John 2:13-19
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 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. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
It wasn’t the animal sellers
It wasn’t the money changers
It was the institution that Jesus railed against
Those who set up stall
where God had long since been squeezed out
The Son of God knew
that what was worshipped in this temple
belonged to empire and tradition
and exploitative institutions
intent on their own survival
And we who continue to worship
our stone and mortar
who guard the entrance
with rules of behaviour
and regulations for belonging
are charged today
to overturn the tables of tradition
to fling wide the doors of security
so that all may find a welcome
and none be excluded the opportunity
to encounter the living God
made flesh in bread and wine
(Liz Crumlish Lent 3 2024)
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