Some of you know that Lucy has started her first job, working at Lawton’s in the Professional Centre. She is really enjoying it. I would like to think Kim and I have each enhanced her skill-set with our own unique personality. Lucy doesn’t take everything personally, a good asset when working in custom service. I thank Kim for that, Lucy has picked up her mother’s peaceful calm, self-confidence and inner strength. And the fact Lucy has followed me around for years, meeting people from all walks of life, has given her the skill-set to engage the range of customers who find community in that section of the city. But there is one thing Lucy was not prepared for when she went to work at Lawton’s. After her first shift Lucy asked her us, “what are lottery tickets?”
I had to get my father to explain. Lucy has never seen either of her parents with a lottery ticket. Now when I tell this to people they make certain assumptions, you might be among them. Many people think that because I am a United Church Minister and the United Church has a long history of staying away from games of chance in our fundraising activities this aversion to lottery tickets must be a “religion thing” There is some truth to this, though not likely in the way you imagine.
The reason I don’t buy lottery tickets is for one simple reason, it’s a regressive tax, it’s government revenue that comes from all walks of life and therefore affects those with lower incomes disproportionally. As I say to those who do buy the tickets, “thanks for paying my share of the taxes.” The charge of hypocrisy by non-church people when they see our policies on raffles and bingo and alike is easy to explain. How can churches filled with people who buy lottery tickets have policies that don’t allow raffles and bingo? It’s a fair question. I don’t buy tickets because if the government wants revenue it should raise it the old fashion way, through a progressive tax system where those with the most pay the most.
Which leads me to our Gospel text for this morning. For years people in our middle-class churches have heard this story as a condemnation of mixing spirituality and money. You can sell tickets in the Hall but not the sanctuary. You can have a flea market in the gym but not the chapel. You can have people paying their rental fees in the church office but not in the church entry way. This may all make perfect sense to you but to those outside of the church world it sounds like splitting hairs at best, hypocrisy at worst.
Under that understanding of the text Jesus is turning tables over in the Temple because the space designated for “spiritual things” is being defiled by finance. But surely Jesus talks about money, “where your treasure is there your heart is also” and “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on” or “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me”. Jesus talks more about money than who can marry who but you would never know it if you followed the worship life of churches. Jesus has no hesitation to talk about money so why we middle class churches tie ourselves in knots about “defiling the sacred sanctuary” is beyond me.
But let’s be clear, something is making Jesus angry. Let’s talk about that.
In our text this morning we have sellers who sold animals for the offerings made at the Temple. People were required to make sacrifices for a variety of festivals and rites. If you were wealthy you gave a large animal, like a cow or ox. If you were poor you gave doves or pigeons. However, to ensure “unblemished” animals, you were required to purchase your animals at the gate of the Temple where the prices were higher than the country-side. And, as with any regressive tax, the costs tended to be felt more by the poor than the wealthy. To purchase one pair of doves at the Temple was the equivalent of two days’ wages. The money-changers were needed because neither the animal offerings nor the Temple tax could be paid with the Roman currency in use for most of the national commerce, because it had pictures (“graven images”) of the Roman Emperor on them who claimed to be a god. So, the money had to be changed into usable local currency. The money-changers were also corrupt. They would not only exaggerate the fees they had to charge for the transactions. The result was that for a poor person, the money-changer’s share of the Temple tax was about one day’s wages.
Jesus did say, “let the children come to me.” He also told those holding a banquet to invite those who had done nothing for you, those who were not in a position to do anything for you, lest you confuse generosity with reciprocity. Preventing those who wished to participate in Jesus’ Kingdom was/is a sin and thus any such barrier had to be removed, turned upside down, cleansed.
What needs to be cleansed from our church, from the larger church, so that those who wish to come and participate in the Kingdom of God have ready access. I don’t think it’s exchanging money for tickets to our events. I don’t think it’s storing items for our sales in our sacred places. I don’t think it’s talking about money. I do think the language we use, the way we help others to know God’s grace-filled love, the community we offer to a lonely and broken world, these things God cares about. How do we know this? Because Jesus in his ministry reached out to rich and poor, sick and well, his own kin and those of other religious and ethnic identities, and he did everything he could to let them know the path was clear, the doors were open, there was a place at the table, for them, for you, for everyone.
I know from my visits with you that many households in this church are going through their “stuff” and getting rid of things, spring cleaning if you will. My friends of Bethany it’s time, it’s past time, that we went through our church, physically, spiritually and socially and discerned what needs to be turned over. Ready? Amen.