Fresh Eyes: Jesus Cleansing the Temple

John 2:13-22

Like many of you, my attention has been captured in these last days by the matter of 'the dress.'  You

know the one I'm talking about: that one which is making its rounds on the internet these days and has captured the imagination of early morning news hosts.  That dress which is clearly white and gold. At least to my eyes.  Indeed, we find ourselves in a state of consternation when we discover that our friends and family members and co-workers see different colors altogether.  At least I know I find myself more than a little puzzled by it: how two of us can look at the same image and see something entirely different. As the experts have tried to understand and explain this phenomenon so that the average person can understand it, one even offered that actually 'color' doesn't exist.  It is all in our minds.  We simply see what we see.  While I am not at all convinced of the truth of that explanation, it is hard to understand, isn't it?  Especially when 'color' has always seemed so obvious.

Now I am not color blind. At the same time, I am not color confident, if you know what I mean.  I prefer to wear dark colors and to paint my walls in neutral tones of beige or white.  It is only with the strong encouragement of others that I have stepped out of my comfort zones in either place.  Even so, I will probably always be most comfortable with neutral tones which have no chance of clashing or offending.  Bright, bold colors always do feel a little risky to me.  I don't know  --- perhaps that is why I 'see' white and gold when I look at 'the dress.'  And yes, I can't help but wonder if that is also sometimes true in the rest of my life.

One could argue whether Jesus is seeing bright bold 'red' or whether his comprehension of what is before him is simple 'black and white' when he enters the temple in John's telling today.  Either way, he is surely 'seeing' something which others no longer see or have never been able to see or for the sake of  protecting the powerful or not 'rocking the boat' have simply chosen not to see.

One wonders how it is that Jesus 'saw' what no one else could or would.  How could his perception have been so radically different that he would act with such forthright certainty to make right that which was so wrong.  And yet, we do recall that the temple held precious memories for Jesus.  It was the destination where every Jewish child knew he or she would make at least one pilgrimage in their lifetimes. It was the place where he had gotten so caught up in conversation with the teachers when he was a small child himself, that his parents lost track of him. To be sure, unlike any who had come before, this was his home before any other home for he understood it to be his 'Father's house.'  So perhaps it should come as no surprise that Jesus would show his outrage at what things had come to there. For it appears this holy place had become, for some at least, a place of business transactions. Indeed, some believe that the surcharge for exchanging money into currency which was suitable for temple offerings was so exorbitant that the poor were not able to afford to encounter God in that place in the way that it was customary to do so. And that would have been entirely contrary to God's intent. Whatever the case may have been, clearly Jesus saw all of this as standing in the way of it being the holy place it was meant to be.  And when Jesus comes face to face with it, he sees red.  He throws the money changers and those selling sheep and cattle and doves for sacrifice into chaos.

And so I wonder now.  How is it that you and I can develop the eyes of Jesus?  How do we gain sight or insight which is not content to turn away or to ignore or explain away that which gets in the way of others encountering the Holy One? How do I gain the courage or the will to see 'bright colors' which yes, sometimes will offend, even as they inspire?

Surely one of the ways to do this is to invite others with 'fresh eyes' to tell us what they see and experience in the 'temple' where I serve.  It may be those newest among us.  Or those who have been away a while.  Or children. Or simply someone who does not necessarily agree with me.  While they may or may not actually have 'eyes of Jesus,' even in their questions and observations they are likely to challenge or point out what I have failed to see or no longer experience because I have grown accustomed to the 'way it is.'  Oh yes, as we listen for the voice of Jesus in stories like we encounter now and in the experience of others?  Maybe we start to see in new ways.

For no, in fact, there is no way to know what barriers stand in the way if we fail to ask those who have experienced them.  As one of those with a privileged place in the place that I live and serve, I am not likely to actually see or experience it myself.

Now of course, even as I wonder this, I am aware that in this life our 'temples' may never be entirely clean. Even so, it seems to me that as we encounter Jesus' outrage today, the call is also ours to seek to see our lives, the lives of others, the 'temple,' and this whole wide world in which we live with the eyes of Jesus and to do what we can to rid it and us of all that would get in the way of others encountering God.  Oh yes, sometimes it our call is to 'see red,' it seems to me. At least when it matters so.  

It's a funny thing.  I posted the picture of  'the dress' above even before I was finished writing. As my words filled the page and I was scrolling further down, I found myself catching the image of the 'dress' out of the corner of my eye.  And do you know that for the first time it actually appeared to be blue and black to me?  I don't know what color 'the dress' actually is.  But when I look at it from another angle?  It does seem to change.

