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The Third Sunday In Lent
Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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The Third Sunday In Lent
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Scripture citation(s): John 2:13-22
A Sermon by
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner
on
John 2:13-22
✛
We Preach Christ Crucified
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Last week I gave my first tour of Saint Thomas Church to members of the University Club; I was quite nervous – I woke up in the night and suddenly realised that I knew every nook and cranny of Exeter Cathedral where I had spent the past 13 years and it’s 965 year history but I suddenly realized that I knew so little about this Church. Rather than fill my head with facts and figures I decided to simply talk about why it was built and how we use it. It worked – I was able to show my group how beautiful and significant this building is – truly magnificent!
The restored second Temple in Jerusalem must have been an even more amazing place to visit especially if you lived in one of the small towns or villages of Galilee. The Temple complex was huge and very beautiful and Herod had spent many years restoring the Temple rebuilt after the exile to Babylon.
Jesus clearly knew the Temple well – in John’s Gospel there are no less than six visits to Jerusalem including three Passovers; in Matthew, Mark and Luke there is mention of only one but all the Gospels have an account of the ‘cleansing of the Temple.’
The Temple complex was ordered and various courts surrounded the Temple itself – they were gathering places that had strict rules of admittance. First, there was the Court of the Gentiles where anybody could go and where all would pass through initially, then there was the Court of the Women, followed by the Court of the Israelites where Jewish men gathered. After that was the Court of the priests which led to the Temple mount itself.
We often think that Jesus was in the actual Temple building –where the altar of burnt sacrifice stood with the altar of incense inside near the Holy of Holies. But today’s Gospel story is set in the first court – the Court of the Gentiles – and it was in this court that the moneychangers and livestock sellers made their trade.
The moneychangers made their living charging a fee to convert foreign or unclean currency into ‘clean’ Jewish currency – the Temple Tax. Those who sold the birds and the animals for sacrifice did so at a highly exorbitant rate. In the Temple complex there were also inspectors to ensure that all sacrificial animals were unblemished – suitable for sacrificial use – and it is highly unlikely that any animal or bird bought outside the Temple complex would be declared fit for sacrificial use. So offering a sacrifice would come at a cost. Pilgrims were easy targets for making a quick buck.
This Court was filled with hundreds of thousands of pilgrims passing through – it was the Passover – all Jews within 15 miles of Jerusalem were obliged to attend. It has been suggested that as many as a quarter of a million Jews might have been in Jerusalem at the time of this Passover.
So we have this added dimension – not only is there blatant injustice and abuse in making money out of the poor, there is also noise – so much noise of a secular nature that it would have been difficult to think let alone pray. In his frustration Jesus cried out “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
Now, in Mark’s account of the cleansing of the Temple Jesus says something slightly different to what is recorded in the other gospels and this might be a clue as to why he drove the moneychangers and livestock sellers out: In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Could it be that the righteous anger of Jesus is not just because the moneychangers and livestock sellers had a monopoly and were getting rich at the expense of pilgrims but also because Gentile pilgrims were unable to pray or find the presence of God because of the mayhem? Remember, they had nowhere else to go. “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”
On this third Sunday of Lent I think Jesus challenges us now – here in Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. He challenges us afresh to get our priorities right so that our beautiful building is a place where people are aided to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth and not an end in itself. He challenges us to ensure that this church is a church for all the nations who, regardless of race, language or way of life, visit here. I think it needs to be one of the commitments of the community that worships here and not just a nice sentiment expressed in a mosaic in the Narthex. Why is this so? Because as St Paul reminded us in our Epistle reading – “We preach Christ Crucified”. That is the only reason that we have built this church here and enjoy such beautiful liturgy and music. We preach Christ Crucified – still to many people who pass by on Fifth Avenue foolishness or a stumbling block.
In the Temple complex – God’s House – Jesus was showing the people that vain repetition of ritual was simply not enough and that it would be the example of his own self-offering on the cross that would bring true satisfaction: “When I am lifted up from the earth I shall draw all people to myself.”
And his sacrifice would cost everything…and nothing; the Chief Priests, the ultimate money-changers, would put a price of thirty pieces of silver on his head – more expensive than any animal sold in the Temple complex – but this Lamb without blemish would go to the his death willingly and freely out of love for all humankind; breaking down the barriers that separated people one from another. As we shall hear later in this mass – “who made there, by his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world”.
The whole world.
My dear friends, in three weeks time it will be Holy Week and yet again we will have the chance to proclaim Christ Crucified – “ Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” It is said that Queen Victoria hated receiving Communion on Easter Day because she couldn’t understand why the Church would have such a sad service on such a joyful day. But St Paul reminded us that – “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.”
So when you go home today, check your Calendars. Does Holy week figure at all? Where will you be on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday? What does your calendar say about your priorities?
