Over the years as I have become more familiar with the Gospels and their authors, I find that I have developed a particular affinity for John's. John is less interested in the historical Jesus as are the synoptic writers and while he does insert accounts of Jesus' life, John frames it as a backdrop to his real interest, who Jesus really is. Yes, all of the other Gospel writers consider the account of Jesus' overturning the merchants' tables in the temples as an important event. However, I believe John's account (John 2:13-25) remains faithful to his theme, the Divine presence of God in Jesus.
John proclaims the Divine presence of God in Jesus in his very first Gospel with the words: In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God...And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And as he announces the end of the physical presence of the incarnation of God in Jesus...he passes the legacy on to us (John 17:1-14):
All mine are yours and yours are mine: and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me.
Here John relies on the mystical words to speak to us in that place in us in which the personal images of reality and life reside. Call it whatever you will: the mind, the brain, the heart, the soul; John invites us to close our eyes and picture what being in a relationship with God really means. Note, I use the word "picture," not "understand," in an effort to prompt our imagination and senses to feel the words as a palpable sensory experience, and know what being in a relationship with God actually feels like, tastes like and smells like. This is at the essence of our being and what we means when we say "and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." God fully shared our humanity through Jesus as we, through Jesus fully share in God's divinity. Anything less than that relationship with God would be reduced to a mere acquaintance.
So now back to Jesus' anger with those who abuse the temple and by extension out churches. Over the centuries many explanations have been proposed to explain Jesus' anger; you pick your favorite. How about Jesus' anger with the high priests, church councils, and vestries whose public piety have nothing to do with sharing of God's love and whose adherence to rituals of worship are empty? Jesus was a radical whose focus was preaching the Love of God and not about the rules associated with misguiding the faithful in the name of God. Jesus sought to overturn the tables and rid the churches of all the piety, purity, and social rules created n the name of God for the sole purpose of control and power.
Yet church is vital to our lives because it provides a coming together where we can proclaim the Gospel and share the sacraments in which we perceive God's grace most clearly. But then we are sent out to look for God and partner with God in our various roles and venues. Isn't that a great image for the Church? Jesus' anger is directed toward those who use the love of power to control their congregations rather than the power of love to create and environment that sets the stage for sharing of God's love. We tear down the walls and live the Word and the Word becomes flesh in us.
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ReplyDeleteIn the understanding of Jesus' contemporaries, the Temple was the place where God dwelt, where God could be encountered. Jesus is aghast at what the priests and merchants have brought into that place, and how it reflects on God and how people are treated in the place where God's way of love for all should be most in effect.
ReplyDeleteIn Mark's time, the community of Jesus' followers for whom the gospel was written had not yet become an institution, and had no formal places of worship.
Jesus says that he is speaking of his own body as the dwelling place of God. Perhaps we need to see our own selves as temple, place of encounter with God. Maybe we need to look at what furnishings and practices we bring into that place of encounter that affect the relationship we have with God and others.