Mark 11: 12-15
NPMC
Lent 2
Anita Retzlaff
March 8, 2009
From fig tree to forgiveness: Jesus “overturns” the system
Grace and peace to you from God the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the
Christ! In our moment of silent prayer this morning I invite us to bring to God
those things for which we desire forgiveness. It matters not whether we think we
deserve it. It matters that we pray for it…. God hear our prayers that we might
move not mountains but hearts and lives, that we live with fullness all of the
days that you entrust to us. AMEN
Christ Jesus, “…who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality
with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself...” Jesus emptied
himself. The theme of our Lenten reflection this season turns our attention to
the ways in which Jesus gives of himself. He faces down opponents, makes mortal
enemies of some leaders of church and government; he heals many others and
preaches to throngs of people. Can you imagine the emotional toll; the strength
needed to carry out his work from day to day? Jesus sacrificed his personal time
and space, his comfort and physical safety, his need to be liked and any notions
of a long and healthy life. Jesus meets people at the level of their need,
emptying himself as he journeys into the center of the systems of this world and
on toward the cross.
Jesus moves in and out of Jerusalem and in and out of the temple, coming and
going as if to signify that he is closely connected to the people but also in
need of retreat, of keeping some distance. Maybe that distance is necessary to
remain focused on his mission and connected to God as the journey to the cross
unfolds and intensifies. In the reading from the 11th chapter of Mark this
morning Jesus sets the stage for a nasty conflict. He goes for the jugular,
takes aim at the center of community and religious life. He attacks the
practices of the temple. In his condemnation of temple protocol it appears that
Jesus threatens to sever the lifeline between the people and their God. It was
after all the priests in the temple who accepted the sacrifices of the people
and on behalf of God pronounced them forgiven. Jesus is threatening to destroy
this direct link to God.
Within the story of Jesus’ journey of love and self-emptying it is written that
he comes from Bethany toward Jerusalem and as he approaches Jerusalem he is
hungry. “Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether
perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but
leaves, for it was not the season for figs.” (11:13) What has this to do with
the temple? We will see directly. Jesus goes on to utter a curse when he sees
that there are no figs on the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”
At first reading this little story seems unfair. It is not the season for figs
to begin with. No one would expect to find fruit on that tree! The time is not
right or ripe; it is like expecting to harvest sour cherries in Saskatchewan in
the middle of January. It is quite simply impossible. Yet in spite of the
obvious, when Jesus finds only leaves on the fig tree he pronounces judgment on
it and taking his leave once again makes his way to the temple where he proceeds
to turn the tables on the establishment.
Now what has this vignette to do with the “cleansing of the temple?” Jesus, in
his condemnation of the fig tree - within earshot of the disciples (they are
witnesses) - Jesus makes a veiled reference to the validity of the temple and
its holiness. In fact, the temple is no longer the fruit of the presence of God.
The power of the temple lies dormant like the fig tree; it has lost its zeal for
the justice of God. Mark tells us that Jesus walks toward the city of Jerusalem
hungry, hungry for justice and righteousness but what does he find? A leafy tree
devoid of fruit; a temple no longer able to flourish, connecting the people to
their God. The temple is corrupt, no longer in season, unable to feed the
appetite of Israel for God, for justice. “May no one ever eat fruit from you
again!” The temple is doomed: its days numbered.
What follows then, is what has come to be known as “the cleansing of the
temple.” I think this is somewhat of a misnomer for what ensues and is
foreshadowed in the fig tree encounter is the temple cursed, not cleansed. In
his entering the temple Jesus confronts the injustices of the sacrificial system
and he turns everything over; he disrupts the whole business. It is not the
buying and selling in itself that is the problem here. This kind of commerce and
exchange has taken place for generations as people come to the temple to buy
animals to give to God in sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins.
Those of us who are studying the book of Leviticus in the Women’s Bible Study
are familiar with Israel’s practice of offering animals of sacrifice at the door
of the tent of meeting in order to be restored to right relationship with God.
Once the Israelites move into their Promised Land and replace the tent of
meeting with the temple, they would have, according to ancient custom come to
the temple, the holy place, purchasing offerings to be sacrificed and accepting
forgiveness by God through the words of the priests. The problem however, the
thing that prompts Jesus to action according to Ched Myers in his book Binding
the Strong Man, is the fact that the temple hierarchy and the structures that
support it have become abusive; in effect robbing those who are the poorest of
the poor.
