It was just a little over two months ago now that we heard, in worship, the story of baby Jesus’ presentation in the temple. Mary and Joseph had traveled to Jerusalem with baby Jesus, went up to the temple, entered the massive courtyard, and offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
Actually, what the law of the Lord said (You can read it yourself in Leviticus 12) was that the offering should consist of a lamb AND a pigeon or turtledove; only if the person making the offering could not afford a lamb, could an offering of two turtledoves or two young pigeons be made.
Mary and Joseph were poor. When they went to the temple, they could not afford a lamb. Even an offering of turtledoves or pigeons was a stretch for them.
And, you may recall, it was made even worse by the way the whole process was manipulated and engineered to take advantage of those wanting to make an offering.
The sellers would only accept temple currency; no Roman coins were allowed. So, first, before they could even purchase their offering, pilgrims like Mary and Joseph had to exchange their Roman currency for temple currency.
And when they exchanged their Roman currency for temple currency, the moneychanger kept some as profit, and Rome kept some in the form of a tax on the exchange, which means Mary and Joseph lost money on the exchange.
Then, when they took their temple currency to buy their offering, the seller kept some as profit, and again there was a tax on the sale, which means that, in the end, Mary and Joseph paid out way more money than what the actual offering cost.
It was all about commerce. It was all about cheating the poor, to make the rich richer.
And it made it hard, so very hard, for people like Mary and Joseph to fulfill their obligations to the Lord.
As James Baldwin said, it’s extremely expensive to be poor.
This is just the way of the world; that’s just how the world works. In the world, economic systems are rigged in favor of the rich. That was true then, and it’s true today. The rich get their loopholes and their deductions, while the poor get stuck with heavier burdens.
To cite just one modern example: last week it was reported that, in 2023, General Electric made a profit of seven billion dollars, yet somehow paid no federal income tax and, in fact, received from the government 423 million dollars.
For many other corporations, the situation is the same. They pay little or no taxes, they receive giant subsidies and tax breaks, all while making record profits.
Yet at the same time, they keep raising the prices that you and I have to pay. They blame their price raising on rising costs, yet the fact that they are making record profits shows that greed is really what’s causing them to raise prices.
It’s the same as the sellers and the moneychangers in the temple. Greed drove them to create a system that sucked as much money as it could from the poor, in order to line the pockets of the rich.
This is the injustice that all of the Old Testament prophets wrote about.
It’s interesting, that all those Old Testament prophets only appeared in certain time periods. As it turns out, when the prophets were active, those were times when the gap between rich and poor was extreme; in other time periods, when the gap wasn’t as great, and the poor weren’t quite as poor, and the rich weren’t quite as rich… in those time periods, the prophets are silent. There are no prophetic writings from times of relative economic equality.
This makes it clear that the exploitation of the poor is a primary concern of God’s… No wonder Jesus got so upset at the exploitation and injustice taking place in the temple.
The temple, God’s house of prayer—the house of prayer for all people—was supposed to be a refuge from the world’s corruption. God’s house of prayer was supposed to be a place where people could draw closer to God, but the economic barriers actually made it harder for the people. Instead of drawing people closer to God, the temple was keeping people separated from God.
So, when Jesus returns to the temple, he sees the sellers with their animals, and he sees the moneychangers, and he sees the people counting out their coins, knowing of the great sacrifices they are making, knowing that, for many of them, the sacrifices they make mean it’ll be that much harder to afford food to eat, or clothes to wear, or homes to live in, for themselves, for their families.
And Jesus knows there are others, those who are even poorer; people for whom any offering at all is an impossibility. Yet there are no concessions. If they can’t afford to exchange their money and purchase an offering, then they are deemed to be not right with God.
It’s all so unjust! Do you see the injustice? Do you see how religion has been corrupted and perverted?
This is not what God’s house of prayer is supposed to be all about!
So: Jesus decides to (as we say) cleanse the temple.
He finds some cords, makes them into a whip, and runs around the marketplace, chasing all the animals out. Can you picture it? Cows and sheep all running amuck, mooing and baa-ing; people screaming and jumping out of their way as the animals rush past… And the birds in their cages getting all riled up by the commotion, adding their own noise to the mix, and flapping around so that feathers start flying out of their cages and swirling around in the courtyard…
Oh, what a beautifully chaotic scene!
And, as if that weren’t enough, Jesus overturns the tables of the moneychangers. Their coins all crash to the ground, and start rolling all across the courtyard. The moneychangers go chasing after their coins, and many of the people in the courtyard do as well, trying to pocket some without anyone noticing.
But Jesus notices; and maybe he smiles a little, thinking to himself that, at least in this moment, some of the money is going where it belongs: to those who need it most.
