The Third Sunday of Lent, 3 March 2024, Eldroth, Clapham
We may find the image of an angry Jesus unsettling; for it seems so out of character, and so removed from the way we expect him to be: gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Yet if we pay close attention to his life story we might see this episode coming - for what drives his angry outburst against the money-changers and traders is his instinct to protect what he loves: The Temple. As John wrote, it was ‘zeal for God’s house that consumed him’. [1]
He was angry protecting what he loved - for he was a child of The Temple, taken there by his parents as a babe in arms to receive blessings from the elders Simeon and Anna. His love for The Temple grew through his childhood - it was where he would learn about the ways of God and his laws, his love for learning demonstrated on that family trip to Jerusalem when the youngster stayed behind to sit at the feet of The Temple teachers.
As he loved spending time at The Temple, Jesus saw everything that happened there. From the stories he told and his teachings, we know that he had watched the pious scribes walking around in flowing robes, taking the most important seats and enjoying being honoured in The Temple courts. We know he saw the show they made of giving their offerings out of their wealth, we know he observed how the Temple tax system enriched them, whilst taking the last pennies from poor widows. We feel his empathy with these exploited women in his story of the Widow’s Mite; and we hear a flash of the angry Jesus when he said, ‘Those devouring the homes of the widows and praying at great length for show, these shall receive condemnation in greater abundance.’ [2]
If you love something so good - like the house of God, if it carries deep value to you and to your people, then you’ll want it to flourish in the ways for which it was intended. But if you see it losing its way, its leaders turning a blind eye to its injustices for the sake of their own protection - then you might get angry.
But it’s out of love, from the instinct to protect what’s being lost, that this anger rises within you. The Temple is good; The Temple is broken; can The Temple be redeemed? - this is the question that lies behind Jesus’ aggressive act of table-turning that day. [3]
Jesus taught that the broken Temple could be redeemed - although it would be dismantled completely before it could be restored. In his anger and his sadness at the corruption at the heart of God’s Holy Place he had realised that the present Temple system had run its course; it was morally exhausted. He began teaching his disciples that The Temple would be destroyed - a prophecy which came true in the year 70AD, the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War [4] - and that in its place he would be the new Temple - he would be the one to whom people would come to find forgiveness, to find redemption, to find God, to find hope. He began speaking of The Temple of his body: and of his sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
So his angry outburst and furious actions in the Temple courts were a catalyst for change. His demonstration created space for the renewal of that fractured place; his protest opened up the possibility of justice in that place of exploitation; his remonstrations opened up hope that The Temple could be renewed.
These angry actions were hopeful actions. The writer and activist Rebecca Solnit says that “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.” [5]
Jesus gave himself to a future where The Temple would again be the focus of God’s love and care for the lost and troubled ones of the world. His commitment to their future was what made the present inhabitable for those who loved The Temple, but for whom it was failing.
There is plenty of anger being directed at the Church of England today. Some of it is still simmering from the Covid lockdowns where many people felt let down when they found their church doors locked and their weekly worship services cancelled. Some of it comes from those appalled by the findings of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse which shows how the institution has consistently sought to protect its own, for the sake of its reputation, at the expense of those suffering abuse. Every day there are angry messages in the Archbishop’s inbox from, on the one hand, those who feel the Church has not done enough to pave the way for equal marriage for all, and on the other hand, from those who feel the opposite: that the Church has done too much.
Locally, people are angry at the closure of local church schools and the Church authorities’ subsequent campaigns to claim ownership over the old school buildings, so they can raise money from their sale. ‘They are behaving in an un-Christian way,’ say people struggling with the loss of a building which has been in their community longer than living memory, and shocked to find that the institution does not have a considerate, listening ear. [6]
The force of moral outrage which drove Jesus to expel the moneychangers from The Temple has propelled many other protests for just causes over the centuries.
There are times when our anger is destructive of self and others, and in desperate need of healing and forgiveness: like the hate mail from churchgoers of which Archbishop Justin has recently spoken. [7] But there are other times when our anger can fuel hope; righteous anger which can be a turning-point for the better, and can help to bring about redemption.
“Anger is the force that protects that which is loved.” [8] If we are zealous for The Temple, our anger might consume us. But on the other hand, if our anger is an extension of our deeper love for The Temple, then it might just help to save it.
The Archbishop of York recently said: “We constantly need to reset our compass, which isn’t quite the same thing as losing it. We’ve learned to accommodate things that we know are wrong, which it would be possible to do something about.” [9]
Notes
A rewrite of Anger fuelling hope for redemption: Jesus in The Temple, preached online during the Covid pandemic in 2021, and based in part on Turning the tables on the taxman (my Ken Dodd sermon) preached in Somerset, 2018 and in Devon, 2012.
[1] John 2.17 quoting Psalm 69.10. “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child”: a hymn by Charles Wesley. “Anger is the force that protects that which is loved.” Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love, quoted in Suzanne Ross, Faith, Beliefs, & Revolutionary Love: An Excerpt from Brian McLaren’s Book, “Faith After Doubt”, RavenReview, Raven Foundation, 22 February 2021.
[2] Mark 12.40, from David Bentley Hart, The New Testament: A Translation.
[3] “The Powers are good. The Powers are fallen. The Powers must be redeemed.” Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination. p.3
[4] Wikipedia: Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE).
[5] Rebecca Solnit, Hope In The Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities.
[6] Church of England website, Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse. David Paulsen, Church of England’s divisions over same-sex marriage sink unity measure at General Synod. Episcopal News Servce, 27 February 2024. Paul Wilkinson, Village residents clash with diocese over ‘unchristian’ sale of community centre. Church Times, 28 July 2023.
[7] Tim Sigsworth, Archbishop says factions fighting within Church on same-sex marriage are doing ‘Devil’s work’. Telegraph, 23 February 2024
[8] “Anger is the force that protects that which is loved.” Valarie Kaur, See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love, quoted in Suzanne Ross, Faith, Beliefs, & Revolutionary Love: An Excerpt from Brian McLaren’s Book, “Faith After Doubt”, RavenReview, Raven Foundation, 22 February 2021.
[9] Harriet Sherwood, Britain must reset its compass, from housing to wages, says archbishop of York. Observer, 28 February 2021.
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