Exodus
20: 1–17; Psalm 19; I Corinthians 1: 18–25; John 2: 13–22
This is the homily given
at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania on Sunday, March 4, 2018, by Fr. Gene
Tucker.
“HOLINESS
BEFORE GOD”
(Homily texts: Exodus 20: 1–17 & John 2: 13–22)
At
first glance, our Old Testament reading, which places before us the Ten
Commandments, and our Gospel text about Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple, don’t
have much to do with one another.
But
a deeper look reveals to us, I think, a link: The giving of the Ten Commandments and Jesus’ actions in the Temple both
have to do with holiness.
Holiness.
It is a word that gets used by Christian believers with some frequency. But
what does the word imply?
Holiness
has to do with being a holy people, God’s holy people. Holiness has to do with
reflecting God’s holy nature in what we say and in what we do. Holiness has to
do with God’s process, working through the Holy Spirit, of doing away with our
old, corrupted nature, a process that’s known as sanctification. Even the word
sacrament has to do with holiness, for in its most basic meaning,
sanctification means to “make holy”.
In
giving the Ten Commandments, God outlines for the people He has claimed for His
own the ways in which those who have come into relationship with Him are to
live. If we look at the Ten Commandments more closely, we can see that the
first four have to do with how we relate to God, while the remaining six have
to do with the ways in which we relate to one another.[1]
Jesus
will summarize the Ten Commandments by saying that the first and greatest
commandment is to “love God will all our hearts, our souls and our minds”.
Then, He will add that the second greatest commandment is to “love our neighbors
as ourselves”.[2]
(See Matthew 22: 37 – 39.)
Now,
let’s turn our attention to Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple.
This
event in Jesus’ earthly ministry must have figured very prominently in the
recollections of the very early Christians, for all four Gospel accounts carry
a mention of it. Matthew, Mark and Luke each place Jesus’ action in Holy Week,
the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, while John places the event early in his
account.[3] Some
biblical scholars have advanced the idea, therefore, that Jesus drove out the
moneychangers twice in his ministry. That may be so (and I will leave you to
reflect on that mystery), but it would be good for us to remember that John’s
Gospel account isn’t so much a chronological account of Jesus’ ministry as the
first three Gospels seem to be. It is possible, therefore, that Jesus did what
He did only once in his ministry, but John may have placed his recording of the
event early in his account for theological reasons.
Whether
or not Jesus cleansed the Temple once or twice, the same motivation exists for
His action, and we would do well to dig below the surface to see why He did
what He did.
The
Temple in Jerusalem, which King Herod the Great[4] began
building in the year 19 or 20 BC,[5] meant
many things to the Jews: For one thing,
it was a symbol of Jewish identity, an identity that was under threat from the
Roman occupation of the Holy Land. Its construction was, in a sense, an act of
defiance in the face of the Roman occupation. For another, it was the place
where God dwelt, and it was only the place where the sacrifices which the Law
of Moses required were carried out.[6]
This
last comment brings us to the presence of the moneychangers, and to the animals
that were being bought and sold within the Temple’s precincts.
Pilgrims
coming to the Temple could bring their own animals with them for sacrifice. But
they could also buy animals at the Temple, which for many who had come a long
way, was an easier option to take. But in order to buy an animal, these
pilgrims had to pay for the animal with the currency they carried, which was
Roman coinage. However, since the Roman emperor’s image appeared on the
coinage, it could not be used within the Temple itself. Some sort of a currency
exchange was required to convert the Roman coinage into a special Temple
currency.
Guess
who controlled the rate of exchange? The Temple’s priestly caste.
What
was going on was a religious monopoly, whereby the Temple’s priests were
getting rich, subverting the worship of God with their own greed.
On
the surface, the practices within the Temple looked holy, for the outward
observances of the things that were done there seemed to comply with the
requirements of the Law. But in truth, greed and corruption constituted the
ugly, hidden reality of the Temple’s existence.
No
wonder Jesus got angry at the disconnect between the Temple’s outward
appearance and its inward and more truthful reality which lay below the surface.
There
are lessons for us to take away from today’s readings.
As
we hear the admonitions the Ten Commandments place before us, we would do well
to remember that they are commandments, not suggestions. Though it is difficult
to put our old, corrupted nature behind us, in order that we might live holy
lives before God and before the world, spiritual maturity calls us to attain
-with the Holy Spirit’s help – the high calling the Ten Commandments lay before
us. Ours is a calling to live integrated lives, ones in which our outward and
visible selves are matched by our inward and unseen selves. To live such an
integrated life is to live a sacramental life, for the definition of a
sacrament is that it is an “outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible
grace”. To this high standard, each of us is called.
God’s
holy people are called to be a light to the world. That light shines brightest
when it possesses the truth of an integrated and holy life. It is this sort of
authenticity that the world craves, an authenticity that God alone can create
within us, that we might bear testimony to God’s ability to create for Himself
a holy people.
AMEN.
[1] We began our worship this morning with a
recitation of the Ten Commandments, which carry the formal title of
“Decalogue”. See the Book of Common Prayer, 1979, page 317 in traditional
language, and page 350 in contemporary language.
[2] Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6: 5 in citing
what is the greatest commandment. The Matthean passage appears in our
traditional language (Rite I) rite for the Holy Eucharist, where it is known as
the Summary of the Law. See the Book of
Common Prayer, page 324.
[3] See Matthew 21: 12–13, Mark 11: 15–19
and Luke 19: 45–46.
[4] The Jewish people weren’t especially fond of
King Herod, for he was a puppet king who had been installed by the Romans.
Moreover, Herod was only half Jewish. But the Jewish people were happy with the
construction of the Temple, despite the actions of the king that brought it
into being.
[5] If John’s record of the statement made by
the Jews is, in fact, a chronological statement, then that would seem to
indicate that Jesus’ action took place sometime around the year 26 or 27 AD.
That might be significant, for Pontius Pilate, who condemned Jesus to death,
was Governor of Judea from 26 to 36 AD.
[6] Synagogues weren’t places of sacrifice. They
were places where people came together to meet, to hear the sacred Scriptures
read, to hear instruction, and so forth.
