3rd Sunday in Lent: Anger in the Temple and Free Speech Today

What was it that made Jesus appear to erupt in a fit of anger?

Was it people selling sheep and cattle?

Was it the money changers? 

It has been argued that such an act was the final straw for the authorities – that by seeking to upend a local micro-economy Jesus had offended the wrong people.

It has also been claimed that the High Priest and his group were profiting from selling the plots on which these stalls were set. A kind of modern car boot sale in the nave of a cathedral.

Each of these scenarios play into the trope that Jews are obsessed with trade and money.

Whatever the reason for his action, Jesus would have known it would not have been a popular move.

So why did he do it?

I believe the answer lies in the location of the trading.

We know that it was within the Temple – we know that – but whereabouts exactly?

It would be in the outer court – the only court in which Gentiless could enter. They could not go further into the Temple. There was a court for the Jews, women and men, there would be a court for the priests, and there would be the court for the High Priest as well as the Holy of Holies into which the High Priest only entered once a year.But the market had been set up in the only court open to non-Jews. So, what Jesus sees is that Gentiles are being denied the opportunity of being awed by this sacred site, the beauty of the architecture, the extravagance of it all, the grandeur and above all the sanctity. He was affronted by turning the court into a market place Gents would not have any space in which to pray.

So it is not the trade that matters to Jesus but the denial of something sacrosanct to him, that of prayer – people were being denied the chance to commune with G.

How does this relate to free speech?

People had the right to trade but not to prevent people from finding God. There is a place and a time. Today, people have the right to say whatever they think but they should be challenged if they spread lies, prejudice, and hate. Voltaire said “The right to free speech is more important than the content of the speech.”

No, no, no Monsieur Voltaire. You should have known better – and maybe you would have changed your view had you lived in the 20^th or 21^st century where speech became a tool for propaganda, the deepening of division in society, and the furtherance of hatred: Hitler, Goebbels, Trump, the preachers of hate that do not understand the God of love.

The content of the speech does matter – if it fosters understanding, builds up the common good, fine; but if it whips up the naïve into a frenzy that leads to attacks on innocents then that is far from good, it is wrong.

This has always been a difficult one because who is to say what is right and what is wrong?

Dictators, totalitarian regimes have always clamped down on free speech where it has challenged their authority and power.  Putin’s reaction to the opposition in Russia is a case in point of course, and the killing of his main opponent Alexi Navalny in recent weeks is a clear example. But how far do we go to curb calls for violent revolution when our freedom, hard won over centuries, is at stake?

There may be things wrong with the British way of doing things, but I still believe it is the best and most just system in the world. There are reasons why we have not had a violent revolt in this country for four centuries. Yet there are those in our midst anxious to overthrow it. They are keen to identify our faults but lacking in what they would put in its place.

Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947: ‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’

I rarely agree with Rishi Sunak, but I listened to his speech outside number 10 on Friday 1 March and I found myself nodding in agreement at pretty well every sentence; although he would do well to root out extremists in his own party. The threat to our democracy is very real. Allowing calls for an intifada across the globe, is a dangerous step. Intifada means violence, suicide bombings, and the cheapening of life to such an extent that the death of innocents no longer matters. Intifada in this country means more 7/7s, more Manchester Arena bombings. That is what is being called for on the streets of our cities every weekend. Now tell me that those who make such calls have a protected right to say these things.

These protests are doing exactly what Jesus was angry about in the Temple court – they are frightening people away from our city centres, from using public transport, from wearing something that identifies their religion.

People are free to protest the war in Gaza, and they are right to do so – but they should be robustly challenged if they prevent others from expressing different opinions, or other concerns, and/or pointing out their fears.

Jesus: ‘It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.’

Those protesters that call for the death of Jews and their supporters, or if they call for genocide in the Middle East are deeply wrong. We have heard these sentiments before, it never ends well for anyone. It is not for nothing that Jews are often described as the canaries in the mine. They are the first to notice something wrong within a society, something that leads to danger for so many groups other than Jews. History has shown time and again that once people start attacking Jews, they soon move on to some other race, faith or philosophy.

The late Rabbi Lord Sacks: ‘What begins with the Jews never ends with the Jews.‘

Let me be absolutely clear – there is a hardly a nation left in the Middle East other than Israel where Christians, let alone progressive Christians, and minority faiths, are safe to practise their religion. What began with the expulsion of Jews in Arab states over the last century has now left the cradle of Christianity bereft of Christianity.

This is the fundamental issue for Jesus: that the Temple should be open for the purpose of its construction – to be a safe space for people to find their God. And this God is not an exclusive monster calling for the death of those that do not share the extremists credo, but an all loving, inclusive God whose son was prepared to risk the ire of the authorities to the point of losing his life for the sake of others.

Our response to all of this is clear though demanding: we remain open and embracing of all the children of God, whatever their views and beliefs. However, and this is important, what we must be careful of at the same time is that by being so inclusive we are not engulfed by the hatred others have of others, of us and of our values.

Jesus: ‘We should be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves.’ Too often we overlook the first instruction.

Christian martyrs died with prayers on their lips and love in their hearts – because Jesus dies with and for them, Jesus dies with and for us, Jesus dies for all those that seek to be at one with the God of all embracing justice, truth and love. The cost of this commitment was clear to see at the expected outcome, in the crucifixion, it was also clear on the road to that place in the anger on show in the Temple court.