JESUS THE ACTOR
a sermon by wayne
mclaughlin
given at Montevallo
Presbyterian Church
March 15, 2015
Matthew 21.1-13
Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
21 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at
the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to
them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey
tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If
anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will
send them immediately.” 4 This took place to fulfill what had
been spoken through the prophet, saying, 5 “Tell the daughter
of Zion: Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed
them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their
cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd spread
their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread
them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that
followed were shouting,
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the
name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in
turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying,
“This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who
were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the
money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 He
said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of
prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.”
_______________
PROPHETS ACT OUT
In the Bible, a prophet is a man
or woman who speaks the message God has given. But sometimes God tells the
prophet to act out the message. There are many examples of Jewish prophets
communicating God’s message through dramatization. Let me remind you of some…
·
God told Ahijah to tear a new garment into
twelve pieces (see 1 Kings 11:29–31).
·
God told Isaiah to write the name Mahershalalhashbaz
upon a scroll and then have sex with his wife (see Isaiah 8:1–4).
·
God told Ezekiel to eat a scroll (see Ezekiel
2:8–3:6).
·
Another time God told Ezekiel to shave his beard
and to cut the hair of his head with a razor and a knife and divide the cut
hair into three parts. Next God commanded, “Thou shalt burn with fire a third
part [of the hair] in . . . the city, . . . and thou shalt take a third part,
and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the
wind” (Ezekiel 5:2).
·
God told Moses to throw a tree into waters of
bitterness. Exodus 15:22–25.
·
God
told Isaiah to remove his clothes and walk naked like a slave for three years. Isaiah
20:1–6
·
God
told Jeremiah to clothe himself with a linen loincloth, then to remove the loincloth,
and then to hide it in the hole of a rock. Jeremiah 13:1–10
·
God
told Jeremiah to break a clay jug in the presence of several people.
·
Jeremiah 19
·
God
told Jeremiah to make a yoke and place it around his neck (Jeremiah 27:2;
28:10). Later, God tells the prophet Hananiah to take the yoke from the neck of
the prophet Jeremiah and break it.
·
God
told Jeremiah to buy a field in Anathoth and accept the deed of land. Jeremiah
32
·
God
told Jeremiah to write in a book, then tie the book to a stone and throw into
the Euphrates River. Jeremiah 51:58–64
·
God
told Ezekiel to bake bread with a mixture of dung, to eat measured portions of
it, and drink measured portions of water. Ezekiel 4:9–17
·
God
told Ezekiel to take two sticks, write upon them, and then join them together
in one hand. Ezekiel 37:15–28
God told Jesus to find a donkey and ride it into Jerusalem.
That was Sunday. Afterward, Jesus left town. The next day he came back
into Jerusalem and headed for the temple. God told Jesus to weave together a
whip and go into the Temple and crack the whip over the heads of the money
changers and the animals so that they would leave the Temple precincts; and to
turn over some tables and chairs.
Like Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Jesus was demonstrating by his
actions what God was saying to the people. He acted out the message. The temple
would be overthrown. The financial gain would be lost. The temple would be
emptied of its power.
Jesus was a prophet, dramatizing a message. He was acting out a part.
There is no reason to believe he was filled with rage. You can act in protest
with a very calm mind.
There is nothing in the text of this story in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or
John that indicates that he brought physical harm to the people or the animals.
The whip was used for effect, not for inflicting pain.
This was a non-violent act of prophetic protest.
JESUS ACTS OUT
One religious scholar says that
Jesus’s action in the Temple “is a mere staged attack, a demonstration, and the
demonstration is the whole of the agenda.”[1]
Another New Testament scholar
writes: “Another major symbolic gesture of Jesus, one which many think probably
led directly to his arrest, was his action at the temple in Jerusalem.”[2]
By this intentional dramatization, Jesus demonstrated the change that
needed to take place. He did it methodically, calmly, and with passion.
VIOLENT JESUS?
Unfortunately, there are people—church people—who like to use this
incident in the life of Jesus to portray him as an angry, violent person.
“See,” they say, “even Jesus resorted to violence on occasion.” Well, let’s think
about that.
On how many occasion in the Gospels did Jesus resort to violence? What
are the other occasions?
Oh! You can’t think of any? That’s because there aren’t any other
occasions where Jesus is violent.
Did Jesus get angry? Yes. We can find two or three instances in the
gospels where the writer tells us that Jesus was angry. Anger is a natural
human emotion. And when it is selfless and aimed toward those who perpetrate
injustice on others, it is righteous anger. Jesus did feel and express righteous
anger. But never violently. When Jesus got angry he expressed his anger in a
non-violent manner—through words.
