Cleaning House

Moment of Clarity With Rev. Lorrie Daly-Price

This morning we hear a story from John’s gospel that takes place in a courtyard the size of a football field. This is part of a complex of temple buildings that are beautifully crafted of the finest materials. It is in outer courtyard that we hear about the merchants selling animals for sacrifice. There are also the moneychangers who are changing money into authorized temple currency. This currency was called shekels or temple coins and was needed to purchase a sacrifice or pay annual dues. The problem that we hear about though, is that an unfair exchange rate is being charged and puts an additional burden on the people who were already struggling. The noise in this place would have been incredible. Thousands were gathered because of the Passover and they would be talking and laughing together. For some, they may not have seen each other since the year before. There were birds cooing and squawking, cows mooing, sheep bleating and goats doing whatever goats do. It was in the midst of all this that Jesus took action. If he had tried to protest verbally no one would have heard him. It was a dramatic moment in his history, perhaps the most dramatic. Here, Jesus arrives and upsets the moneychangers and then drives them out of the temple.