Walking with Jesus through Lent, Pt.3: Jesus Stands against the Commodification of Religion

Let’s jump back into the Gospel reading. What the heck is Jesus’s problem here? Why is he violent, literally cracking a whip at the worship products being sold here? People needed animals for the sacrificial system, didn’t they? (By the way, like to eat meat? Then you probably don’t have the moral ground on which to criticize animal sacrifice. Much of it was consumed by worshipers or priests.) Here was the problem with the animals being bought and sold in the Temple courts: this was occurring in the Court of the Gentiles. The Jewish faith provided this court as the only place in the Temple where Gentiles could go and pray. We might look at the Court of the Gentiles and wonder why the Gentiles could not enter the parts of the Temple that were only for the Jews, but we might be again missing the point. The Court of the Gentiles gives us a hint and foretaste of God’s ultimate goal through the whole of the Old Testament: a goal in which Abraham’s offspring would ultimately be a blessing to all the nations (Genesis 12:3). I argue that God is something of a progressive (not politically, but politics are a useful analogy), moving His people slowly toward the ultimate goal by means of progressive steps.

God’s ultimate goal for all peoples on earth was that they have access to His grace and love. That they be included in the worship life of the faithful. This is realized beautifully in the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2) and in Paul’s powerful words in Galatians:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.–3:26-29 NIV

(If my theory is correct, and God is a progressive God, moving humanity closer and closer to this goal by progressive steps, I wonder what He might be up to now? I wonder how His grace is continuing to reach to all. Food for thought.)

So, in the story of the cleansing of the Temple, the issues that Jesus is facing down are the commodification of religion (“Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”–vs.16) AND how such commodification crowds out space for all to gather for the worship life of the faithful.

How do we do this today? One area of real concern that we as Christians must attend to is that we treat the rich and the poor the same. There can be real barriers to this, of course. It is easy to be swayed by giving more power to those who can provide more offering dollars. I’m not talking about a pastor or council’s misuse of funds. Yes, that happens sometimes, but a far more frequent issue is this: church budgets operate with little extra much of time and the fear of losing wealthier donors can contribute to letting them drive the agenda of the church. I’m not sure I have the solution for this problem, but I think honesty requires raising it. It’s something church leaders must try their best to guard against. A wealthy member is NOT a more important member of Christ’s church than a poverty-stricken member is. James wrote powerfully about this (2:1-7).