focusing on true worship. Jesus’s death and resurrection changed worship forever. We don’t offer animal sacrifices, for Jesus offered himself once and for all. We approach God through the blood Jesus gave at the cross.
There is a strong contrast between last Sunday’s gospel reading: The quiet, prayerful scene on the mountain of transfiguration, when all seems well, and the phrase, ‘it is good for us to be here’ and the gospel reading this morning: the frenetic and hectic scene in the Jerusalem temple, when disturbance and conflict are more to the fore, when chaos reigns. Perhaps that contrast reflects something of the rhythm of our own lives. By his prophetic actions in the Temple, Jesus made it clear that God could not be bought by sacrifice or bribe. God demands genuine worship. As we come together in this Temple of God, let us cleanse our hearts that our hearts be a worthy dwelling place for God.