• So what then might it look like to see the world, our congregations, or our very lives from the angle or perspective of Jesus?
• What might it mean to look with fresh eyes at our sacred institutions --- especially our churches ---  and to be a part of 'cleansing them' so that others might more fully encounter God?
• How do we get such 'fresh eyes?' Where might you turn to acquire the perspective necessary to see with the eyes of  Jesus?

Barriers and Broken Hearts

John 2:13-22

It was a long time ago now… an Easter morning, in fact, and my mother and I were heading out to church.

We were visiting my sister and she had thought about joining us, but it was a particularly heartbreaking time in her life and she decided at the last minute that she simply wasn’t up to it.

So there we were all dressed up in our Easter Sunday best and trying to decide where to go to join our "Alleluia’s" with others of God’s people.  We finally settled on a large Lutheran church nearby.  I looked up the worship time and off we headed with what we thought was plenty of time to spare.

Only the worship time was different than what we found in the yellow pages. (Yes, this was before the internet was the first place to go for such information.)   We knew it almost immediately as we pulled into a full parking lot.  Somehow, though, I still managed to find a parking place and went in to see just how late we were.  As I walked in an usher rushed to meet me at the door and told me there was simply no room.  It was as though the ‘closed’ sign had been put up and there was no getting around it.  I could see in that moment that there was no negotiating with him so I went back to the car and we went about the task of trying to find somewhere else to hear the Good News that Easter morning.

I had never actually been turned away from worship before.  It was, of course, especially painful then as our hearts were already breaking.  No, normally you won’t be met by an usher at the door telling you there is no more room.  Indeed, the barriers are typically more subtle than that, but all too often I’m afraid they are still there.  And they can be especially difficult for the most vulnerable among us to get around.

It doesn’t appear that the barriers Jesus was driving out of the temple that day were all that subtle either.  No indeed, those things that were keeping people from encountering the ‘holy’ could hardly be missed --- and yet perhaps they were hardly noticed by those who had been frequenting that holy place month after month, year after year.  So perhaps Jesus’ violent outburst was necessary to get the attention of the ‘faithful.’  To be sure, he clearly demonstrates his distress at the money changers and those selling livestock for sacrifice in that holy place.   

Now, of course, you and I can’t get behind his words to see precisely what he meant.  Even so, it appears that this holy place had become, for many, merely a place for business transactions.  Some believe that the surcharge for exchanging money into currency which was suitable for temple offerings was so exorbitant that many were not able to afford to encounter God in that place.  For those who were in a more financially secure place --- or those who had frequented that place regularly --- perhaps the practice was no more than a minor nuisance or they had become so accustomed to how things were they didn’t even see it anymore.  Perhaps for some it was no barrier at all.  But Jesus saw it for what it was and no doubt, Jesus saw it for how it impacted those most vulnerable and so today we encounter him with a whip made of cords in his hands --- seeking to make right what had become so terribly wrong.  Doing what had to be done to make it possible again for all the people God so loves to encounter the Holy One there.

No indeed, there doesn’t have to be an usher at the door telling you there is no room for you.  The barriers are often much more subtle than that.    There are all kinds of things that can get in the way of the poor, the broken-hearted, the suffering making their way through the door.    And perhaps those of us who have been around a while simply don’t see it any more. 

I have never forgotten that Easter Sunday morning when we got turned away at the door.  I remember it every time I gather with others for worship and I find myself recalling that some of us come with broken hearts today and I find myself hoping that we've made it easy for them to find their way among us.  That we are not throwing up barriers to their encountering the 'Holy One.'

• Have you ever been turned away from worship?  Have you ever experienced barriers to encountering the 'Holy One' in a place where you expected welcome?  If so, how has that shaped your own ministry of hospitality?
• You and I have to travel across time and space and culture and custom to seek to make sense of this story for us today.  Last I checked we don't have money changers or livestock for sale in the narthex.  That being the case, what might be some of the 'barriers' which keep people from encountering the 'Holy One' at your place of worship this week?
• Who are the especially poor, the broken-hearted, the vulnerable for whom those barriers might be even more difficult to get past?  What is your congregation called to do to break down those barriers?
• Sometimes it's hard for those of us who have been part of a worshiping community for some time to see how we do things with fresh eyes.  Who might you ask to give you an honest assessment of how things are?  Perhaps your newest members might have some perspective.  Or (and this is something I've always wanted to do but haven't yet) you might try tracking down those who came once or twice and never came back.  I would guess they might just have something to teach us all.