Coins
Luke 21:1-4 & John 2:13-22
Can you imagine watching Jesus chasing people, cattle, and sheep out of a temple – upending tables and chastising merchants as he went? What a scene! I imagine the disciples watching these events and looking at each other wide-eyed, then sheepishly recalling the words from Psalm 69: “Zeal for your house consumes me.”
In the passage from John, Jesus utterly and completely scatters those exchanging money and selling goods. In response to this, the people challenge Jesus’s authority to mandate such action, asking Him to provide evidence to justify His actions. In response, Jesus tells them that if it were torn down, Jesus could rebuild the temple in three days. In this message, he foretells His own resurrection.
The frenzy of commerce in the temple is indicative of the extent to which materialism has overrun Jerusalem, distracting the people from their pursuit of God. If money and accumulation of wealth has overtaken all areas of peoples’ lives to the point where it has even crept into religious spaces, it is evident that the society has strayed significantly far from what is good and right.
One of my biggest takeaways from this passage is the ways in which the merchants’ commercial activity prevents worship in the presence of God, both figuratively and literally. With all the selling and trading happening, it surely would have hindered the ability of worshippers to access the temple, and even if the people had been able to use the temple, they certainly would have been distracted by the mall-like state of the place.
This leads me to use the perspective provided in this passage to examine my own life. What are the ways in which I’ve become more like a merchant where I should instead be turning to God in worship? What are these misguided ideas, items, or distractions that I’m trying to peddle that are taking away from my relationship with God? What are the situations in which I’m so close to being in the presence of God, yet cannot fully enter in because of the worldly things that I can’t bear to separate myself from?
The good news, presented in the passage from Luke, is that these futile attempts to cultivate wealth or cling to our own worldly ways are not necessary to please God. Instead, we must allow ourselves to let go of them if we wish to fully align with God. In this passage, a widow was able to give just pennies in a collection plate. She does not have great stores of wealth or goods that she has accumulated. Regardless, Jesus praises the woman’s actions, for she gave more than she could afford. In her giving, this woman goes all-in on her faith. This woman’s actions are not performative or pretentious, but instead are indicative of a total surrender to God.
If this total surrender is the goal, we can be released from our fruitless strivings towards wealth accumulation, performative displays of giving, and peddling of fruitless goods. I invite you to ponder: What are the goods that you’ve tried to sell at the temple for so long that you’ve forgotten to actually go in and worship?