Lent is a time of self-examination, repentance, fasting, self-denial, and of both reading and meditating on Holy Scripture.   As we continue our Lenten discipline of searching the contents of our hearts and souls, the Gospel of John challenges us to dig deeper…to move further…and to act more courageously!

Today’s passage brings us face to face with a Jesus that’s sometimes very hard to imagine.  This is a Jesus who’s angry.  He’s thoroughly fed up – ‘to the back teeth’, as we might say!

As Jesus makes his way towards the temple in Jerusalem, it’s the festival of the Passover.  There are people everywhere.  It’s crowded and noisy, as the people enter into the city.  The atmosphere is electric!  There’s the anticipation of the Passover.  And there’s also tension, because the Roman soldiers are on guard, looking for the slightest sign of disturbance amongst these Jewish pilgrims!

Although it sounds highly sacrilegious to our 21^st century minds, for there to be money changers and merchants set up in the temple, it was actually considered both a necessary and also a most useful arrangement. People were traveling from far away, and were needing animals of one sort or another to sacrifice for the Passover.  These merchants and money changers were providing valuable services for the faithful, who were traveling at great risk and cost, to come to the temple for Passover.  In case you’re wondering, the temple had its own currency, and so pilgrims had to exchange their own ‘secular’ money in order to make the requisite Temple purchases – rather like buying in Food Courts here in Thailand, where one has to purchase coupons before heading for the counters!

In the midst of all of this tension and commotion, Jesus enters the temple.  As he looks around, he suddenly becomes enraged.  He makes a whip out of several cords, and begins driving out the merchants and their animals.  He tips out the coins from the jars of the money changers, and overturns their tables.  He tells the dove sellers to take their things out, and to stop turning his Father’s house into a marketplace!”

His disciples witness this scene and immediately recall the scriptures.  In the Gospel of John, they recognize Jesus as their Lord, even early on.  But the temple leaders try to argue with Jesus.  Of course, they don’t even remotely begin to understand his response about the temple being destroyed, and raised up again in three days.  And the final sentence here suggests that the disciples themselves did not fully realize either, that Jesus was in fact talking about himself and his own body, until after the Resurrection!

But what’s the point here?  Why was Jesus so angry?  And how does this passage speak to us, today?

John’s gospel doesn’t really make it clear as to just why Jesus was so upset.  The other gospels suggest that the merchants were taking advantage of the pilgrims, but John does not make anyreference at all to this.   John suggests that Jesus is outraged that the people seem to be morepreoccupied with the rituals of Passover than the worship and love of God.

Perhaps then this is the true reason for Jesus’ anger.  Throughout all of the gospels, Jesus is bringing people the Good News of God’s love for everybody.  But people seem constantly to keep missing the point!

Now here’s where we come into this passage.  We can all too readily find ourselves in multiple roles in this scenario.  We’re sometimes the money changers and merchants.  We provide important and even noble services, but forget that the real focus must be on God, and his love!

We’re sometimes the temple leaders.  We think we’re doing the right thing and protecting one another, when we’re actually leading people away from God’s mission!

Sometimes we’re the disciples, who witness all these remarkable goings-on.  We’re the ones who help make sense of what’s happening.

But, ultimately, we are called to follow in the way of Jesus.  And to be honest, this way of following Jesus has always made me somewhat uneasy.  It entails a very delicate balance between prophecy and passion.  It would be all too easy to believe that following Jesus’ example here, gives us permission to go ‘off the deep end’ any time we see what we believe to be wrong.  We have to be so careful not to get too caught up in our own egos and our sense of righteous indignation!

Today though, we clearly see Jesus standing up for what he knows to be the will of God.  And this is where our Lenten self-examination comes into play.  As we examine our own thoughts, feelings, and actions, Jesus calls us to recognize our own complicity in closing our eyes, to those who need us to stand up for them.  At the same time, our self-examination allows us to embrace the power that we have, to partner with God in standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves!

So then, what are we closing our eyes to – as individuals, and as a church?  Are our hearts and minds open to see those who need us?  Do we allow the tasks and rituals, and the habits with which we are most comfortable, to skew our vision?

At the same time, we must recognize that God has given each and every one of us amazing gifts.  We have the gift of God’s abundant love.  We have a community, both within this parish and the greater Body of Christ, that walks with us.  We have the life, death, and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, through which love conquers evil and death. We have the wonderful privilege of coming to this altar week by week, in communion with the saints, those have gone before, and those who will follow after us!

These are the gifts that allow us to look deeply and honestly into our hearts.  These are the gifts that give us the strength to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.  These are the gifts that give us the courage to stand up for those whose voices need to be heard!

This Lenten season then, may we use these gifts, and have the courage to follow Christ boldly.  And, like Jesus, stand up for the Good News that God’s love brings mercy and justice for allpeople.    Amen.