We’re tempted to see the clearing of the Temple as something other than disruption. We’re afraid of what it reveals about Jesus.
When the Shepherd clears the Temple
Lent 3B | John 2:13-22
Jesus walks into the Temple, makes a whip, and drives the animals, tax collectors, and dove sellers out and then flips tables. Objectively, we can tell that Jesus is making a scene.
A scene that is fundamentally disruptive. Disruptive to the Temple economy and disruptive to the people’s expectations.
How we feel about disruption in the general sense can tell us an awful lot about how we feel about this story.
Disruption
We often treat this moment of Jesus heading up to the Temple like its a departure. Like, the rest of the time, Jesus is all Mr. Get-Along, but see, he’s willing to ruffle some feathers! Or else we try to explain away the challenging image of Jesus disrupting commerce because it was exploitative by saying this is all about spiritual connection.
One of the more common responses to this image of disruption is as the counterfactual proof. See, even Jesus uses a little violence.
While intellectually entertaining, most of these interpretations rely on the idea that this moment is aberrant. Like this isn’t the normal Jesus. Like it’s some departure.
This is a tempting read of the situation. But one that depends on a particular vision of Jesus. An apolitical Jesus. A gentle Messiah who would never upset a soul.
When our vision of Jesus is fittingly wearing a cardigan, it’s hard to imagine him as a vigilante Indiana Jones.
This disruption comes like an unwelcome revelation, pulling us out of the more comforting illusion to a reality we’d rather avoid.
In other words, we treat our vision of Jesus like the comforting delusion that helps us avoid thinking about the hard stuff.
Jesus the Shepherd
One of the favorite images of Jesus is as shepherd. Usually shown with little baby ewe lambs at his feet and one across his back. We see him in stained glass as they surround him like puppies.
That’s not a very honest image of the shepherd. They need to cajole and push the livestock to where they need to go. The whip, far from a violent image, is the means of motivating the obstinate.
Rather than seeming like a crazy moment of violence, this story invites us to see Jesus embrace the shepherd’s image. He’s herding the sheep out of the Temple and away from its distorting influence.
The Money Changers
Of course, flipping the tables betrays the innocent image of Jesus we try to impose on this scene. Even on his attempt to exercise his moral authority. This is certainly an act of civil disobedience. Something akin to an activist chaining herself to a tree to protect it. An act of direct disruption with an obvious message.
Money is corrupting the temple.
And as an act of disobedience, it is one that forces us to examine our own assumptions about the way things are. His words confirm that the point is to address our assumptions:
“Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
This is significant precisely because the money changers and dove sellers provided everyone with the opportunity to sacrifice. Because not everyone could come with their own livestock! These are the ones making it possible for the have nots to have something to offer.
But this attempt to ensure everyone can have something doesn’t ensure that everyone will get something. Nor will it protect them from hierarchies and oppression by the wealthy.
Like many revolutionaries, it seems as if Jesus is pushing them to see, not that the system is evil, but that the system is broken.
The Response
How the leaders respond to the disruption is just as confounding. There’s no SWAT team with riot gear, no pepper spray or rubber bullets. Not even a Hey, cut it out, man!
They ask for a sign. Not proof in the form of a degree or a badge. Proof in the form of some sort of divine authority. Which is totally not what Jesus offers, right? Don’t put the Lord your God to the test! But that’s not what he says this time.
Here he makes reference to his death and resurrection.
They ask for a sign and Jesus gives it to them. They just can’t hear it. Not that they could. Because it’s a sign for the people paying attention. With eyes to see and ears to hear. It’s a sign that won’t reveal the truth right then but in the future. When they have time to reflect and learn.
This is the problem of proof. Or more specifically, the demand for proof. It isn’t for good, but for justification. Immediate evaluation and hierarchy management. The proof they want is something that allows the powerful to judge and determine the value of others.
Jesus doesn’t play into that desire. He revealed God’s intention in the Temple. And revealed the truth for those willing to reflect back. That’s how we learn. Not in the definitive affirmation in the moment, but in the response, the reflection on the past.
Revealing the Obscured Truth
Like the Temple leaders, our fear of disruption can obscure the truth from us. Especially when it comes to who Jesus is.
For many, the desire is to treat this moment like a departure from his normal behavior. Otherwise it would mean Jesus seems to be ambivalent about following the rules. Even as a recurring theme in all of the gospels is how Jesus breaks the Law to teach people to embrace the spirit of the Law. This image makes Jesus look more complicated than many of us want.
But these attempts to define Jesus tend to limit him. And limit our ability to learn what he is teaching us. Much like the stained glass depictions of Jesus implant a domesticated Jesus with servile sheep, we might find ourselves fixated on ideas like nice rather just and peaceful rather than peacemaker.
The Jesus who the disciples see and remember is one who is zealous for God’s house reflecting God’s kin-dom. Who saw the world God created as being the same one God is transforming.
They saw a consistency in Jesus’s message and in the work.
This is the same challenge we are invited to explore. To watch and learn, even when we’re unsure what we’re experiencing. That we might remember and know from our own experience of this very moment. That this is the work of Christ in our midst!
May our eyes and minds be open to see it now and recognize Christ’s work in the future.