One of the magnificent places I have visited in Bangalore is the St. Mary’s Basilica in Shivaji Nagar. I always had a fascination to visit new churches and see the architecture and the art work in the churches. My interest has led me to study about the history of the churches and it is wonderful how the churches have come into existence and how the architectural developments took place. Early churches were hidden in catacombs or in caves, but from the 4th century onwards they were specially built structures often modeled on the basilican halls of late Roman public buildings. The modern churches do not have this style. But there are some beautiful architectural masterpieces even today, for instance the CSI church at Medak. The builder of the Church in Medak written on a stone tablet saying ‘the vision to build this church was not seen by his eyes but thorough his heart”.
Though I understand the church as a faithful body of believers, I would like to concentrate on the physical structure and the building as such in my sermon today. As much happy I feel by looking at the wonderful architectural marvel of the churches, I feel sad that much when people would not keep the church properties for the glory of God. Out of my deep concern for the ongoing issues in various churches around the world, I would like to draw our attention to the passage in Luke 19 and would bring challenges for us in today’s world.
The Cleansing of the Temple
The pericope Luke 19: 45-48 is generally categorized under the subheading “The Cleansing of the Temple.” Such a subtitle implies a prior profanation or contamination of the Temple, and the profanation has been readily found in the conducting of trade in or around the temple. So many scholars suggest that Jesus was intending to purify the temple so that it should better perform its purpose. In any case, Luke in verses 45-46, keeping with the pattern of ancient entrance procession, presents Jesus as directly going to the temple. There, he does not offer a sacrifice as his means of appropriating the city but protests the corruption of the Temple by driving out the merchants (thereby fulfilling Zech. 14:21) and by quoting two phrases from the scriptures: “My house shall be a house of prayer (Isa. 56:7); but you have made it a den of robbers (Jer. 7:11). In each case, moreover, the context of the quoted phrase suggests important hints of Jesus action in the Temple. Why was Jesus so upset? Doesn’t he know that buying and selling were necessary for continuation of the temple sacrifices?
The Jerusalem temple, as Jeremias points out, was fundamentally an economic institution, and indeed dominated the city’s commercial life. The daily operation of the cult was a matter of employment for curtain makers, barbers, incense manufacturers, goldsmiths, trench diggers, and many others. Jesus’ anger could hardly be attributed to a discovery of the existence of temple trading as such. However, it is the ruling-class interests in control of the commercial enterprises in the temple that Jesus is attacking. Historians like Josephus also validate this fact as he records that the commercial interests of the temple belonged to the high-priestly family. And even the Chief Priest Ananias was called as the “great procurer of money.”
There is another possibility of seeing Jesus’ intention of purification that is he wanted the trade moved entirely outside the temple precincts. It is because, if any trade was conducted inside the temple premises, it was conducted in the court of the Gentiles. So, he wanted the place that was allotted for the Gentiles to be available for them. This possibility of interpretation shows Jesus’ concern for the Gentiles.
Luke’s abridgment of Jesus action in the Temple thereby turns it into a pronouncement story focusing attention on his words in the Temple and the fulfillment of scripture. Was Jesus able to stop the trade in the temple? It was not mentioned in the Gospels. But as Martin Hengel points out that any effort to stop the trade necessary to the temple service would have required an army, and there is no evidence of substantial martial conflict. It is reasonable to think that Jesus overturned some tables as a demonstrative action. It would appear that the action was not substantial enough even to interfere with the daily routine of the temple, for if it had been he would surely have been arrested on the spot. So, Jesus’ action was a symbolic one representing either the temple sacrifice or the destruction of the temple. This text has much relevance to our present context because of the presence of the contamination or profanation in our churches today.
