Read the passage: The Message or The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
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I'm somewhat confused as to why the designers of the Lectionary chose this passage from John when there is a perfectly good parallel in Mark, and Mark is the prime Gospel for Year B.
In any case, this text is a good time to once again warn against the tragic antagonism toward "the Jews" that is in our Holy Text, and in our blood stained history.
Our first tip off to this antagonism is in the opening verse:
The Passover of the Jews was near
John 2:13
It is all too easy to read this with a sneer on our lips, with an inherited mind set of separation of followers of Jesus from "the Jews." But excuse me, in this passage, aren't Jesus and his followers all Jews? So we need to read this as all Jews tell about the Passover to this day - in the first person plural, present tense: This is our Passover; we are celebrating our God liberating us from our oppression and our slavery. This is NOT about other people in some other place and time.
Second, we might want to begin reflecting on this passage as Jesus' disciples did when they remembered that it was written:
Zeal for your house will consume me.
Psalm 69:9
Not that this verse says, "Zeal FOR your house;" not, "Zeal AGAINST your house."
So Jesus' actions need to be understood as actions FOR the Temple, not against it.
Exchanging Roman coins for Temple coins, and buying ritually clean animals for sacrifice were necessary activities for the Temple. These exchanges allowed faithful, observant Jews to follow the laws of God by trading necessary, but unclean, everyday goods needed to live in the world of Roman occupation into Temple goods that could properly be offered to God in thanksgiving and praise.
But it is precisely this accommodation to the "real polticks" of the Roman occupation that has led to inevitable corruption and collusion. And this is what Jesus' actions are against; this is what makes them FOR the Temple.
In asking for a sign, the Jews (remember, no sneering, "they" are us) are simply doing what every discerning person of faith ought to do: If someone suddenly starts acting like a Holy Man - over-turning tables; stampeding cattle - the right thing to do is ask for their license, "show us a sign." Showing them a sign would have been like showing a parade permit issued by the proper authorities: I can do this because a higher power has given me permission to do this.
But of course, in John, the whole point of the whole book of John is to SEE Jesus, and in particular to see God's glory, which will only be revealed at the right time - through Jesus' death and resurrection. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." This isn't exactly the sort of sign "the Jews" (aka, "us") were asking for.
For more on "seeing" Jesus and signs in the Gospel of John, see my note, Introduction to John.
Just as Jews continue to read the Passover in the first person plural, present tense; I wonder how this passage would sound to us if we read this as Jesus' cleansing our places of worship today?
David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca
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