josephholubsermons
March 15, 2009
Lent 3
John 2:13-22
John's Club Sandwich
In this gospel story from John, we see an uncharacteristic Jesus expressing
intense and animated anger at those conducting commerce in the temple.
He enters the temple and ransacks the place. Not only did he throw out the
merchants and money-changers, he even ran off the cattle! It’s a wild and crazy scene – cows, sheep and people scattering
in every direction from this man gone ballistic.
So what is this all about? What
got him so ticked off! Was he angry because there was commerce
happening in the temple? I don’t
think so. The sellers of
sacrificial animals and the money changers were not illegal, but
traditional. They provided a
necessary service for the functioning of the temple.
Was he angry because the money-changers may have been charging
inflated exchange rates? Perhaps, but I don’t think it's a factor
that explains the intensity of his anger.
In fact, I think the correct question to ask of this story is
not merely what set Jesus off, but
why did John include
this story in his gospel in the first place?
This story is not
about making money in the temple; not about bingo, youth car washes,
bake sales and fund-raising events, as a few people have tried, in vain, to
convince me over the years. That stuff is trivial compared to the
deeper message of this
story. So first of all, the
good news is you need not worry that I will go berserk and overturn the
tables in the Fellowship Hall at the next fund-raising pancake supper!
Instead, I will attempt to navigate us into
deeper waters regarding
this story.
This story is one of a few stories that appears in
all four gospels.
You may be aware that John's gospel is
radically different
from the other three gospels.
Only a small percentage of the content John's gospel appears in Matthew,
Mark and Luke. John is the
symbolic and mystical gospel where Jesus is metaphorically presented in
various ways such as the Bread of Life, Living Water, the Road, Light of the
World, and several others.
John handles this story
differently than the other gospels.
The biggest difference is where John positions this
story in Jesus' ministry. In Matthew, Mark and Luke the story occurs near
the end of Jesus'
ministry right after Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the last
week of his life.
John, on the other hand, has this event occurring at the
beginning of Jesus'
ministry. John
chronologically re-positions this
story because, for John, accurate chronology was not the
important thing. The important
thing was the meaning
John attached to the story, and the meaning his community
experienced in Jesus. It’s
not a matter of who got the details right, but it's a matter of
what Jesus meant to
his faith community. John
front-loads this story in his gospel in order to emphasize a theological
point he wants his readers not to miss!
John sandwiches this
story between two other stories. Immediately before (the top slice) John
tells the story of the wedding at Cana of Galilee which appears only
in John. Right after (the bottom
slice) he tells the story of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus which also
appears only in John. I
call it "John's Club Sandwich."
The question that begs to be asked is, “What do these three
stories have in common?” If
we can gain insight into that, then we will know much more about what Jesus
had come to mean for John’s community of faith – and hence, what he might
mean for us.
John shows little concern for historical accuracy or literalism.
John’s gospel is highly metaphorical, and often has several layers of
meaning and double meanings to words and events. John was a mystic, and if
we don’t approach John with that in mind and appreciate that, we will
misunderstand much of the power and message in his gospel.
So what do the three stories that make up
"John's Club Sandwich" have
in common? To put it as simply as I can, all three stories testify
that the followers of Jesus in John’s faith community experienced in Jesus
a radical transformation
of their religion and their traditional faith paradigm.
So, let’s look closer at "John’s Club Sandwich."
First the top slice; the Wedding at Cana:
This is the story where Jesus changed water into wine.
But that's not the point of the story. The point of the story
is what water was it? You
see, it wasn't just any water.
The water Jesus used was the water stored in the huge jars used for
purification practices and ceremonial washing. John, the metaphorical
mystic, is saying that the water jars represent a faith obsessed with
ritual and purification practices before God and others. It
was this ritual water that was transformed into something totally different
– sweet new wine! In fact, it
was the best wine that anyone had ever tasted! It was
wine to be drunk at a great feast - a wedding - which was the biggest day in
the life of the married couple - and a high point in village life.
