March 7
Readings – EX 20:1-17; 1 COR 1:22-25; JN 2:13-25
Today it might be important to work backwards with the readings, and I suspect that this commentary is sure to spark some thoughts and feelings…
We hear today a very famous passage about Jesus and the money changers in the temple. Here we have one of the only recorded times when Jesus gets angry and damages property.
Often this passage is read from a spiritualized viewpoint focusing on the idea Jesus was “upset” that people had corrupted “God’s house” (the temple) with distractions. Jesus clears them out in a fit of righteous anger, and everything is set right. Most interpretations have taught us that it was a simple story of Jesus loving God so much that he got angry and destroyed a few things to make a point. But it’s actually not that simple and there is much more going on here than most of us were ever taught. A little context might help…
Well respected, ancient historians like Josephus describe the temple marketplace not just as a place where animals for sacrifices were sold but as the place where money was exchanged. You could only pay for temple goods and services with certain currency, so people coming from all over would need to exchange money. These moneychangers were essentially banks, and they charged a fee (just like modern banks do) for the exchange of money. They knew that they “had” people, and so they charged a lot of money. These banks were the robbers of the people, and the profits from those moneychangers NEVER found their way back in to the economy in a way that helped low income people. It was a continual system of extraction.
We also hear in the gospel that the dove sellers are singled out. Why? Doves were the cheapest sacrifice available, and so, generally, doves were all that poor people could afford. And, as you may guess, the dove sellers jacked up their prices as well. The exploitation continues.
This gospel is about Jesus’ anger, yes, but it is specifically about his anger at economic systems that take advantage of and oppress poor people while benefitting a small number of folks in the ruling class. I’m sure he was upset that all of this was going on in “God’s house” as well, but his rage is directed at these pernicious, extractive systems that concentrate wealth – systems that continue to operate with great precision against specific groups of people.
In a slight diversion from the usual format, I am going to ask you to take 6 minutes to watch this video from activist Kimberley Jones from Minneapolis that she made shortly after the rebellion there in the summer of 2020 following George Floyd’s death. I ask you to watch it and take it in in light of Jesus’ anger in the temple. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llci8MVh8J4&t=7s.
How do you connect this to Jesus’ actions?
As Daily Show host, Trevor Noah, said so eloquently in his June 1, 2020, opening monologue, “society is a contract that we sign as human beings with each other…whether spoken or unspoken, we agree in this group to common rules, common ideals, and common practices that are going to define us as a group… And the contract is only as strong as the people who abide by it….And then, some members of the society, namely black people [and poor people], watch time and time again, how the contract that they have signed with society, is not being honoured by the society that has forced them to sign it with them.”
Jesus’ actions in the temple, I submit to you, was a response to the social contract which had been broken time and time again against poor people. And what is the “contract” that has been broken – biblically speaking?
That’s where the so-called “Ten Commandments” from our first reading come in. I know that as a Christian, I always heard these proclaimed as something the Israelites were told to follow by God – like an imposition on the people that they did not really want or a restriction of their freedoms. But this invitation from God was an invitation into a social contract that was, at its heart, about economics, politics and right relationship. This was not an imposition to restrict the life of Israel so much as to PRESERVE the life of Israel! As we see throughout the biblical narrative, when the contact is broken, the social and environmental order crumbles.
Jesus knew this history, and Jesus knew the anger and suffering of those who were excluded. Intervarsity mission leader Scott Bessenecker sums it up well when he says that, “The clearing of the temple by Jesus was not primarily a worship corrective, it was an economic corrective, struck at the heart of first century Palestinian Wall Street.”
During Lent, our faith calls us to similar “economic correctives” but this time at the heart of 21st century United States Wall Street.
For today, think about our economic and political systems and what they do to people – especially the poor. Think about social movements that have tried to enact economic correctives and how those are or were received. Think about people around the world who have responded with anger because social contracts are broken. And more specifically, think about the economic systems that you are involved in, where you are in those systems and the degree to which you benefit from them.
We may all affirm that “something is wrong,” but if we want things to change, someone will need to turn over some tables….