The skit which has been enacted is only the tip of the ice-burg which has been depicted. In fact, most of the churches are being sold around the world. For example, in the United Kingdom and the US, most of the churches are becoming empty due to the lack of worshipers and consequently they are sold out to other religious organization or any Secular Organization. In the US, in Manhattan, New York, 47 churches were for sale. The Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles has said his archdiocese will sell its main office to raise money to settle lawsuits for sexual abuse. Cardinal Roger Mahoney also said some 50 other buildings could be sold to settle hundreds of lawsuits brought by people who had been abused by priests. Even in India, for different reasons, the church properties are being sold out.
During my experience in the churches, I am very sad to see the churches suffering in three aspects. 1) Selling of the church properties and other church related institutions. 2) Immoral life style of the pastors, and 3) Mishandling of the Church Collection by the pastors
Personally I have known pastors who are morally corrupted and who are involved in mishandling the church collections, but I would not tell you about all the immoral activities they are involved in. I would delve into the first problem, i.e. the selling of the church properties and other related institutions. This problem demands our serious consideration and action. In the name of development, the dioceses are going into an agreement with the Developers in the ratio of 60%: 40%, sixty percent to the Developer and Builder and forty percent to the Dioceses. The builder is constructing the commercial complexes, Shopping Malls, etc. and selling off on “Outright Basis”. Some times even the forty percent of money is not going to the dioceses but it has been misappropriated by the Bishops and senior pastors of the Respected Churches.
In this context, the relationships of the Pastors, Bishops with the Congregation of their churches in the dioceses are strained. There seems no possible way so that both may come and work together for the glory of Christ. In some churches, the laity takes up the worship and do not respect the pastors as they feel that they are much pious and holier than the pastor. The laypeople lament and are asking if this is the Christian way of life? Are pastors living as role models in the society? Many complaints have been lodge in the police stations and criminal cases have been filed in the criminal courts against the pastors and the lay people. In such a situation what is the challenge for us in the Churches? How are we going to retain the image of a “Good Shepherd” in our churches? Here Jesus becomes a role model for us. I have two points to make here.
(1) Jesus doesn’t undermine the importance of the temple:
There was profanation and uncleanness in the temple, and Jesus was also aware that it would not be a possible task to root out the whole system of trade from the temple, but that has not become an excuse to leave the temple. Instead, having made his protest about the trade in the temple, Jesus establishes himself as a regular daily teacher in the temple. So, the Lukan Jesus doesn’t undermine the importance of the temple but is strongly affirmative of the place and importance of the temple in Jewish (and Jewish-Christian) piety.
What do we learn? The corruption could be too much in the church, by seeing this people are leaving the churches. But leaving the church and going out of the church is not the solution for this problem. Like Jesus, we need to take up the challenge and protest against the evil structures and continue to serve the church to the best of our abilities.
(2) Jesus protested even at the cost of his life:
In verses 47 and 48 we see that after Jesus cleansed the Temple, the priests, the scribes and the elders looked for an opportune time to kill Jesus. Jesus’ life was in danger because of what he had done. Yet, for the sake of restoring the temple for the pure worship of God, Jesus was willing to put his life in danger. This is a challenge for us also. Like Jesus, the day we start attacking the injustices that are going on in the church, by our affirmative actions, we could be sure that we are going into a troubled zone. But are we ready for that?
If we see the history many great theologians that we have read about like Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhofer, have practiced their theology in their practical way of life even at the cost of their life, and such was their commitment, and with such commitment they have changed their societies. Is our commitment as strong as that of the stalwarts of our faith? Are we ready to bring back the true spirit of worship in our churches?
In Conclusion:
Cleansing of the temple or purifying it as a demonstrative action would be one of the essential elements in our ministry today and that would be called as a meaningful worship for the glory of God. As the out-going students from this College and many of our BD IV friends will be joining the churches in their respective dioceses, it becomes extremely important for us to think of the forthcoming challenges in our ministry and prepare well enough to face them.
