Third Lent, March 19, 2006

     A college professor was giving a big test one day to his students.  He handed out all of the tests and went back to his desk to wait.  Once the test was over the students all handed the tests back in.  The professor noticed that one of the students had attached a $100 bill to his test with a note saying, “A dollar per point!”  The next class the professor handed the graded tests back to the students.  The student who had attached the $100 bill got back his test, his test grade, and $64 in change.

     From a collection of indigenous American stories called, The Sacred Fire, comes the story of the old Grandfather whose grandson had come to him in deep anger because a friend had done him an injustice.  “Let me tell you a story.  I too, at times, have felt great hate and anger for those who have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do.  But hate and anger wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy.  It’s like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die.  I have struggled with these feelings many times.  It is as if there are two wolves inside me.  One is good and does no harm.  He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended.  He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way.  But, the other wolf, ah!  The littlest thing will send him into a fit of temper.  He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason.  He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great.  It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing.  Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.”

     The boy looked intently into his Grandfather’s eyes and asked, “Which one wins, Grandfather?”

     The Grandfather smiled and quietly said, “The one I feed.”

      Inappropriate anger does distort reality and is generally based on bruised egos.  It very often places the angry one in a self-appointed superior posture toward others.  I confess to you there have been times in my life when I have looked in the mirror and not recognized the red face glaring back at me.  Most often, the reasons for that inappropriate anger was some disappointment because someone else had or had not done what I selfishly thought they should have done or should not have done.  I believe in all cases inappropriate anger feeds the second wolf and leads to negative results.

     I believe equally as strongly that there is an appropriate anger.  We need a model for deciding when anger might be appropriate.  The Gospel for this Third Sunday in Lent, Year B, gives us the perfect model.

     Jesus and his disciples went up to Jerusalem to prepare for the Passover.  The temple was filled with pilgrims who had made the yearly journey.  The Passover was the greatest of all the Jewish feasts.  The law decreed that every Jewish male who lived within twenty miles of Jerusalem was duty-bound to attend.  And to that number the thousands who had traveled hundreds of miles because their life’s dream was to observe at least one Passover in Jerusalem.  As astonishing as it may sound, it is likely there were over two and half million pilgrims sometimes assembled in the Holy City to keep Passover.

     There was one tax every Jew over the age of nineteen had to pay.  That was the temple tax.  It was necessary that all should pay this tax so that the temple sacrifices and rituals might be carried out day by day.  On average, the tax amounted to two days’ wages.  People arrived with all kinds of coins; Roman, Greek, Egyptian, Palestinian, and many others.  All of these were considered unclean and had to be exchanged for Galilean or temple shekels. You can see why the moneychangers did a good business.  The service charge or profit was the difference between the stated exchange rate and the amount that could be gouged from the uninitiated pilgrims.  It was a system that lent itself to gross abuses and injustice.  The rich just got richer and the poor got poorer and it was all done in the name of God.

     I want to suggest that there may have been three reasons why Jesus reacted with appropriate anger at this situation.  The first is that the house of God had been turned into a marketplace.  There was very little reverence being observed in arguments over exchange rates, disputes about what foreign coins might be worth, whether an animals had a blemish or not, and the whole atmosphere of bartering.  While we may think that whole thing a bit silly, it might be helpful to remember our own lack of reverence over prayer books, hymnals, and who can be ordained.

     I think the second reason Jesus reacted with appropriate anger is that this whole scene reminded him of the true cost that might have to be paid.  The prophetic voice of God had been saying for years that the blood of bulls, goats, sheep, and/or doves, whatever would not restore a person’s relationship with God.  A sacrifice far more costly would have to do that. 

     We are not as totally free from that tendency as we may think.  No, we don’t offer animal sacrifices to God, but some folks think that giving some loose change for the work of the Church is service to God.  We need always acknowledge the cost that was paid to make our individual and corporate access to a relationship with God possible.  Without that, we are guilty of failing to see that God has a total claim on all that we are, all that we have, and that we might become.

     I would suggest that the third big reason for the appropriate anger of Jesus was that the poorest of the poor were being shut out from the presence of God.  Many could not afford the money for the simplest sacrifice of two pigeons.  Remember, that was the sacrifice that Mary and Joseph had made when Jesus was presented in the temple.  This lack of concern for the poor coupled with the fact that this buying and selling was going on in the Court of the Gentiles, communicated the idea that only a few where truly worthy of God’s notice.  People were being blocked from worship.  Jesus made a homemade whip and drove them out.  It was a bold statement of his mission, ministry, and message.  It also sealed his doom.

     We might need to check from time to time to see if there is anything in our church life that might be blocking others from finding God in this place.  Is there snobbishness, exclusivity, coldness, lack of welcome, tendency to be a closed club, or arrogance that keeps the seeking newcomer out?  If so, we need to watch out for the angry Jesus.

     I would want to suggest to you that the only thing worse than looking in the mirror and not recognizing the angry face would be looking into the appropriately angry of Jesus the Christ.  That causes cold chills up my spine.

     So, which of the two wolves do we choose to feed?  I pray we will feed the one that works for reconciliation and peace; the one that will be angry in an appropriate way and for the right reasons.  Otherwise, we might have to give up calling ourselves Christians.  Amen.