Destroy this Temple
“Who can tell how often he offends? O cleanse me from my secret faults.”
Peter Koenig's portrayal of Jesus cleansing the temple offers a dramatic visual commentary on this pivotal moment. The eye is immediately drawn to the aquamarine hue of Jesus' robe, nearly matching the shades of the fleeing doves. One wonders about this unexpected coloring. But paired with the reference in John's gospel to Jesus fashioning a whip of cords, the cool tones evoke cleansing waters pouring through the temple. Jesus has come to wash away the stale, contaminated worship taking place in this space.
The money changers preside over transactions where pilgrims exchange currency for approved animals to sacrifice. But the whole system has become polluted and exploitative. The dove and lamb are intended as pure offerings, yet here they are reduced to commercialized commodities in a heartless economy of quid pro quo exchange. This is worship gone horribly awry.
And so Jesus arrives like a righteous flood, scattering the livestock and toppling the tables that are the machinery of this religious marketplace. The currency that fuels this self-interested bartering matches the shades of Jesus' robes and the doves - a visual sign that true worship must overhaul the entire corrupt economic system. A new economy is replacing the old.
By disrupting the commerce and sacrificial exchanges, Jesus signifies that he is inaugurating a new way of worship centered on his own forthcoming self-sacrifice. The waters of grace will wash away the sin-stained attempts to bargain with God. Jesus does not come to broker an exchange, but to offer himself fully and freely as the Lamb of God.
The flowing blue-green hues suggest the living water which Jesus promises to those who believe - the Holy Spirit who will indwell worshipers, making them part of the new, true temple comprised of living stones. No longer a religion of bartering and blood sacrifices, but internal transformation through Christ's cleansing blood. May Koenig's work remind us to allow Jesus to overturn the "business as usual" in our own worship and welcome the renewing rain of the Spirit.
The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
— Exodus 20:21
Third Sunday of Lent
Texts for this Week
Prayer
Heavenly Father, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you: Look with compassion upon the heartfelt desires of your servants, and purify our disordered affections, that we may behold your eternal glory in the face of Christ Jesus; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Angularis Fundamentum
This 7th century anonymous Latin hymn — sung for centuries at the office of Lauds commemorating the dedication of a church — was translated by the inimitable hymnographer John Mason Neale in 1851, and set to a tune of the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell to create the classic hymn, Christ is made our Sure Foundation. In the video below, it is sung in epic procession at a 2010 ecumenical service at Westminster Abbey featuring the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, alongside Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
One has to wonder what Jesus would think of this magnificent pomp. Would he have some tables to throw here, despite the fact that he is being named the foundation of this new and better temple?
In fact, this prompts a fruitful line of questioning. If Jesus were cleansing the temple today, what would be cleansing, and why? And what music do you think would best soundtrack the upset? I can’t help but wonder if Devo’s “Whip it” might better capture Jesus’s spirit in the moment: upbeat, determined, and even a little bit nihilistic in the intensity of its fury.
