the church of the
ascension
in the city of
new york
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Tuesday, March 3
Psalm 47 / Hebrews 3:1-11 / John 2: 13-22
Purging and Holding Firm to the Ongoing Construction of the Heart
Jesus' physical challenge to the moneychangers and the cultural status quo in the temple is one of the most familiar and regularly dramatized episodes from the Bible. The eerie image of Jesus as quietly enraged (one could say he "went postal" on them) is at odds with the inane popular notion he is Mister Goody-Two-Shoes and squeaky-clean. For me this evocative scene provokes multiple readings, but chief among them is Jesus' eagerness to strip bare the intention of those who had become callous, cynical, and opportunistic. A later verse clarifies: he "would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people, and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone" (John 2:24-25). This earthy, incensed Jesus is literally tearing up the house, naming hypocrisy in his midst, and driving people not into the temple, but out: demanding change, a purging. This is a particularly relevant theme today in a time of social transformation brought on by the tectonic shift of the world economies.
Implied in John perhaps more importantly is a message for the individual about the "temple of the body," the inner life of the soul and spirit, or, if you will, responsive listening to the complex and subtle inflections of the human heart. The reading from Hebrews conveys a significant instruction about those inflections: if you harden in the face of present conditions you will become less than who you really are as a being. Opt to broaden and deepen faith, since "the builder has more honor than the house itself. … We are his house if we hold firm to the confidence and pride that belongs to hope."
— Jeffrey Johnson
Purging and Holding Firm to the Ongoing Construction of the Heart
Jesus' physical challenge to the moneychangers and the cultural status quo in the temple is one of the most familiar and regularly dramatized episodes from the Bible. The eerie image of Jesus as quietly enraged (one could say he "went postal" on them) is at odds with the inane popular notion he is Mister Goody-Two-Shoes and squeaky-clean. For me this evocative scene provokes multiple readings, but chief among them is Jesus' eagerness to strip bare the intention of those who had become callous, cynical, and opportunistic. A later verse clarifies: he "would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people, and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone" (John 2:24-25). This earthy, incensed Jesus is literally tearing up the house, naming hypocrisy in his midst, and driving people not into the temple, but out: demanding change, a purging. This is a particularly relevant theme today in a time of social transformation brought on by the tectonic shift of the world economies.
Implied in John perhaps more importantly is a message for the individual about the "temple of the body," the inner life of the soul and spirit, or, if you will, responsive listening to the complex and subtle inflections of the human heart. The reading from Hebrews conveys a significant instruction about those inflections: if you harden in the face of present conditions you will become less than who you really are as a being. Opt to broaden and deepen faith, since "the builder has more honor than the house itself. … We are his house if we hold firm to the confidence and pride that belongs to hope."
— Jeffrey Johnson
