Fearless Movement – John 2:15-22

A text – John 2:13-22

2:13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2:14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.
2:15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
2:16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
2:18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”
2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
2:20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”
2:21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body.
2:22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

A reflection:

The movie that runs in my head when I read this passage, the sight of Jesus driving out the animals and overturning the moneychangers’ tables, is full of power and strength. It is vigorous, energetic. It reminds me also of the passage of scripture in the first chapter of Mark, when Jesus hears the voice from heaven right after his baptism, and then immediately the Spirit drives him out into the wilderness. Our Triune God is capable of driving things out. We may prefer to think of Jesus as calm and kind, of healing and not causing damage, embodying love.

But here is action. Here is fearless movement, pushing for a result that means justice for the oppressed. That too is love. Here is a person with zeal for the house of God and its holiness and with a deep desire not to make the poor from all over the region pay for the beauty of the temple by requiring them to make sacrifices before Passover. Jesus had been teaching “God desires mercy, not sacrifice”; here is the Son of God trying to make abundantly clear in his action that God desires mercy, not sacrifice.  Jesus had touched the lives of thousands by healing them no matter who they were. Jesus here goes to the most central place of the worship of God to demonstrate what his heavenly father desires. He got rid of the items of sacrifice.  Jesus wanted people to hear his words and know his meaning. Sometimes his words needed to be put into action, made alive, so they could not be forgotten. Our God is not only merciful but also bold.

Aren’t you glad John captured this scene? If the church leaders were as smug as the gospel writers paint them, can’t you see their faces in this scene? Jesus was as hard on them here as his cousin John the Baptist had been. And lest we become smug, think of what money tables and animals Jesus has to upset in our lives to get our attention. Our own houses, our own hearts always need to be focused on the Lord our God.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for sharing your son with us. Thank you for his kindness and mercy and help, and thank you for his fearless movement and bold action, too.  Help us to remember you, our Triune God, every day with praise and thankfulness. Help us to simplify our own lives so that you are at the center.   Amen.