"Jesus Will Mess With Your Life"
A sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
Preached oat Pleasantville UCC, March 15, 2009
Lent 3, Year B, John 2: 13-25

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!’”

   The truth is Jesus looked a little nuts that day.  It’s not really the image of the Savior that most of us like to dwell upon.  This is the image that we like to dwell upon (pointing to the Jesus window).  We like to think of Jesus as the Good Shepherd; the one who lays down his life for his sheep.  That’s us.  And that little sheep in his arms, that’s me – or you, or you.  That’s what’s so cool about this window.  It’s meant to represent all of us.  It really is an icon – a window into the true nature of God. 

   Yep, we like to think about Jesus as the Divine Shepherd, who seeks us out when we are lost and leads us beside green pastures.  But this morning’s story is one of the few in the gospel where we get to grapple with Jesus’ humanity, maybe a little more than some of us are comfortable with.  Because even though I know in my heart that anger is a normal human emotion and one that can be justified and righteous and even holy in the proper context – as a rule -- when the tables start flying, I just don’t want to be there.  And, apparently, neither did anyone else in the Temple that day.  The tables were flying, Jesus was cracking a whip (which he took the time to make himself), the money was going everywhere, the animals were running loose – honestly it sounds a little bit like something I saw on late-night television.  But I think the show was called, “Most Amazing Police Videos.”  Anyway, it wasn’t pretty.

   I was saying how the Jesus window is a kind of icon and one we long to dwell upon.  But the truth is, this morning’s lesson from John’s gospel is a kind of icon too, in some ways.  It’s also a window into the true nature of God.  And through this window we get to see a picture of God that’s bound to be somewhat unnerving.  Because, let’s face it, just the thought of God being so angry that the tables are flying has got to make you nervous.  And in this story, Jesus is really, really angry.

   This is a story that we are meant to deal with.  It’s not one we can just sweep under the rug and say, ‘well, Jesus was having a bad day.’  The Cleansing of the Temple appears in all four gospels, but Matthew, Mark and Luke place it towards the end of Jesus’ life -- during the final week and the events leading up to his conviction and execution.  In those three gospels, it’s “a crisis scene, a confrontation that gave the authorities the evidence they needed.  Jesus of Nazareth was a troublemaker, probably part of the zealot movement trying to overthrow the government.”[1]  When Jesus gets through with the whip and the tables the authorities are left trying to figure out how they are going to deal with this guy.

   But John’s gospel locates the Cleansing of the Temple in an entirely different spot, and that of course is no accident.  John places it at the very beginning of his gospel, right after the wedding at Cana.  In John’s gospel, these two stories inaugurate Jesus’ public ministry and by placing the Cleansing of the Temple here and not towards the end of his life, John is telling us that what’s going on here is a pretty important window into who Jesus was and what his ministry was about.

   When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem he arrived along with a throng of pilgrims all ready to make a sacrifice at the Temple.  Remember, at that time, religious sacrifice was their normal: commit a sin, make a sacrifice; become ritually impure, make a sacrifice.  The purity system had become a huge business.  Lots of things could make you impure and the only way people could get clean again was through a sacrifice.  It was probably something like the Indulgences that had come to exist in the Church prior to the Protestant Reformation.  And when Jesus got to the Temple, what he saw made him sick.  Both the moneychangers and those who sold animals for religious sacrifice had set up shop in a location convenient to all who were traveling to make sacrifices in the Temple.  And when Jesus came into the Temple and found them there and that’s when the whip came out.

“Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

   Now some folks have interpreted this text to mean that nothing should be bought or sold in a church building on Sunday morning.  Others think it means that BINGO inside the walls of the church is a sin.  Personally, I don’t think this story has anything to do with BINGO, Free Trade Coffee, or fundraisers for the summer mission trips.  But if it’s not about BINGO, then what is it about?

   Throughout his ministry Jesus wanted people to have a relationship with God – and that desire rose above all other considerations.  Everywhere he went, in almost everything he did, Jesus challenged the purity system of his day.  He ate with tax collectors.  He hung out with prostitutes.  He touched lepers, dead bodies, and a woman who wouldn’t stop bleeding – all things that rendered him ritually unclean.  Were he following the rules, he would have avoided all of these people; he wouldn’t have gotten his hands dirty.  But in story after story, person after person, Jesus showed us that what he longed for more than anything was to draw people back to the heart of God.[2]  Remember who you are, Jesus was saying.  More importantly, remember whose you are.

   So when Jesus entered the Temple that fateful day and found that there was something standing between the heart of the people and their God, and that’s when the tables started flying.  There was a whole lot of clutter in peoples’ lives, standing between them and God.  And what was worse: ordinary folks had come to believe that they needed all that stuff in order to get right with God.  But Jesus knew that what they needed was to turn their lives around.  He knew that what they needed was to offer God their whole heart.  And he knew that new life had nothing to do with all that stuff cluttering up their lives and their Temple.

   Jesus never did do what people expected him to do.  He frustrated his disciples, infuriated the religious authorities, perplexed and even rejected his own family, unnerved the Roman authorities, hung out with people who most good Jews wouldn’t be caught dead with, and instead of taking on the mantle of political power and authority, decided to wrap himself in a towel and wash his disciples’ dirty feet, like a servant, instead.

   I started by talking about how this window is like an icon -- a view into the true nature of God.  But the story we study this morning is an icon too, because it gives us a view into the truth of our life with Christ.  And the truth is if you decide to follow Jesus, the chances are very good indeed that he will mess with your life.  If you commit your life to Christ, he will overturn things that were once precious to you.  A life of faithfulness to Jesus will rearrange your priorities.  The Lord will ask you to do things you never dreamed of doing and – frankly – things you don’t really want to do.  He will unsettle you and get you to live differently, spend your money differently, raise your kids differently, and spend your time differently.  And the changes that he will ask you to make may feel like he’s just walked right into the middle of your holy Temple of Self and started turning things over.  In truth, some parts of your old life simply may not survive Jesus.  Some relationships may not make it into your new life with Christ. 

   Sometimes we like to think about our faith in the Lord as being kind of like a warm and comfy security blanket that we wrap ourselves up in.  But this is a story with a different message – given to us during a season which is all about discipleship: Jesus will mess with your life.  You can count on it.  If you’re looking for a Savior who will follow your agenda, you’re in the wrong place.  Jesus means to overturn our world – for our own good.  He means to clear the clutter out so there’s nothing standing between us and God.  And if he has to crack a whip or tip over a few tables in order to get our attention, then he’s fully capable of doing it.  Remember, this is the same man who said, “I come not to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).

   Jesus will mess with your life.  That – and not BINGO – is the real point of this story, in my opinion.  If you invite Him into your heart, he will change who you are and how you live.  If you give him room to grow in your life, he will change the decisions you make and the people you hang out with.  If you pay attention to his voice and his teachings, he will change the way you work and the way you spend your money.  Chances are good, he will make other people think that you are a little crazy to live this way.  And the truth is, sometimes, it will seem like Jesus has made a big mess of all your plans.

   But the Master knows that all our plans are in God’s hands.  The Savior knows that God alone has a plan for us which is far broader, richer, and deeper than we can ask or imagine; a plan that is most certainly about us, but not only about us; a plan in which all our lives are woven into one great work of art.  So today we’re talking about icons: this one (the Good Shepherd Window) which is pretty warm and friendly, and this one (today’s text) which can really mess with your life.  May it be so.