Katelyn's Homily On Trust
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.
John 2:13-22
In this passage, Jesus’s disciples trusted him enough to search for a way to reconcile his extreme behavior with what they knew of him. They remembered Isaiah’s prophecy and were satisfied. The Jews, however, put the burden of proof on Jesus, asking “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Or as Kaiti put it on Tuesday, “What gives you the right?”
I don’t know why the continuation of the standard order of worship for the Passover was so important to the Jews in this passage. Why the right to sell offerings in the temple mattered. I don’t think they were so bothered because they were certain that the way they had been worshipping and living was so undeniably correct and faithful. Of course, I don’t doubt they were likely threatened by a man claiming to have all authority to change even the most sacred parts of their lives.
I also don’t know if the Jews featured in this passage knew just who Jesus was beyond his bold claim or the things he had done in earlier parts of John’s gospel. I think I’m tempted to give the doubting characters in this scene a break if they didn’t. But regardless, we do know these things. In fact, we have the whole canon of scripture before and after this particular story. We have pages of scripture and centuries of faithful Christians to teach us just who is this One who claims to have authority over every part of our lives.
Yet still, we are tempted to ask “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”
Per Kaiti’s example–if Jesus himself walked into this chapel today and declared that the Wesley order of worship should no longer include worship through music, I think I would need to ask why. I think I might actually feel compelled to ask the son of the Creator of the universe, why I would not get to sing or play my favorite instruments each week at The Well, before accepting it.
We believe what we want to believe, and I wouldn’t want to believe that. The fact is, to have the faith of the disciples as displayed in this passage, we have to want to believe the words that Jesus teaches us. And, arguably more difficult, we have to want to believe the anointed human beings who have committed their lives to following Jesus and who have committed their lives to leading others into salvation and sainthood.
The words “blind trust” tend to leave a bitter taste in the mouth. Kind of similarly with words like “obedience” or “submission”. But I don’t think trust in spiritual leaders has to be blind; it just has to actually be trust. Trust enough to take on the burden of proof for ourselves. Trust enough to face whatever actions or decisions we don’t understand and make our own decision to reconcile it with the truth. Trust that God promises to hold his shepherds accountable for the care of His flock. Ultimately trust that God has compassion for his children, such that he would never lead us into temptation and would deliver us from evil. To trust in our leaders is to trust in God. Not that our leaders are all knowing or infallible by any means. But when we pray for guidance, and our leaders pray for faithfulness and truth, God grants those prayers, for the glory of his name. Amen
