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“Monday: Jesus and the Temple” |
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When I was a boy, I used to play in an
alley behind our house with the neighborhood kids. In the alley was a large
tree with big green leaves. In late summer, the tree produced round green fruit
that we would pick from its branches and throw at each other, pretending that
they were hand grenades. One, day, one of my friends found a soft one and took
a bite out of it. I was fascinated when he told me that it was a fig. As he
took a second bite, we thought that he was “nuts!” He dared any of the rest of us to eat a bite. None of us accepted his challenge. “Fig?” Even the name of it sounded unappetizing. The fig was one of several fruits that were quite common in the lands encircling the Mediterranean Sea. Jesus was a “fig-eater,” as were most of the people of his region. On Monday, the day after the day we call “Palm Sunday” when Jesus carried out his “protest-processional” into Jerusalem, Jesus once again walked toward Jerusalem. Before he got to the city gates, he stopped beside a fig tree, and because it had no fruit among its leaves, Jesus pronounced that it would never again bear fruit. Taken literally, as an historical account of an actual event, this story has always bothered me. It presents a picture of Jesus I don’t like. Taken literally, this an “unreasonable” and crotchety Jesus. Mark identifies the time of this story as four days before Passover. The Jewish Passover is always celebrated during the month of Nissan on the Jewish calendar – and Nissan always comes in the spring. In fact, this year, it is on March 20 of our calendar. Now, come on! Think about it. Could you step up to any fruit tree in Johnson County and expect to find fresh fruit on it in the middle of March? Of course not! The trees will not have even blossomed yet – much less bear edible fruit. Even Mark, himself, writes: “it was not the season for figs.” (Mark 11:13) A fig tree would never – could never – have fruit in the early spring! So what’s Jesus complaining about? This story isn’t really about figs at all. A unique characteristic of Mark’s gospel is that he pairs up stories that “frame” each other. He will introduce a story, stop, and then introduce a second story, and then return to the first story, and then finish the second one. It’s almost a kind of “tag-team” story telling. Each of the two stories, when taken together, explains the meaning of the other. When we read about what Jesus did after he cursed the fig tree, we discover that Mark meant for us to hear it as a parable related to the temple in Jerusalem. The tree’s lack of fruit is a symbol of what was happening among Jerusalem’s temple rulers, and his curse is related to what Jesus did a short time later at the temple. In the time of Jesus, the temple was of most supreme importance to every Jew. It was the one and only “House of God.” Because of its importance to Judaism, Jews from all over the world came to worship or give a sacrificial offering there on special high holy days. Each Jewish man (no matter where in the world he lived) also gave an annual temple tax to support and maintain the temple. The annual tax was the equivalent of two days average wages for a laborer. The tax was a half-shekel (two denarii). When combined with all the temple taxes that were collected worldwide, it represented an enormous wealth. The Chief Priest of the temple controlled the temple treasury into which these funds annually poured. It was important to the Jews that the temple be respected and its integrity preserved. It was a symbol of their relationship – their faithfulness – to God. It was also a symbol of national pride and the Jews’ religious unique freedom in the Roman Empire. The common folk would not tolerate the presence of any Roman symbols or statues of Roman gods desecrating their temple (even though the Romans occasionally tried). In Jesus’ day, things were not well at the temple. Its Chief Priest was appointed by Rome, and only continued in office at the discretion of Rome. If the Chief Priest didn’t get along with the Roman governor, he was quickly removed from office. If the Chief Priest satisfied the Jews and kept the peace, he might be able to stay in power for several years – the average was about four. Because of this dependency on Roman favor, there had to be a high level of collaboration between the Chief Priest and the Roman government. Caiaphas, the Chief Priest at the time of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, ruled the temple for eighteen years, showing that he was very successful at keeping the peace and pacifying the Roman governors, including Pontius Pilate. Mark says that after Jesus cursed the fig tree, he entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. There, he caused quite a scene. He disrupted the money changers who were converting foreign money into shekels (so that Jews from other countries could pay the temple tax). He overturned the seats of those selling doves reserved for ritual sacrifice. He temporarily blocked all who attempted to go in for worship. For a brief time, Jesus’ actions actually shut down the temple! In Jesus’ public demonstration, he did not use weapons and no one got hurt. Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, in their book, The Last Week (2006), point out that this was a prophetic action in the tradition of Old Testament prophets who not only uttered messages from God, but also acted them out to make the point stronger. (p.43-49) Jesus took action, and then he spoke. His words are a quote from Jeremiah. 400 hundred years earlier, Jeremiah stood in front of the temple and said, “For if you truly mend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.” (7:5-7) Then Jeremiah also said, “Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight? You know, I too am watching, says the Lord.” (7:11) What God was saying through Jeremiah is that justice is more important to God than ritual and worship. How the People of God act toward others is more important than a church building. On Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem in contrast to Pilate’s processional, making a mockery of its pomp and power. On Monday, Jesus acted in such a way that it could be interpreted as symbolically destroying the temple. And then he pronounced the temple as a “den” – (a hideout) – for “robbers” who think that a temple is more important than compassion, charity, hospitality, and justice! And then, Mark says, “the whole crowd (who were observing all this) was spellbound by (Jesus’) teaching.” (11:18) They were awed. They were impressed by what they heard. No wonder the chief priests and scribes were afraid. No wonder those politically and religiously corrupt men who were in power “kept looking for a way to kill him.” (11:18) I never did learn to eat figs, but I really like Fig Newtons – and I have come to have a newer and deeper understanding of what is required of those of us who follow Jesus: “Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17) – “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) It’s pretty clear, isn’t it? Let us pray. O Lord, it’s never dull around Jesus, is it? We are discovering that to follow Jesus is a dangerous way – but also an exciting way. Give us courage, Lord. Give us love. Spur us on as we seek justice. In his name we ask it. Amen. |