Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle.
I must admit that I frequently struggle with the Gospel of John, from which I pulled this morning’s musing. Before I’d studied it much, I struggled because the language is so poetic and there’s imagery and fancy comparisons that are harder for me to understand. Thank my incredibly analytical engineer dad for that. As I learned more about John, it’s a challenging account because of the exclusionary and anti-Semite sentiments throughout. Our way is the only way. And woe to you Jews. Hmm. Never mind that Jesus was a Jew, and of anyone, he was the least exclusionary human around. Hmm.
So what to make of this scene with the money changers and the temple? I don’t think I get to systematically decide which portions of scripture I’m going to ‘believe’. But I do think I’m allowed, even encouraged, to wrestle, ponder, muse.
Jesus has come into the temple, and it’s full of supporting industries. I think of my time in Seattle near Boeing. There were hundreds of businesses there whose sole purpose was to provide needed services and supplies for this ginormous business. A special Boeing employees bank, Boeing sponsored conferences for the supply chain, which Boeing admits is ‘vital for us to meet the needs of our customers’.
People came to the Temple from all over the Jewish world, with different types of money, and from distances too far to bring their animals for slaughter. So what’s wrong with services and supplies on-site? If they’d set up just outside the Temple, would it have been acceptable? Or is it that sacrifice had become a commodity? Was the money exchange itself problematic? If so, what about the widow who put her copper coins in the big container and was praised?
Maybe there is a definitive answer about the cause of this whip of cords. I’ve not heard it, at least not in a way that’s consistent with what sacrifices I’m asked to make, what practices I’ve taken on, and other stories in the Gospels about who Jesus was.
That leaves me to ponder. To muse. To see where the story compels me to linger. Maybe for me, now, this story is about Jesus’ full humanity. Everyone has days that are hard, where you want to get out your own whip of cords. Getting all poetic, maybe this is saying something about what was happening inside Jesus, fully human. He says stop making my father’s house a marketplace, and then says that he’ll tear down the temple, that very house, and rebuild it in three days. With that three day comparison, he’s substituting his own self for the temple. Is he saying that they’re turning that body into a marketplace? He’s angered because there are pulls on him to make salvation something that’s like a financial exchange? Or is it really as simple as disliking the monetizing that’s occurring inside the temple, even though the services provided are part of the supply chain?
Did I mention I struggle with John? This morning I don’t have any pithy reflection, just a lot of questions. Many mornings, many days, I’m left with similar unclear unresolved ponderings. As much as I dislike that, that’s part of my growth. So today, I’ll sit with this big, holy, “Huh?””
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