What are our expectations? How do we envision the church to be? What would be our relationship with the congregation? How to fill up the gap between congregation and ourselves in the church? These are the primary questions that come to an out going Theological student. But we need to remember one thing, the church is a Community of Believers and there would be shortcomings, but we need to aim to make it a better place by our affirmative actions and our sincere efforts. If we are not against this kind of corruption then we are part of it. May God help us in this challenging ministry. Amen.
Though I understand the church as a faithful body of believers, I would like to concentrate on the physical structure and the building as such in my sermon today. As much happy I feel by looking at the wonderful architectural marvel of the churches, I feel sad that much when people would not keep the church properties for the glory of God. Out of my deep concern for the ongoing issues in various churches around the world, I would like to draw our attention to the passage in Luke 19 and would bring challenges for us in today’s world.
The Cleansing of the Temple
The pericope Luke 19: 45-48 is generally categorized under the subheading “The Cleansing of the Temple.” Such a subtitle implies a prior profanation or contamination of the Temple, and the profanation has been readily found in the conducting of trade in or around the temple. So many scholars suggest that Jesus was intending to purify the temple so that it should better perform its purpose. In any case, Luke in verses 45-46, keeping with the pattern of ancient entrance procession, presents Jesus as directly going to the temple. There, he does not offer a sacrifice as his means of appropriating the city but protests the corruption of the Temple by driving out the merchants (thereby fulfilling Zech. 14:21) and by quoting two phrases from the scriptures: “My house shall be a house of prayer (Isa. 56:7); but you have made it a den of robbers (Jer. 7:11). In each case, moreover, the context of the quoted phrase suggests important hints of Jesus action in the Temple. Why was Jesus so upset? Doesn’t he know that buying and selling were necessary for continuation of the temple sacrifices?
The Jerusalem temple, as Jeremias points out, was fundamentally an economic institution, and indeed dominated the city’s commercial life. The daily operation of the cult was a matter of employment for curtain makers, barbers, incense manufacturers, goldsmiths, trench diggers, and many others. Jesus’ anger could hardly be attributed to a discovery of the existence of temple trading as such. However, it is the ruling-class interests in control of the commercial enterprises in the temple that Jesus is attacking. Historians like Josephus also validate this fact as he records that the commercial interests of the temple belonged to the high-priestly family. And even the Chief Priest Ananias was called as the “great procurer of money.”
There is another possibility of seeing Jesus’ intention of purification that is he wanted the trade moved entirely outside the temple precincts. It is because, if any trade was conducted inside the temple premises, it was conducted in the court of the Gentiles. So, he wanted the place that was allotted for the Gentiles to be available for them. This possibility of interpretation shows Jesus’ concern for the Gentiles.
Luke’s abridgment of Jesus action in the Temple thereby turns it into a pronouncement story focusing attention on his words in the Temple and the fulfillment of scripture. Was Jesus able to stop the trade in the temple? It was not mentioned in the Gospels. But as Martin Hengel points out that any effort to stop the trade necessary to the temple service would have required an army, and there is no evidence of substantial martial conflict. It is reasonable to think that Jesus overturned some tables as a demonstrative action. It would appear that the action was not substantial enough even to interfere with the daily routine of the temple, for if it had been he would surely have been arrested on the spot. So, Jesus’ action was a symbolic one representing either the temple sacrifice or the destruction of the temple. This text has much relevance to our present context because of the presence of the contamination or profanation in our churches today.
The skit which has been enacted is only the tip of the ice-burg which has been depicted. In fact, most of the churches are being sold around the world. For example, in the United Kingdom and the US, most of the churches are becoming empty due to the lack of worshipers and consequently they are sold out to other religious organization or any Secular Organization. In the US, in Manhattan, New York, 47 churches were for sale. The Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles has said his archdiocese will sell its main office to raise money to settle lawsuits for sexual abuse. Cardinal Roger Mahoney also said some 50 other buildings could be sold to settle hundreds of lawsuits brought by people who had been abused by priests. Even in India, for different reasons, the church properties are being sold out.
