JOHN 2: 13-22
Jottings on John…Lent 3…New for 2018
The Jewish leaders asking Jesus for a sign (v.18) is central to this passage. They are unable to grasp that He Himself is The Sign come among them! The Sign of God’s judging on the way people are, things are, & offering God’s grace for a better way of being human beings, looking at things, & doing things. Is this the point John wants to make by placing the cleansing of the Temple so early in Jesus’ ministry, whereas the other Evangelists place it towards the end? (Unless, that is, we accept two cleansings?)
If the Temple is ‘the central shrine of political religion in Jerusalem’ 1 in Jesus’ day, what have become shrines of ‘political religion’ for us? Flags? War Memorials? Anthems? Baseball caps? Windows in our churches? Lapel Badges? All, & more, now stamping grounds for politicians who exploit this kind of religion in the interests of gaining voters. What is Jesus the Sign of in such cases? What prophetic input are we making into this scene? Or, will doing so cost us too much?
Has the time come for us to explore ways of reaching beyond our sanctuaries & out into the margins? Where so many people disaffected from religion are struggling to survive? Difficult as the challenge may be, is this where we need to be in-putting some Christ-like political & religious energies - at ground zero? Does it catch the eyes of our hearts that much of Jesus’ work out there is being done by people who lay no claim to being religious, yet are being a Jesus-like sign where it’s needed? What can we learn from them?
When he drives out the ‘crooks’ dealing in animals for sacrifice, Jesus literally puts the Temple out of business 2 at least temporarily, by shutting down the animal sacrifices at the heart of operations. When Jesus challenges those who put Him down, & says He’ll “raise up this temple in three days”, they take cover behind arithmetic with their “Forty six years…” Jesus is still open for God’s business as the New Temple; but without any hint of corruption. As the old one ought to have been.
Have we developed distractions of our own, even the mis-use of Scripture, to avoid Jesus issues facing our churches? Are we trying to take cover behind any such distractions? There’s also a reminder here that God’s kind of triumphalism is far from the kind the leaders of Jesus’ day are imagining in a Messiah? To be ‘raised up’, as Jesus prophesies here, begins on a cross!
To be a sign, as Jesus is, that human beings in their need matter more than politics or religion as it’s commonly practised, is the most positive step we can take in His Name & in His footsteps. Through sharing Eucharist we become the Body of Christ that His Spirit being with us makes us. When we gather round the altar to share Eucharist we’re staring great possibilities in the Face. Jesus, the Sign God’s world needs so much, still offers Himself today - or wants to - in us & through us!
1 Malina & Rohrbaugh, Social Science Commentary on John, Fortress, Minneapolis, 1998, p. 75
2 Shore, Sermon, Working Preacher, ad loc., 2018.