11 Comments
Marie Peterson
This video is the most powerful, in your face, well said piece I’ve seen yet….Thankyou Mike for this gift I need to internalize, become more and more and Ally with, and turn some tables for.
Mike Boucher Author
yes, Marie, it’s something to really sit with. I think of that video often…
Sarah Brownell
Case in point: see front page of the Democrat and Chronicle this morning about how liscense suspensions for unpaid tickets are extractive and ruin lives. I also know folks who became homeless after towing or impounding of vehicles when they couldn’t afford the storage fee to get them out, couldn’t get to work, lost their job, couldn’t pay rent, etc. Not being able to pay bail works the same way. I very much like Kimberly Jones’ monopoly metaphor! It illustratives well why Black people are “so angry.” It also reminds me of how much Americans seem to value property over the life and wellbeing of real people. In class I often use the Gini Index or Gini coefficient to show how our economic system has become more extractive over time. The Gini Index measures inequity. If you look up a graph of it over time, you can see that inequity in the US goes down after WWII but makes a turn up at 1980 and has been going up ever since no matter which party is in power. And then lay racial injustice over top of that… Projects designated as “Urban Renewal” destroyed a lot of the wealth and social ties that Black communities developed in Northern cities and redlining kept Blacks from owning homes–which we know was a big problem in Rochester thanks to some good reporting by the D&C. Since wealth is built over time generation by generation, it is nearly impossible to advance economically if, like Kimbery Jones, said all your Monopoly cards and money are taken away every time around the board. Many (all?) historic figures that we celebrate so much for their inginuity and ability to generate wealth, gained it through unfair extraction from the poor…
Mike Boucher Author
thanks, Sarah, for such a powerful reflection and offering very real examples of the extraction.
Barbara Lantiegne
All I can say is, WOW! Today’s reflection really made me stand up and take notice. Time and time again, Michael, you have opened my eyes in a new way. Thank you so much for sharing these Lenten reflections with us. As a side note, I hear that your Mom and Dad have made the decision to move into assisted living. We all reach a point when we need a little help. I myself am now living with my daughter and son-in-law in Warwick, NY. It was a difficult decision (and I know it’s been so for your folks as well), but I’m so glad I’m not living alone anymore.
Judene Scheidt
I’m a new member of SPARC, and this video was so incredibly impactful. I hadn’t seen it before. I’m speechless, and I am also, for lack of a better word, “overwhelmed.” HOW do WE ALL fix this? It’s so deep, so horrific, so…. overwhelming. I’ve learned through SPARC and the racial-justice training we did that it requires conversations to get the ball at least rolling in the right direction. It also requires a DESIRE to UNDERSTAND how the oppressed feel. So many white folks I know simply don’t want to talk about. it I actually heard a white woman say that she was just “‘tired’ of hearing about it.” I feel so frustrated and angry when I hear people (even people that I love) talk about how uncomfortable the news is making THEM feel. How do we, as white people, help to instill at least the DESIRE to UNDERSTAND how the oppressed feel? I’ll be spending the rest of today trying to get my head around that one.
Mike Boucher Author
Judene, thanks for getting into the conversation. Thanks for taking time to watch the video and let it in and thanks for being a member of SPARC. The kinds of questions you bring up sound like they would be great to discuss with fellow SPARC members. You name some really important principles – like a desire to understand – that can guide us along the way. Like so many journey metaphors, we both make the road by walking and just try to keep taking next steps.
Sharon H
WOW! I am grateful for Kimberly Jones’ ability to articulate from the depth of her soul, why picking one up by their bootstraps will just not work! No Win is a great title here. I have participated in and around State programs that are supposed to give advantage to Women and Minority Business owners. Big on Words, bankrupted and destructive in practice. There is definitely a code to keep these groups from prospering! So sad!! I do not have an answer to these social issues, but encourage and support wherever I can.
Mike Boucher Author
Sharon, I appreciate you desire to “encourage and support wherever I can.” This sounds like a good mantra to stay alert and active in the process.
Sharon H
Thank you for your empowerment, Mike
Mike Boucher Author
thanks Sharon!
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