During my experience in the churches, I am very sad to see the churches suffering in three aspects. 1) Selling of the church properties and other church related institutions. 2) Immoral life style of the pastors, and 3) Mishandling of the Church Collection by the pastors
Personally I have known pastors who are morally corrupted and who are involved in mishandling the church collections, but I would not tell you about all the immoral activities they are involved in. I would delve into the first problem, i.e. the selling of the church properties and other related institutions. This problem demands our serious consideration and action. In the name of development, the dioceses are going into an agreement with the Developers in the ratio of 60%: 40%, sixty percent to the Developer and Builder and forty percent to the Dioceses. The builder is constructing the commercial complexes, Shopping Malls, etc. and selling off on “Outright Basis”. Some times even the forty percent of money is not going to the dioceses but it has been misappropriated by the Bishops and senior pastors of the Respected Churches.
In this context, the relationships of the Pastors, Bishops with the Congregation of their churches in the dioceses are strained. There seems no possible way so that both may come and work together for the glory of Christ. In some churches, the laity takes up the worship and do not respect the pastors as they feel that they are much pious and holier than the pastor. The laypeople lament and are asking if this is the Christian way of life? Are pastors living as role models in the society? Many complaints have been lodge in the police stations and criminal cases have been filed in the criminal courts against the pastors and the lay people. In such a situation what is the challenge for us in the Churches? How are we going to retain the image of a “Good Shepherd” in our churches? Here Jesus becomes a role model for us. I have two points to make here.
(1) Jesus doesn’t undermine the importance of the temple:
There was profanation and uncleanness in the temple, and Jesus was also aware that it would not be a possible task to root out the whole system of trade from the temple, but that has not become an excuse to leave the temple. Instead, having made his protest about the trade in the temple, Jesus establishes himself as a regular daily teacher in the temple. So, the Lukan Jesus doesn’t undermine the importance of the temple but is strongly affirmative of the place and importance of the temple in Jewish (and Jewish-Christian) piety.
What do we learn? The corruption could be too much in the church, by seeing this people are leaving the churches. But leaving the church and going out of the church is not the solution for this problem. Like Jesus, we need to take up the challenge and protest against the evil structures and continue to serve the church to the best of our abilities.
(2) Jesus protested even at the cost of his life:
In verses 47 and 48 we see that after Jesus cleansed the Temple, the priests, the scribes and the elders looked for an opportune time to kill Jesus. Jesus’ life was in danger because of what he had done. Yet, for the sake of restoring the temple for the pure worship of God, Jesus was willing to put his life in danger. This is a challenge for us also. Like Jesus, the day we start attacking the injustices that are going on in the church, by our affirmative actions, we could be sure that we are going into a troubled zone. But are we ready for that?
If we see the history many great theologians that we have read about like Martin Luther King, Dietrich Bonhofer, have practiced their theology in their practical way of life even at the cost of their life, and such was their commitment, and with such commitment they have changed their societies. Is our commitment as strong as that of the stalwarts of our faith? Are we ready to bring back the true spirit of worship in our churches?
In Conclusion:
Cleansing of the temple or purifying it as a demonstrative action would be one of the essential elements in our ministry today and that would be called as a meaningful worship for the glory of God. As the out-going students from this College and many of our BD IV friends will be joining the churches in their respective dioceses, it becomes extremely important for us to think of the forthcoming challenges in our ministry and prepare well enough to face them.
What are our expectations? How do we envision the church to be? What would be our relationship with the congregation? How to fill up the gap between congregation and ourselves in the church? These are the primary questions that come to an out going Theological student. But we need to remember one thing, the church is a Community of Believers and there would be shortcomings, but we need to aim to make it a better place by our affirmative actions and our sincere efforts. If we are not against this kind of corruption then we are part of it. May God help us in this challenging ministry. Amen.
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