Then Jesus turns to those who were selling the doves and pigeons, and says: “Take these things out of here!” His voice must have been quite loud, or no one would have heard him, given all the noise that was around.
And then he says (even louder, I think): “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
Because the injustice of the temple-empire complex is just too much for Jesus. The way the temple and the empire have conspired to rob the poor to feed the rich.
The temple is God’s house. Jesus loved the temple, or at least, the temple as it should be. A place where all people can draw close to God, with no barriers or obstacles.
But the way the temple was being run, it was making it harder—and, in some cases, impossible—for the Jewish faithful to worship God, to present themselves before God, and to present an offering acceptable to God.
The etymology of the word “religion” can be traced back to the Latin word “religio,” which means to bind or to connect. It makes me think of the ligaments we have in our bodies: bands of tissue which connect bones, joints, or organs.
So, religion, done properly, connects us to God and to one another. It enables connection to happen. It creates a conducive and favorable environment for reconnecting.
But religion done improperly disconnects. It makes it harder for connection to happen. It sets up obstacles and barriers, creating an unfavorable environment for reconnecting.
The moneychangers and the sellers were making it harder for people to connect with God—especially poor people. Originally, their presence was meant to be a service, a convenience, to those arriving at the temple and needing to purchase an offering. But the way they took advantage of the situation for their own gain did just the opposite of how it was supposed to be.
And it makes me think about how religion works in the world today. For some, connecting with God has been made harder by religion—or, to be more precise, by religious institutions. Religion, for some, has become a burden. Religion has caused people harm. Religion has kept people apart from God.
But that’s not the way religion is supposed to be. Religion, by definition, is supposed to help people reconnect; and, in reconnecting, find healing and wholeness.
And even though there are many places today where religion is corrupted, and works to separate people from God and harm people, there are also many places today presenting a truer, more authentic form of religion; a religion that really does help people reconnect with God, with humanity, and with their true selves; a religion that makes people whole.
In the three months that I’ve been here, I’ve heard people say these things about First Christian Church: how they have found hope and healing through the ministry of this congregation; how the love and support and affirmation they received here helped put together the broken parts of their soul, and make them whole again.
That’s what religion is supposed to be like.
— — —
In a few weeks, Lent will come to an end. We’ll find ourselves in Holy Week. And on Good Friday, we’ll hear again the story of Jesus’ death on the cross.
And we’ll hear how, at the moment that Jesus, on the cross, took his last breath, the curtain in the temple was torn in two. This curtain hung in the Holy of Holies, and served as a barrier between sinful humanity and the holy presence of God. The curtain was large, and likely embroidered, with blue, scarlet, purple, and other colors; and it was thick. Jewish tradition says that the Temple veil was as thick as a man’s hand, and I even read one description that said it was a foot thick. Which, I’m sure was an exaggeration; but the point is that the curtain was a barrier, a separation, between people and God.
But at the moment of Jesus’ death, the curtain was torn in two; and this tearing of the curtain at the moment of Jesus’ death symbolized the removal of all barriers between God and humanity. Jesus’ death on the cross removed the barriers, and brought humanity and God together. It reconnected God and humanity, once and for all.
So any religion, any version of Christianity, that makes it harder for people to connect with God, is not representing what Christ stood for. Any religion, any version of Christianity, that is about judgment and condemnation more than it is about grace and love and affirmation, is not representing what Christ stood for.
Because the one thing Christ could not tolerate, was the act of erecting barriers that kept people disconnected from God. The one thing Christ could not tolerate was placing heavier burdens on the lives of people who come seeking rest, relief, and redemption. Especially when those burdens were placed on the backs of the poor and the oppressed.
If you have been hurt by religion; if religion has pushed you further away from God; if religion has made you feel that you can’t come into God’s presence as you are, with all your goodness, with all your brokenness… If that’s what religion has done to you,
…then, on behalf of the church, I apologize. I apologize for what the church has said and done, and for how the church has actually made it harder for you to connect with God.
I do hope that you find here, at First Christian Church, a place where the barriers no longer exist, and where you feel you can come into God’s presence with your whole self, and know that God’s Spirit dwells within you, and that God’s love embraces you, and that the abundant life of Christ is available to you, free of charge.
And I hope that you know that, whatever you have to offer to God, is acceptable. You don’t have to exchange what you have for something else, and you don’t have to change who you are to become someone else, someone that you are not.
The curtain, the veil, has been torn in two; and God is waiting to reconnect with you, God’s own child; because God has loved you from the beginning; and God has never stopped loving you; and God will always love you, to the end of time.
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