Fierce Intention

John 2:13-17, Luke 13:10-17

January 15, 2012, David M. Griebner, Riverside UMC

Today we are continuing a series of messages inspired by a new book about Jesus by John Eldredge. The book is titled Beautiful Outlaw. In essence it is an invitation to think about the personality of Jesus in fresh ways. Each chapter focuses on several stories from the Gospels, which reveal something about the personality of Jesus. I invite you to read the book and I hope you will choose to do so in some kind of small group, perhaps one you are already in or with a few friends. The books are $12. You can order one in the narthex at the welcome table. Books ordered today will be here by Tuesday or Wednesday.

The chapter we are working with today with is titled Fierce Intention. This is also the side of His personality John is asking us to consider. What does he mean by this? In this chapter John describes Jesus as a “man on fire,” (39) and he warns us against settling for “those popular and ridiculous portraits of Jesus as the wandering storyteller, no more controversial or dangerous than a clerk in a health-food store.” (42) In contrast he points out, “Jesus walks right up to people foaming at the mouth in full-blown demonic possession and confronts the ancient spirits directly. Very intentional. Quite fierce.” (34)

One of the places John Eldredge sees this side of Jesus is in the story of Jesus cleansing the temple in Jerusalem. This event is found in all four gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke include this story at the end of Jesus’ life, either on the day we call Palm Sunday, or in Mark’s case, on the day after. St. John places this story at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, and he also gives us the most detail. This is the version of the story we are following today. It begins like this. “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.” (John 2:13-14)

Let me paint this picture for you. The temple in Jerusalem was presided over by a Jewish sect called the Sadducees. The Sadducees were a group of wealthy Jews, mostly priests, who largely cooperated with the Romans in order to maintain their wealth and status. Several times a year Jewish pilgrims from all over the Middle East came to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice at the temple, as prescribed in Leviticus and elsewhere. Any animal presented to the Lord for sacrifice had to be examined by the priest and pronounced “pure” or “without blemish.” You could bring a sheep, a goat, a lamb, or a bull from your own flock or herd that you thought was “without blemish,” but then, you might be wrong. You might have missed something. So the easiest thing to do was to leave your sheep, lamb, goat or bull at home and buy a “pre-approved” sacrifice at the temple. What was this like? Have you ever purchased a hot dog or a soda at an Ohio State football game? Or popcorn at the movie theater? Such a bargain, right? The Sadducees did the same thing. They made the people pay for the convenience of buying the animal for the sacrifice at the temple.

They also operated a currency exchange. Every year, every Jewish male over the age of 20, was required to pay a half-shekel tax to the temple. (Exodus 30:13) Furthermore, the scriptures declared that the shekel had to be “pure,” that is it had to contain a certain percentage of silver. However, not all the coins minted by Rome contained the level of silver required. So the Sadducees set up a place in the temple where you could exchange your impure shekel for a pure shekel. Of course, there was a “transaction fee.” Have you ever used your ATM card to get money from another bank’s ATM? Lovely experience isn’t it? Considering that as many as two million pilgrims would have come to Jerusalem just for Passover, that’s a lot of usage fees.

When Jesus saw what was going on St. John says, “he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”

What’s the title of this chapter and message again? Fierce Intention. Listen as John Eldredge walks us though the evidence of Jesus’ fierce intention in this event. “In two verses he empties the temple, a report that reads like the crack of a bullwhip. But take the action slowly. First Jesus observes the shenanigans, and it makes him furious. Then he takes the time to make a weapon.” (Italics mine) Have you ever noticed that before? He didn’t find a whip. He made a whip. John goes on. “Where did he get those cords? That required some looking around. Having found them, he had the patience and forethought to weave them together effectively to make a usable whip – he knows what it takes to move large, sedentary cattle and self-righteous profiteers. There’s time here to cool off if this is merely an outburst of anger. But no, this is planned and sustained aggression.” (35)

Furthermore, this wasn’t something that could be accomplished with a few flicks of the wrist and couple of shouts. Picture a half-ton cow lying down, chewing the cud. Picture sheep, quiet, safely corralled. Then, picture “an angry man flying upon them with a whip. Picture cattle and sheep running for their lives, crashing down the corrals, their hooves sliding frantically on the tiles, making them even more desperate.” (35) Not to mention the coins of the moneychangers.