It's all metaphor!
Right from the beginning, John wants his readers to know that in Jesus his
faith community had experienced an astounding transformation, moving from
purification and ritual as its center ---- to a new center; something
radically different; something
new; and exciting;
and alive; and dynamic; and joyous!
Now the bottom slice; Nicodemus and Jesus:
Immediately following his temple tirade Jesus conversed with a
Pharisee named Nicodemus. The
Pharisees were among the most strict and religiously devout in Israel; and
we are told Nicodemus was a leader among the Pharisees. Jesus
spoke to Nicodemus about a whole new kind of living; a transformation
that occurs from the inside out; a new way of thinking, a new kind of faith
journey; a new way of living, a new orientation; a new mind-set, a new
heart-set he had never known. It was so radical it could only be
described as “rebirth.”
That brings us to us to the heart of "John's Club Sandwich", the story for
today. You see, religion had
become straight-jacketed with purity laws and rigid customs that took
precedent over knowing the heart of God and living one’s life from
out of the heart of God with a sense of joy and imbedded purpose.
This incident in the temple represented the ransacking of a
religion that was out of touch with the heart of God and had become obsessed
with ritualistic processes and practices.
Those conducting commerce symbolized a legalistic sacrificial system
gone over-the-top! The temple
was the center of a religious system that had become obsessed with human
ritual and not the heart of God. John told this story to
metaphorically bear witness that in Jesus the accepted definitions and
practices of religion had been replaced with something radically new.
The gospels show Jesus repeatedly getting in trouble with the religious law.
He intentionally did all sorts of things made him ritually unclean
and unacceptable in terms of the religious purity system:
touching lepers, speaking openly with a Samaritan women, going into a
graveyard to meet with a demon possessed man, eating with outcasts and
sinners, healing on the Sabbath and a lot more – all of which made Jesus
unclean according to the religious purity laws.
Jesus sought to redefine the definition of purity and impurity, and
transform the understanding of faith.
The point is Jesus was living from out of the heart of God as his
core; not out of rigid purity laws.
For Jesus love, compassion and justice always trumped religious law!
There is one more condiment in "John's Club Sandwich."
John includes something in his version of this temple story that the
other gospels do not. In
John's story, Jesus says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up."
Of course, these words are not meant to be taken literally like Jesus
was going to physically rebuild the temple, but it's another
metaphor referring to Jesus death and resurrection.
It's John's way of extending an invitation into a new kind of life.
It’s an invitation into a transformed life symbolized by the
abundance of sweet new wine at the wedding at Cana, and the new kind
of life described by Jesus in his encounter with Nicodemus.
For John and his community following Jesus meant to metaphorically follow
him into his death and resurrection - into new life.
The experience of new life can be expressed in many ways.
It is:
letting go of an old identity - and experiencing a new identity.
letting go of an old way of being, doing, thinking and living - and
embracing a new way of being, doing, thinking and living.
letting go of an old orientation - and embracing a new orientation.
Jesus opened up and revealed God's very heart in his life, death and
resurrection. To follow him is
to join him in that experience. John invites us to follow Jesus
into the very heart of God, and then calls us to embrace God's heart
as our center, our core, and our guidance system in daily life.
For me it’s a daily rhythm of living and following.
Every day I feel the temptation to live out of a heart other than the
heart of God: a heart of fear, self-preoccupation, indifference, negativism,
prejudice, narrowness, exclusivity and more.
But in following Jesus, I am daily called and invited to let the old heart
go (death); and to live out of God's heart (resurrection) – a heart that
Jesus makes known - a heart where love, compassion and a quest for
social justice always ransack narrow religious legalism and ritual,
restrictive doctrine and narrow theology -
living out of the heart of God which is self-emptying and willing give
itself away for the sake of others and God's kingdom in this world.
Amen.