There was a sliding scale of sacrifices required depending on one’s relative
wealth or poverty. Wealthy people would bring sacrifices of bulls, goats, sheep
while poor people purchased birds – doves – or grain offerings. That is why we
read of Jesus overturning the tables of the moneylenders. They would have
charged interest. And the dove sellers were making a handsome profit. These were
entrepreneurs amassing wealth at the expense of the poor. The poor and the sick
were already marginalized in society - the sick required to make sacrifices to
restore their health. The temple further victimized these powerless ones
benefitting financially from their plight. And Jesus was enraged… at least I
think he was.
Mark’s gospel doesn’t say that Jesus was angry but describes his actions
somewhat dispassionately: “And he entered the temple and began to drive out
those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he
overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold
doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.”
(11:15-16) Without giving us any emotional cues we witness Jesus overturning an
abusive system and halting the procedures that take advantage of the poor. He
stops the trafficking in purchased grace. The message? This is not the way to
God or to God’s forgiveness!
And the temple leaders are angry and afraid. The temple system is threatened and
so are their status and their wealth. Not only that, it must have been almost
impossible for the priests and leaders of the temple to imagine any other way of
accessing the forgiveness of God. Like us, once things have been done a
particular way for a generation or two or ten, it is very hard to conceive of
doing things differently. It must have felt to some that Jesus was taking away
their direct link to God. How now would God come close?
Through the new teachings of Jesus! There is another way! And so we follow Jesus
out of the temple and out of the city once again only to return in the morning
to find the curse effective. The fig tree has withered. Jesus’ words and his
ways are powerful and they bring about immediate change. The fate of the temple
is sealed and a new road is opened, a new way made accessible to the faithful.
The old ways of holiness have been supplanted - the people released from bondage
to an inflexible and corrupted system.
“It is faith that gives access to God,” Jesus teaches, “not sacrifices.” On that
declaration the world turns, for the people who hear Jesus utter these words
then, and for us today. And it is as difficult for us today as it was for the
faithful then to fully comprehend the implications of this new way. All of the
systems we set up around us that are supposed to alleviate our guilt and anxiety
won’t do. We may rely heavily on the legal system to rule in the disputes we
have with our neighbours and in family systems but unless we have some way of
making peace with each other, there is little forgiveness and we are at risk of
losing our connection to God. We may expect companies and institutions to have
policies and protections in place so that when we feel wronged we have the right
to sue for money, for damages, and set ourselves apart as victims but there is
no justice unless we at some point along our journey put aside personal
indignation and look at the bigger picture. We have our rules in place, not
unlike that of the temple system of sacrifices that conveniently offload our
responsibility for relationship – to each other, to God.
“Have faith in God. Truly I tell you,” teaches Jesus, “if you say to this
mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea’ and if you do not doubt in your
heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you.
So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received
it, and it will be yours.” Prayer has ultimate power in our lives. This is the
new teaching. The old systems of sacrifice wither; our carefully crafted rules
and procedures are ineffective in restoring relationships. Through prayer, that
strong belief in the transforming work of God, we move the mountains of hard
hearts and hopelessness and toss them into the sea where hostility disappears.
Prayer is effective. Many of us have wondered about the meaning of Jesus’ words
“whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will
be yours.” There are those who have interpreted this instruction to mean that if
it is a new house that you desire just pray for it and that house will
eventually be yours. Pray hard and you will get what you want. I think that the
call to prayer here means that when we seek the closeness and forgiveness of God
our desire for that relationship will be fulfilled. There is no need to offer
animal sacrifices to establish connection to God. There are no external rules
that will keep us from the love of God if we desire it with all our heart. It is
forgiveness that brings us into close communion. That concept overturned an
entire system of sacrifice some 2000 years ago and it continues to overturn our
systems today. Faith alone gives us access to God and continues to bring us back
time and time again, as often as we have need.
In this time of lent, as Christ empties himself so that we might understand the
power of forgiveness in prayer, we open our hearts to God’s possibility – that
the Kingdom is here just as surely as we pray together, forgive one another and
are forgiven in turn. Thanks be to God. AMEN