A Meditation on John 2:13-22

The appointed Gospel reading for today's Morning Prayer is from the Gospel According to John 2:13-22, and it tells of Jesus' "cleansing of the Temple." The following is Kathryn Anderson's meditation on this passage, written for today's entry in our Deanery Meditations. 

The Gospel According to John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

A Meditation on John 2:13-22

by Kathryn Anderson

Do you remember the first time you heard John 2:13-22, today’s gospel story about Jesus turning over the tables in the temple? What did you think about it?

Did it challenge your understanding of what it might mean for Jesus to be fully human and fully divine, AND also angry, even destructive, in this moment?

When I was a young person this reading opened my eyes to the possibility that a Christian witness, a Christian response, could sometimes be challenging, abrasive, angry, hard-headed. It told me that sometimes it was OK to be angry, and that there were things that it was OK to be angry about. This was part of the Gospel I hadn’t been exposed to.

What does the story mean for you today?

Where is the place of anger as we “hunger and thirst for righteousness”?

Recently I came across these words from St. Augustine of Hippo: “Hope has two beautiful daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.” I like thinking of certain types of anger as manifestations of hope. I also like the implication that anger alone isn’t a sufficient response: we must also have the courage to make changes. Jesus definitely modeled that courage for us as well throughout his ministry. 

His anger was not without cost, however: Jesus’ angry display at the temple likely gave his detractors another reason to want him silenced and stopped.

With Jesus as our model, when is it OK for us to be angry?

When can our anger become productive? When can it be destructive? How can we tell the difference? How can we use our anger to holy ends? How will we know when our anger has a holy purpose? What gives us the authority to challenge things the way they are: institutions, assumptions, habits? When do we dare step over the line, risk offending others, get ourselves into trouble, for what’s right? How can we be truthful, do right, not do too much damage?

Where is there a place in my family life, parish life, work life, or civic life that I might be called to bring both anger and courage? How do I get the clarity and authority to know that my challenge will be aligned to mending the world? What makes my challenge effective, worthwhile, worthy, useful? Especially if my desire for change or convictions make others uncomfortable, or angry, how can I work for change in the most effective way?