Scripture text: John 2:13-22
What makes God angry?
Now that is a question, isn’t it? A scary question really. Who wants to think about what infuriates the one who created the whole universe, who wove into existence the stars and galaxies? Compared to which we are little more than dust. We’re nothing. We’re tiny, insignificant, in the grand scheme of the universe in which we live. God could sneeze and wipe out a million worlds just like this one. That’s all it would take. Barely any effort at all.
If it’s any consolation, God himself is not too keen on anger. He doesn’t like it. In many ways, he battles against it, always looking for an out for his rage; a reason not to act on his fury. Luther called God’s wrath his “alien work,” because it is so contrary to his loving nature. God doesn’t want to get angry. He doesn’t like it anymore than we do.
But he does, from time to time, get angry. It does happen.
Our Gospel lesson today is probably the most famous story of God’s anger. Jesus comes to Jerusalem and goes to the temple for worship. It is Passover and many devout and observant Jews have come to this place to offer up sacrifice to God.
Of course, it didn’t take long for some charlatan to figure out there was money to be made on this devotion. A few bribes to the priests to make them friendly and they got a good racket going. Of course, many observant Jews knew the law, they knew their faith. They knew the criteria for a proper temple sacrifice and they would bring with them an appropriate animal for that purpose. But then the priest would declare their animal unfit for some reason and there was little debate to be had. After all, the priest would be performing the rites and they had final say. But, there’s a solution. My friend over here has perfectly qualified animals for sacrifice at bargain basement prices. Ditch the unworthy offering you brought with you (which would likely be offered up to the next sap who came along), buy one off the market, and everything’s cool.
That was the scene that Jesus came upon in the temple that day. The chaos of a market and not just any market, a corrupt and crooked one that exploited people’s sincere faith for profit. Didn’t have the money to buy a “proper” sacrifice? Well, too bad. Pay up or go home.
You want to know what gets God angry? Well, this definitely qualifies. Jesus blows his stack. He makes a whip and attacks the merchants. He goes to the tables of the moneychangers (another scam that preyed upon the Jews who came from foreign lands) and overturns their tables. He’s a one-man riot and, in his fury, he drives these thieves and con men from the temple.
But what’s behind the anger? It’s easy to see the villainy here. Economic exploitation is an everyday thing even now. Employers stiffing their workers their well-earned pay. Grifters calling up lonely and elderly people with some new scam to defraud them of their money. People pay for their whole working lives into pensions that they think will be there when they retire, only to find their money vanish when a company needs cash for a golden severance package for their CEO or a governor needs cover for their financial mismanagement of state funds. Happens all the time. I wonder what percentage of the news stories each night are about someone taking money from someone else through illicit and unethical means. Probably at least half, if not more.
But is that what really ticks God off? Well, yes and no. This scam has created a barrier between the people and God. They can’t get to him without going through this wall of greed. You have to pay to play. You want to tick God off? Put something in between him and the people he loves. Do something to stand in the way of his grace.
Money has often been that barrier. It was no accident that Luther got angry over the sale of indulgences in the Middle Ages. It was another variation on this “pay to play” scheme and when Luther realized the church had reduced to faith to “pay up so God will love you,” he attacked with all the fury and zeal that Jesus himself shows in this story.
But even today, money stands as a barrier between God and his people. If you’re wondering where your next meal is coming from...If you’re worried about whether you’ll have a roof over your head tonight or not, you’re not going to be all that concerned about God. You’ve got other things on your mind. Other worries. Other concerns.
This may be the reason the Bible speaks so much about poverty and why we, as God’s followers, are commended to do all we can to aid those inflicted by it. We’re here to tear those barriers down, just as Christ himself did.
God doesn’t want anything between him and the people he loves. Not money. Not illness. Not fear. Not greed. Not failure. Not hate. Not anything. I said at the beginning of this sermon that we are but dust in the cosmic order. And that’s true in terms of the cold scientific reality of this vast universe. But it’s also false when you consider the immense and unlimited love of the one who created that universe. We aren’t dust to God. We are EVERYTHING to him.
There are not words to describe how badly he wants to be with us. No language of humankind has the means to describe this desire. God had to demonstrate this hungering passionate unyielding love to us by the sending of his son into this world. God demonstrated this hungering passionate unyielding love to us by that son going to the cross to die for our sins. God demonstrated this hungering passionate unyielding love to us by rising from the dead on the third day. All that was because of love. All that was to show us how badly he wants to be with us.
What makes God angry? When his love is thwarted by the evils of this world. That’s what ticks him off. Who can blame him? We know what that’s like. How aggravated to we get when we are denied time with our spouse or children? How hard is it when we are parted from them? It’s the same for God, only more so, for his love is so much greater than ours. It has no limits, no boundaries, and its sole focus is you and I and the whole human race. God will do anything to be with us, even die on a cross. Amen.
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