Jesus at the Temple

Jesus at the Temple

The following is the text of the sermon I preached when I led Evensong on Sunday, 13 July; at Church — St Mary the Virgin, Godmanchester.

It was quite disconcerting when I first started to speak; I looked into the relatively small congregation (19), to see three Priests and a Bishop looking back at me. I think I may have gabbled the first paragraph a little, as nerves kicked in. Sometimes (often), as much as I know I shouldn’t, I doubt my worthiness — this was one of them.

Jesus at the Temple
Luke 19:41—20:8

Lord God, take my words and speak through them, take our minds and think through them, take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you, you who are Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Luke’s Gospel
In the reading we just heard from St Luke’s Gospel, we have his account of the events that took place on Palm Sunday — Jesus’s final entry into Jerusalem, a few days before his arrest, trial and crucifixion. In Luke, the story’s a bit shorter than the accounts given to us by Matthew, Mark and John; for example, it doesn’t mention the spreading of palm branches on the road by Jesus’s followers.

But Luke’s account does something very useful. It highlights the character and qualities of the Son of God, whose attitudes and feelings, we as Christians are encouraged to imitate. So let’s take a few minutes to see what Luke’s story of Palm Sunday, tells us about this man Jesus that we must try to follow.

Compassion
First, as you might expect, we see his compassion. He knew what was going to happen to Jerusalem. His description of enemies building an embankment against it, killing many of the inhabitants, and not leaving one stone on top of another was a close description, even if not entirely accurate, of what was to happen some forty years later, when the Romans put down a Jewish revolt.

The tragedy was that it could all have been avoided, if only the Jewish authorities had accepted Jesus, and God’s message of peace and love that he’d brought them. The leaders preferred to take the way of political manoeuvring, and intrigue rather than the way of peace — and the tears that Jesus shed for the forthcoming fate of Jerusalem, were the tears shed by God, when he sees needless human pain and suffering.

We, too, should be shedding the same tears as Jesus did, when we think about the plight of the poor and hungry, in Africa today; the innocent civilians still suffering as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, and too many other places of strife around the world; the atrocities being meted out under Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe — I could go on, but I’m sure you don’t need me to. But our compassion shouldn’t stop at tears; wherever possible, we must try to follow our Lord, in bringing relief to those who are suffering, wherever and however we can.

Brave
Not only was Jesus compassionate; Luke tells us that he was brave — you might say he was recklessly brave, in the service of God his Father. Some time before he came to Jerusalem for the last time, the Jewish authorities had put a price on his head, and they were constantly looking for opportunities to arrest him. But Jesus knew that this final journey, was what his Father intended for him, and he insisted on making it, even though he knew what the agonising end would be.

On top of that, after Jesus very publicly arrived in Jerusalem, one of his first actions was to drive out the merchants, who were trading in the Temple — an act which would have been highly unpopular with the authorities, for reasons we’ll see in a moment. And then he continued his defiance, by openly teaching the people at the Temple every day.

Most of us can count ourselves fortunate, that we’ll never have to face, such a challenge to our courage as Christians. Yet there will be times when we’ll instinctively know, that publicly expressing a Christian view, may well be very unpopular with those around us. Taking a stand against racial prejudice, that neighbours are showing towards an Asian family that’s moved into your street, for instance, can cause a lot of resentment. But if we’re to follow our Lord’s example, we somehow have to find the courage to make that stand, that he himself would make — and be ready to take the consequences of making that stand, just as he did.

Social justice
Then, in addition to his bravery and compassion, Jesus had a passion for social justice. Throwing out the merchants, who were selling things in the Temple, wasn’t only an act of bravery; it was an instinctive act to help the poorest members of society that the merchants were preying on.

Temple worship called for the sacrifice of animals or birds. The law insisted that all of them should be without blemish, and the Temple employed inspectors to make sure of it. The only way to be sure that you were presenting an “officially approved” offering, was to buy it from an officially approved merchant in the Temple courtyard — at a greatly inflated price, of course. Temple taxes also had to be paid, in a dedicated “Temple currency”, which also had to be purchased at a sort of, bureau-de-change in the courtyard — also at very unfavourable rates of exchange.

Naturally the people who suffered the most from these officially approved rackets were the poorest, who were least able to afford the high, but unavoidable costs of worshipping their God. It was a deliberate act of legalised robbery; indeed, the very worship of the house of God, was being used to exploit the worshippers. And, perhaps something that helped make Jesus really angry, was the fact that the merchants’ and currency traders’ shops in the Temple courtyard, were actually owned by the family of Annas, the High Priest.

Social injustice today
Again, you don’t really need me to give you a catalogue of all the social injustices of our time. But ask yourself — how would Jesus have reacted when he heard about pensioners having to live on or below the poverty line? Or, the ever-increasing occurrences of families breaking apart in our society? Or, ever-younger children being stabbed to death on our streets, as the levels of mindless violence continue, inexorably, to rise?

Do such things fire you with indignation — or better still, a real desire to see something done about it? Because for those who really want to emulate our Lord, they should!

Christian qualities
Bravery in the face of unpopularity or hatred. Compassion for the underprivileged. A determination to achieve social justice. And perhaps we might, in conclusion, add a fourth quality — a readiness to argue the case for living the Christian life, as Jesus regularly argued it successfully with the scribes and Pharisees of his day. He wasn’t afraid of losing the argument, and neither need we – after all, there isn’t much of a case that can be made against a life governed by bravery, compassion and social justice, is there?

Amen.