Bible Text: Exodus 20:1-17 and John 2: 13-22 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
When Mike and I spent a couple of days in Berlin I told him that since he had been there before I would go wherever he wanted. I thought he might like to go to one of the many museums on Museum Island, or to Charlottenburg Castle where his grandfather had been the gatekeeper, or any of the other amazing sites I had read about. But instead he said, “We must go to the Gedachtniskirche!” Nowhere in my limited reading had I heard about this place but a promise is a promise and we took the streetcar to this mysterious location in the middle of the city. Even before we got off the car I could see why Mike would say we need to visit. The English translation of Gednachtniskirche is “Memorial Church”. While the original building was only built in 1890, young for churches in the area, the spire is quite an impressive site. Impressive because it was majorly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943 and it was never completely replaced. Berliners call it der hohle Zahn meaning the hollow tooth. This snaggle toothed spire in the middle of the city, surrounded by shopping malls and restaurants, is a reminder of the atrocities of war. The protestant community who once worshipped in this church did rebuild, but next door- in a completely new contemporary building. Both buildings are opposite to one another in both feel and architecture. The new building may not be to everyone’s liking, certainly the outside is rather stark when placed in contrast to the hollow tooth spire. But inside the new building you will find the sanctuary glowing in a blue haze due to the 21,929 blue stained glass inlays surrounding the chancel. The traditional church was transformed during the war into a reminder of destruction but the new building also transforms one’s perspective on traditional worship spaces. Both are completely different yet both serve a purpose of reminding the people that God meets us in the ruins of a cathedral and in the contemporary spaces glowing with light. God’s holy places are not restricted to one particular kind of architecture – and sometimes we need to have a clean slate before we can find God in alternative spaces. Had the original building not been destroyed then this would not be a place where tourists from around the world would gather in awe. In many ways Jesus’ actions in the temple transform familiar traditions of worship and change the perspective. Jesus even changes what the word temple means.
This story is referred to as a “multiple attestation” meaning it occurs in every Gospel and is described in similar detail. This implies that in all likelihood an occurrence like this did happen. In fact, it is very rare to find a story that happens in all the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) as well as the Gospel of John. John’s gospel was likely written much later than the other three and was written for a very different audience. As a result there are often drastic differences between it and the other three gospels. Therefore, while this passage is described as a “multiple attestation” it should not surprise us that John still has to be a little different. Two differences stand out. One, that John places this story in a different timeline to the other gospels and two, that John omits a particular phrase.
First, whereas the synoptics place this story near the end of Jesus’ ministry and connect it to the desire by the temple leaders to have Jesus killed, the author of John places this event at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. In part this may be a reflection of the author’s desire to comment on the relationship between early Christians and Judaism, particularly since John’s Gospel was written during a time when early believers had been shunned by the temple community. It is also interesting to think about how people would have reacted to Jesus’ display of passion, even anger. It is particularly interesting to think about this coming at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when those in the temple would have known very little about him. A few might have heard about John the Baptist’s proclamations, perhaps some heard about a band of disciples following a teacher, maybe even a few heard about the miraculous water into wine at a recent wedding (which happens right before this passage,) but in truth that is all they would have known based on John’s Gospel. Which means that basically Jesus’ outburst in the temple comes out of nowhere, and to think this is Jesus’ first public display of ministry! This is also characteristic of John’s gospel which is meant to stir us up and enable us to ask questions like, “Who is this Jesus? How does his ministry relate to God? What does it mean to be one of his followers?” This would also tie Jesus’ words regarding the destruction of the Temple to a new understanding of what the temple is and relates to the second difference between John’s and the others’ story.
You may recall that in the synoptic gospels’ version of this story Jesus uses language from Jeremiah and accuses those who are selling animals and changing money as thieves. He declares that they have made the temple a “den of robbers”. Clearly in this context Jesus is protesting corruption within the temple. However, in John Jesus doesn’t say this, instead he declares, “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” It seems almost out of place and clearly even the narrator thought it odd, because the narrator tries to help us understand it by stating, “He was speaking of the temple as his body.” In John, Jesus uses the cleansing of the temple to point to an altogether different holy place.
New Testament teacher, Mary Hinkle Shore helps us to understand what Jesus meant when she writes, “The temple was the meeting place between the God of Israel and God’s people. Sacrifices were offered during religious festivals and at special times in people’s lives…The temple was a holy place. It was a place where human life and divine blessing met.” The entire premise of John’s gospel is that Jesus is the Word made flesh, what we call in fancy church language, the incarnation. God meets God’s people through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. In this way Jesus is stating that he is this holy place where the divine and humanity meet.
This makes me wonder- where does God meet us today? Certainly for many of us we meet God in Scripture- through the stories of the Israelites and Jesus. We hear in our reading from Exodus that God met the Israelites through the law- by establishing guidelines for their living, living both in relationship to God and in relationship with each other. It is my hope that God meets us in this sanctuary- through our expressions of praise and prayer. Sometimes we do find God in those cathedrals of the past with their stone walls and high arches and other times we find God in those contemporary spaces with their unique designs. However, what Jesus is implying in this passage is that the presence of God is present in his body. A body not unlike yours or mine. And today we celebrate the sacrament of communion in an acknowledgement of what happened to Christ’s body, to the place where divine and humanity meet. In this sacrament we meet God. During the season of Lent we travel with Christ’s body to Jerusalem. On this journey his body bends down to wash the disciples’ feet, his body eats and drinks with friends, his body is beaten, crucified and laid in a tomb, his body is raised so that his friends can eat and drink with him again. Dr. Shore reminds us, “The body of Jesus is the location of God, and the point of connection between divine and human life.” That is how we answer the previous questions of who is Jesus and how does his ministry relate to God. Jesus draws us into relationship with God. Jesus is the holy place where divine and humanity meet. Jesus is dynamic, challenging, and even controversial in this story, which is exactly what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
We acknowledge this cleansing of the temple, this transformational power, this meeting place between the divine and humanity through the sacrament of communion. Whether we meet in a contemporary space in Canada or a battered table in Germany- Christ is always present at this table. Today we not only taste and see that God is good, but we are reminded of the body of Christ broken for us, the blood of Christ shed for us. Come and meet God at this table. Amen