TWO REASONS
There are two reasons why I think the action of Jesus in the Temple was
not done in anger, and did not involve violence.
First, it would be inconsistent with the life of Jesus as we know him
through the gospels. Jesus was not a violent person. To lift up this one
incident and to argue that it shows us a violent Jesus is inconsistent with the
rest of the record we have in Scripture. Jesus does not do that sort of thing. It
would be out of character. It would be to invent an alternate Jesus. You cannot
co-opt Jesus for violent actions. He will not be on your side.
Second, Jesus was a prophet. He is called a prophet in the gospels. Of
course, he is more than a prophet, but he is a prophet—a spokesperson for God.
And prophets frequently dramatize the Word of God. It is consistent with how
prophets go about their business.
The incident in the Temple follows the example of the prophetic
tradition. It is an acted out message. As an actor, Jesus plays the part. He is
not angry, he is simply acting angry. He is going through the motions of a
little drama so that the people can see the message God wants to get across.
Moses did it. Isaiah did it. Ezekiel did it. All the prophets did it. They
acted out the message. That is what Jesus is doing: acting.
He cracks the whip; he doesn’t actually hit or hurt the people or the
animals. He turns over the tables and chairs as a demonstration of how the
tables are going to be turned on the religious system headquartered in that
massive building. He acts out the message. No violence. No real anger involved.
You cannot co-op Jesus as an ally for violence.
ABSORBING VIOLENCE
We begin this Holy Week in Jerusalem. It’s an occupied city. Many of
the Jewish people are hoping that this prophet from Galilee will lead an
overthrow of the Romans. But he disappoints them. Instead of calling for a
violent overthrow, he absorbs the violence within himself.
He is arrested, interrogated, tortured, and found guilty of blasphemy
and treason. He is executed. He absorbs the violence in a redemptive way. He
doesn’t give it out; he takes it in. And in doing so, he not only opens the
door to eternal life, he also shows us the way to live non-violently. The
powers of evil are not overcome by bullets. Rather they are overcome by
redemptive suffering.
I hasten to say two things in conclusion. First, this does not mean
that we cannot stand up for ourselves. We are not to become a doormat and allow
others to bully us or cause us or our families harm. We do not let others abuse
us. That is wrong. We can stand up for ourselves.
Usually we can find a way to do so that doesn’t involve violence. There
is a difference between being aggressive and being assertive. We can learn to
be assertive through our words and actions without resorting to aggressive
behavior. Be assertive, not aggressive.
Second, sometimes violent action is a necessary evil. Sometimes in
order to love our neighbor we have to intervene in a situation to stop some
people from hurting others. When the only way to do that is the use of
violence, then we have to do an evil thing—use violence.
We don’t live in heaven; we live on earth. And here on earth we
sometimes have to do evil things in order to save the lives of others. Our
human existence is messy like that.
The trouble is—most of the time when we use violence in order to bring
about good, it is unnecessary violence. We have gotten into the habit of using
violent means to solve problems. Who is it that supports that habit? Someone
makes a lot of money when guns and bullets and missiles are used. Follow the
money.
Jesus never used violence. But sometimes we have to be un-Christ-like
and resort to evil behavior. It’s the tragedy of human existence.
But we always have a choice. We can resist the machine of violence and
refuse to cooperate with it. That is an option. Few take that option. But some
do. And when they do, they bear witness to Jesus Christ their Savior and Lord.
Sy Safransky is the editor of Sun magazine. He is Jewish. His wife
Norma is a Christian. Sy describes a conversation he had with his wife several
years ago:
I was against the Vietnam War. I was against
the Gulf War. But I’m not a pacifist. I’m grateful the Allies defeated Nazi
Germany; they didn’t do it with words. I’m glad a handful of passengers on
Flight 93 fought the hijackers. Norma’s commitment to nonviolence, however, is
unwavering.
Yesterday, after the U.S. started to bomb
Afghanistan, she was in tears. “When is the right time to be a Christian?” she
asked. “When Jesus said to turn the other cheek, did he mean only when it was
convenient?” I knew the question was rhetorical, but I couldn’t help myself.
“What if Osama bin Laden were holding a gun to my head,” I said, “and you knew
he was about to pull the trigger, and you had a gun, too. Wouldn’t you shoot
him?”
Norma looked me in the eye. “Not even if he
was holding a gun to your head.” I stared at her incredulously. “You’d let him
shoot me?” “No,” Norma replied. “First, I’d try to talk him out of it. If that
didn’t work, I’d try to get the gun away from him. If that didn’t work, if
nothing worked, I’d put myself between you and the gun.”
“There’s one thing a true pacifist and a
suicide bomber have in common,” Norma tells me before we go to bed. “They’re
both willing to die for their beliefs.”[3]
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