Here’s how John sums it up. “To pull off driving “all of them out of the temple” would require more than a few seconds and repeated blows. This is a sustained assault. If a frail man with a meek voice tried this, he’d be log jammed by the sheer number and inertia of the traffic. Jesus is a locomotive, a juggernaut. For all practical purposes here, he is the bull in the china shop.” (36) This is what John Eldredge calls fierce intention.

Now, despite everything I’ve told you thus far today, we have yet to talk about the most important aspect of this story. It’s fun to paint detailed pictures of events long ago. But if that’s all we do we’ve missed the point. The question we need to ask is where are we in the story? What would Jesus take a whip to in our lives? What have we allowed, or even invited, to be set up in the temples of our lives? These are the kind of questions I’ve been asking myself and it has been an interesting journey. Let me share a bit of it with you.

When I asked myself this question the first thing that came to my mind is that January is Human Trafficking Awareness month. Did you know that? Turning women (and men) into something you can purchase for your pleasure, either in person or online, is something I can see Jesus getting angry about. Do you picture Jesus quietly discussing the problem or fiercely confronting the pimps and the johns? I can see Him making a whip to deal with that. That’s where my mind went first. And it felt true to the story, but not true enough.

Next, I thought about some of the ways I wish I could be better. One of the things I wish I could stop doing is snacking late at night. I know this isn’t good for me. But I often can’t seem to help myself. Of course it might help if I’d stop watching so many cooking shows. At first I thought that was something Jesus might take a whip to, but then, I thought, not really. I can’t imagine Jesus coming after me with a whip over a few cookies.

Another time I thought about a friend of mine, a good friend, Chuck Otte. Many of you remember Chuck. Chuck was a member of this church, trustee, lay reader. I loved to play golf with him. I also knew Chuck had a drinking problem, but I was afraid to talk to him about it. I was afraid if I confronted him he’d leave the church. He died a couple years ago. The booze killed him. It might not have made any difference, but I was afraid to be the bull in his china shop. Sometimes I think Jesus would like to have words with me about being afraid like that. But that wasn’t it either, exactly.

It went on like this for a while. I kept coming up with things in my life, things I thought I was doing, tables I was sitting at, that I thought He might want to turn over. But none of them seemed to be enough. And then something happened. I don’t remember if I asked Him what was going on, or if He just decided to tell me, but what I heard was this, “You can’t make the whip.” What? “You can’t make the whip.”

Here’s what I think this means. When I think about what really upsets me about other people, it’s not what they can see, but what they can’t see. It’s not the behavior and choices they are aware of, but the behavior and choices they seem to be unaware of. What Jesus seemed to be saying to me was that those people sitting at those tables in the temple were quite comfortable with what was going on. They never saw Him coming. And if they had seen Him coming, I don’t think they would have changed a thing. It felt like He was trying to say something to me like this. ‘I’m delighted when you can name something you think needs to be different in your life or in the world around you. But there are deeper things, deeper issues, things I can see that you can’t, that only I can deal with. I know it may sound harsh, but let Me make the whip. Let Me decide what tables need to be turned over. Be open to that. Give My Spirit the freedom to do that. You won’t regret it.’

Remember last week? Jesus was at a wedding and they ran out of wine. Jesus’ mother Mary suggested He might do something about it. He basically brushed her off. And then He turned around, filled up six stone jars with water, and made 120 to 180 gallons of the best wine. If Jesus had allowed Mary to decide what to do, I doubt that she would have come up with that solution or that much wine. It’s the same principle here. Jesus wants to do far more than we can ask or imagine. He wants to take on issues in our lives we don’t even know are a problem yet. Let Me make the whip, He says. Let Me show you what tables need to be turned over. Let’s pray…