November 9, 2024

John 2:13-22

In this reading, Jesus continues the discussion of how we relate with money.  While yesterday the message was that financial dealings are fine and necessary for everyday life, and in fact we can embody spiritual teachings by being generous with our fellow human beings, today’s reading makes clear that buying and selling have no place in the spiritual realm, as Jesus says “my Father’s house.”  When he drove the sellers out of the temple precincts, he was indicating that the Jews had associated religious practices with financial opportunities, and that was wrong. For one thing, God is available to everyone free of charge, so to speak.  We do not need money to follow God’s teachings, in fact, the poor can follow well.  For another thing, charging money to fulfill our religious practices excludes those who have less. 

We also note Jesus’ anger at the synagogue members who are turning it into a marketplace for hypocritically fulfilling the rules and regulations of religion.  In a similar way, some people are angry at abuses in the church today.  That same energy of shaking things up and protesting may be needed at times.

The disciples are immediately reminded of a scripture passage saying, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  On top of this, Jesus says, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  The Jews take this literally and scoff at it, but Jesus meant his body as the temple.  The text tells us, “When he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.”  How often God plants a message somewhere in the continuum of time, only to pick up the thread and make it clear sometime later.  Points in time are interrelated; it does not work in the logical manner we conceptualize it to be.  “God’s time” has many interesting characteristics to contemplate.  Amen.