Confronting Systems

Monday, August 17, 2009 -- Week of Proper 15, Year One
Samuel Johnson, 1772, Timothy Cutler, 1765,and Thomas Bradbury Chandler, 1790, Priests

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 980)
Psalms 106:1-18 (morning) 106:19-48 (evening)
2 Samuel 17:24 - 18:8
Acts 22:30 - 23:11
Mark 11:12-26

A den of robbers or a house of prayer for all people?

It may be that Jesus' attack on the Temple commerce was the turning point that led the authorities to determine to do away with him. His earlier acts of pronouncing forgiveness outside of the Temple monopoly had provoked charges of blasphemy. Jesus offered immediate and free access to God's forgiveness without the need of the Temple and its sacrifices. The Temple sacrifices were big business. They were ancient traditions as well, loved and honored by many of the religious.

Some have argued that Jesus was attacking the commerce in the outer court of the Gentiles where the moneychangers offered a service to Jewish worshipers. For a fee or commission, they would exchange the people's Roman coinage, with its images of Ceasar, for local currency without any offending images. Some scholars believe Jesus' motivation might have had something to do with the economic burden that these exchanges had on poor peasants. Scholar Ched Myers connects this act with Jesus' healing of the leper standing at the begging station (Mark 1:40) and the healing of the woman with a hemorrhage (5:25). All of these are stories of relief from oppression, he says. The cultic system and the political economy doubly oppressed the poor and unclean, relegating them to second class citizenship and then requiring from them reparations for their inferior status, from which the marketers profited. According to Myers, Jesus sought to overturn the entire system, the socio-symbolic order of the Temple and its monopoly. He says that the mountain that must be removed is systemic oppression of the poor.

Jesus interprets his act with words from Isaiah and Jeremiah. Isaiah 56 is a glorious and inclusive vision for the new Temple. "Maintain justice, and do what is right," the Lord says through Isaiah, addressing the exiles who have returned to rebuild Jerusalem. The foreigner and the eunuch who keeps God's sabbaths are to be welcomed into the Temple, a radical shift from earlier practice. "Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The prophet continues to call the people to a fast, not of food, but "to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free..." The section concludes with a vision of the multitudes of the nations flowing into a rebuilt and just Jerusalem.

Jesus' words from Jeremiah recall the Temple Sermon, where Jeremiah tells the king and leaders of Jerusalem that they cannot continue to "steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods... and then come and stand before [God] in this house... and say, 'We are safe!'" Their coming into the Temple seeking refuge is like robbers going into a cave.

And one note about the cursing of the tree. The fig tree is a symbol of Israel. Jesus' words are a prophetic sign of the condition of the nation and the city -- it has failed to bear good fruit. It will wither and die. On the road between Jerusalem and Bethany, a mountain dominates the landscape. It is the man-made mountain fortress-castle of Herod. Jesus looks upon it and says that this mountain can also be thrown into the sea.

The picture we get is an image of Jesus' attack upon several versions of systemic oppression. The powerful whether religious, political or economic set the rules for worship, government and commerce to the benefit of the wealthy and strong. The poor and outcast suffer. Jesus turns those tables, moves those mountains and declares God's Temple open for all, God's rule is for the benefit of those oppressed by the systems of injustice.

The story invites us to ask what Jesus would say to our own systems. Do our systems of religion, government and economy seek to protect the interests of the poor and weak, or do they pander to the wealthy and powerful? What would Jesus do to overturn the tables of our systems?
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A note about today's new commemorations.

Johnson, Samuel, [Oct. 14, 1696-Jan. 6, 1772] Leader of Anglican Church in Colonial
New England, he was one of the "Yale Apostates" -- Congregationalists who left their
church to become Anglicans. Johnson was a missionary in the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, a philosopher and founder of the first
Episcopal congregation in Connecticut. Later, he became president of Kings College in NY (later Columbia University).

with Thomas Bradbury Chandler [Apr. 26, 1726-June 17, 1790] Missionary in the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, pupil of Samuel Johnson of Yale and defender of having bishops in the American colonies. He was chosen to be the first bishop in the Americas (Nova Scotia) but was too ill to accept the appointment. Chandler was father in-law of Bishop John Henry Hobart.

with Timothy Cutler [May 31, 1684-Aug. 17, 1765]. President of Yale, and one of the
Yale Apostates (Congregational) who became convinced of the importance of bishops
in apostolic succession, and were received into Episcopal orders. (Aug 17)

Collect for the Day
God of your pilgrim people, you called Samuel Johnson, Timothy Cutler and Thomas
Chandler to leave their spiritual home and embrace the Anglican way: We give you
thanks for their devoted service in building up your Church and shepherding your flock in colonial times; and we pray that, like them, we may follow where your Spirit leads and be ever eager to feed the hearts and minds of those entrusted to our care, in the Name of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Lowell