Confrontation

A Sermon by Nada Sellers

July 22, 2007

Matthew 21:1-17

Arthur Gordon, in his book Aspiring to Greatness tells of a time he lost his temper at a public meeting. The end result was he said some pretty harsh and sarcastic things. His father was at the meeting, but said nothing. When Arthur got home however he found a note on his pillow. Written on it was a passage from Aristotle: "Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."¹

To be angry in the right situation, to the right degree, at the right time and for the right reasons… It's not something most of us able to do… Our passage today includes the story of Jesus in the temple, driving out the merchants, customers and moneychangers who had established a commercial zone, right inside the entrance to the outer court known as the "Court of the Gentiles."  Here animals are being sold for use in offering sacrifices, and moneychangers are converting Greek and Roman money into the traditional coinage needed to pay the temple tax.  For the priestly aristocracy and the officials of the temple, this was perfectly acceptable behavior -- essential to the life of the temple, but for Jesus this is pure madness!  The temple is NOT for marketing and making a profit, it's not where the powerful take advantage of the poor in the name of religion, for those who exchanged the currency charged steep fees to do so, and presumably those selling animals also took the occasion to make a killing (no pun intended!).
In and of itself, Jesus' reaction seems well within the boundaries of the kind of righteous anger you might expect from the Messiah, but you and I know there's a lot more taking place here.  Bill Moyers in his keynote address at the UCC's recent Synod in the City celebration, describes reading this passage in church on a Sunday morning before the service started:

No cheek turned [here]. No second mile traveled.  On the contrary, Jesus turns angry.  He passes judgment.  And he takes action.  I closed the Bible and sat there, that morning…turning the text over and again in my head, absorbing the image of Jesus striding through the Holy Precinct that had been transformed into a marketplace or stock exchange, upsetting the dealers, scattering their money across the floor, bouncing them forcefully from the temple, indignant at the profane violation of the sacred -- Jesus threw the rascals OUT! 

And sitting in the pew that morning, I thought of… how in the past generations as the number of the poor has increased, wages fell, health and housing costs exploded, and wealth and media became more and more concentrated, prophetic religion lost its voice and the religious Right drowned out everyone else, and they hijacked Jesus! The indignant Jesus who drove out the money changers from the temple has been hijacked, and turned from the friend of the dispossessed into a guardian of privilege, a militarist, a hedonist, a lobbyist…

Moyer's point was, that the "hijacked Jesus" of the religious right and those currently in power in many parts of our country, is actually on record as being on the side of the widow and the orphan, the stranger and the poor who are blessed in the eyes of God: "This is the Jesus who drove the money changers out of the temple of Jerusalem, and it is this Jesus called back to duty who will drive the money changers out of the temples of democracy," was Mr. Moyer's parting comment, as he finished a very eloquent and stirring critique on the growing lack of concern so often shown by the powerful and the wealthy in this country.²

It occurs to me that often our focus on following Jesus has to do with being much more passive than this.  We are to be peacemakers, concerned with turning the other cheek and walking the extra mile, right?  We are to bless and not to curse.  We are to love one another and to love neighbors as we love ourselves.  We are even to love our enemies!  So, what are we to make of this angry Jesus?  Could this mean that for the disciples of Jesus, there are times to get angry, to be bold, and to take action?  What do you think?  COMMENTS?

Elsewhere in Scripture, there are some pointers for us:  In the letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul writes, "Be angry but do not sin; do no let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil." (NRSV, 4:26f)  The presumption is that anger is a fairly normal experience, but for the believer, anger without sinning and anger, which is resolved before day's end, are musts.  Best not to allow anger to feaster and grow overnight; best to avoid giving the devil room to influence the situation.  The letter continues…."entirely out of place is obscene, silly and vulgar talk - instead, let there be thanksgiving." (5:4)  Jesus was uniquely able to be angry without sinning; without allowing his speech or conduct to deteriorate into vulgarity or excess.

A love for the house of God, is a common prophetic attitude - and the role of the messenger of God, coming to purify the temple as is described in Malachi 3 and Zechariah 14, is how Matthew seems to be presenting Jesus:  Here Jesus quotes Isaiah and Jeremiah, both concerning the temple…Jesus, as the ultimate prophet, using the prophetic voice, marches in and confronts the status quo.  He throws the rascals out!³ We might also do well to remember that the writer of Hebrews offers the view that the priests and sanctuaries of Israel foreshadow the real means of access to God, which is finally provided by the person and work of Jesus the Christ.  The old means of meeting and relationship were for a time, only to be superceded by the more excellent mediator, the Son of God.  For Jesus to display anger and indignation at the abuse of the place where God is to be found, further amplifies the true identity of this prophetic man: he is redeeming God's house, he is the Redeemer! 

Unlike the way we so frequently allow our own experiences of anger to deteriorate, sweeping us along with comments and emotions that spiral out of control, Jesus has some very good reasons for being angry. Gandhi's comment on anger comes to mind: 'I have learned through bitter experience,' said Gandhi, 'the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and, as heat conserved is transmitted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmitted into a power which can move the world.'⁴

Jesus possesses as well as embodies the power able to move the world.  Ultimately, without a willingness to confront the misguided interests of those who were abusing the temple grounds for their own gain, Jesus may not have fulfilled his destiny as the one sent from God, to be among other things the new temple, the new place of meeting and relationship with the Divine.  Scripture also portrays Jesus as ready and able to confront the hypocrisy and bigotry of the religious elite over and over again, be it about tithing or wealth, fasting, praying, table fellowship or the like…Jesus was not a shrinking violet!  I'm sure it helps to so closely abide with God the Parent, as Jesus did, that one is able to make choices that are always in keeping with God's will!  The fact is, Jesus stood for and continues to stand for that which is nearly always at odds with those who use power for gain at the expense of the dispossessed.  Referring again to Bill Moyer's comments:

It's kindness and mercy that prove the power of faith, and it's justice that measures the worth of the state, not empire.  Kings are held accountable for how the poor fare under their reign; Presidents, too.  Prophets speak to the gap between rich and poor as a reason for God's judgment.  Poverty and justice are religious issues, and Jesus moves among the disinherited.⁵

A substantial part of the witness of the United Church of Christ since its beginnings in 1957, has been its willingness to get out in front on major issues of justice.  The stories and gifts of women, gays, immigrants, Blacks, workers, Native Americans and others, have been uniquely championed at all levels of the denomination.  As a progressive Christian voice, we have taken Christ's call to speak up for those who have no voice seriously, and this means that harnessing anger for the energy to act with boldness and courage can be a valuable spiritual gift.  Some will always be critical of these decisions to stand squarely on the side of those who have disenfranchised or worse, but I think this is what Jesus was often about.  We continue to believe that God is still speaking through the power of the Spirit, to and through the Church.  In faithfulness, we need to be able to stand up and speak up and sometimes, this means getting angry and getting off our duffs and going something about it!  Just think, this is a power that can change the world - and God asks believers and churches all over the world to be co-creators, extending God's reign in hearts and lives and communities and cities and neighborhoods.  We need to continue to claim this kind of boldness and the wisdom to apply it.  Let's keep praying, not just that God would bless our efforts, but that God will reveal where the blessing is and that we will be open to moving in this direction!  Amen.

Notes