Consumer Christianity - A Sermon for January 18, 2026

Today we hear the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple

recording in John’s Gospel.

If you are familiar with Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s Gospels,

the timing might leave you curious.

In the synoptic gospels,

Jesus cleanses the temple during Holy Week,

near the end of Christ’s earthly ministry.

It is like one final act of terrorism

(and arguably treason and blasphemy)

that becomes the final nail in the coffin for Jesus,

so to speak.

Jesus’ words about the Temple were used against him,

leading to his crucifixion.

John’s gospel, however,

places this event right close to the beginning

of Jesus’ ministry.

John is always intentional in his writing,

this is not an error.

One thought:

John the gospeller tells us that

Jesus is full of grace and truth.

We just heard the sign of water turned to wine last week:

This is what Grace looks like.

I’d say, then, the cleansing of the temple

tells us what Truth looks like.

The Johanine community,

the original audience of John’s gospel,

were faithful Jews,

trying to make sense of the world

and the resurrection of Jesus.

Not long before John wrote,

around the year 70 CE,

the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem

was destroyed by the Roman Empire.

It gives Jesus’ words “Tear down this Temple”

new meaning.

It wasn’t figurative,

it was inevitable.

Why would the God of mercy allow the sacred Temple

to be trampled by imperial conquest?

The destruction was devastating for Jews

and followers of the Way, alike.

The Roman Empire conquered with force,

Jesus says “Peace”

But sometimes God’s gift of faith in us

like Jesus, leads us not to peace,

but to a righteous anger;

the eyes of faith can help us see

when creation is groaning,

when God’s people are suffering,

and we might get mad and do something about it.

I call that compassion.

Fierce compassion.

Compassion sees the problem,

knows the problem,

feels the problem,

moves from sympathy to empathy,

but empathy isn’t enough:

Compassion, then, does something

to alleviate the suffering.

Christ has compassion.

The cleansing of the Temple, then,

I see as righteous anger meeting compassion.

Invite our reader forward.

Let us rise, and welcome the Gospel

with our Gospel acclamation.

GOSPEL: John 2:13-22

The gospel is announced.

The holy gospel according to John.

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus attacks the commercialization of religion by driving merchants out of the temple. When challenged, he responds mysteriously, with the first prediction of his own death and resurrection. In the midst of a seemingly stable religious center, Jesus suggests that the center itself has changed.

13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON (ELW p. 151)

The assembly is seated.

Silence for reflection follows the sermon.

The Saddledome - a Calgary landmark

gathering place for sports fans and concert goers.

Pretty soon we won’t see this building anymore;

there’ll be a newer, fancier building,

better seating, more washrooms,

and 3 concourses to serve you better.

Calgarians might soon miss the Saddledome,

but the new arena will keep the Canadian religion

of NHL hockey moving forward in our city.

Hockey fans are excited.

Ticket holders bring with them a certain expectation

of what the large arena experience will be like.

Like paying way too much at the airport

to change your Canadian currency into foreign currency,

So do you expect to pay up to 3X what is fair

for a beer, for a hot dog,

or even for a bottle of water.

If you want to participate in the national religion

of NHL hockey at the dome,

let alone any NHL arena,

it’s going to cost you.

The reality is only those with financial flexibility

can afford the Canadian national religion in person.

Hockey is for everyone!

But the Dome is for those who think they can afford it.

I’d say it is greed that fuels it;

what started as a kids game

has turned into a major production

with billions of dollars on the line.

Not everyone in Calgary can afford the Dome,

let alone the new arena.

It leaves many hockey fans

hoping to just catch a game on TV.

Consumerism reigns supreme.

If you think Saddledome is sacred to hockey fans,

the Temple was off the charts sacred to Jews,

and to followers of the Way, alike.

The Temple was the epicentre of faith,

culture, religion,

economic and political influence.

I’m not sure you and I can really comprehend

the devastation of having the Temple destroyed,

no new building in its stead.

People would have been attached to the Temple,

physically and emotionally,

not unlike you and I to our homes,

or the Saddledome

or even this house of faith.

The Temple was not unlike the Saddledome.

A grand building in the city.

Religion meets the markets,

and consumerism leads the way.

People go to the Dome for hockey

and accept that they must spend exorbitant amounts.

People went to the Temple for religion,

to make sacrifice,

to hear teaching,

to worship,

to experience God -

and accept that they must spend exorbitant amounts.

Jesus’ parents were likely first-hand victims

of the temple price gouging.

If you can think back to the Christmas story in Luke,

it includes the story of Mary and Joseph

travelling to Jerusalem.

8 days after Jesus was born,

he was circumcised.

This part matters;

Jesus was a Jew raised in a faithful Jewish home.

Jesus was not trying to rid Judaism.

Jesus is Jewish!

After his circumcision,

Jesus was brought to the temple to be dedicated.

Because of the Jewish religious customs,

they required purification after the birth

They were ritually unclean.

Luke tells us that

“they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated

in the law of the Lord,

“a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.””

This was the sacrifice of the poor.

Wealthier people would be required to make

a more expensive sacrifice:

a tiny morsel of mercy

in an unjust system.

Here’s the injustice:

First, you have to travel to the temple.

That’ll cost ya.

Then you have to change your Roman money

into temple money.

That’ll cost ya.

Then you have to purchase animals

worthy of the sacrifice.

That’ll cost ya.

… and it had become normal.

God’s house of prayer had become a marketplace.

It put a barrier on certain people’s ability

to access the Divine.

It made it difficult to afford your sacrifice.

It was causing the poor to be even poorer.

Dare I say the religious system was benefiting

at the expense of the poor.

This is the kind of thing that makes God angry,

with a righteous anger.

Just ask the prophet Amos.

If you’re out hiking and you see wildlife ahead,

You know that you don’t get between

a mama bear and her cubs.

If mama bear perceives a threat,

mama will growl

and be ready to defend her cubs.

So does Jesus, God in the flesh,

our Mama Bear see the threat to us cubs

and, boy, does Jesus growl in righteous anger.

God gets righteously mad at injustice.

It happened in Egypt under Pharaoh,

it happened at Shiloh with the priest Eli and his sons,

God gets mad at injustice,

and God brings about reversal,

Like Mary and Hannah sung,

God tears the tyrant from their throne

and lifts up the humble of heart.

When barriers get in the way of faith,

of life, of wholeness,

expect God to remove that barrier,

And expect God to invite us into a new way forward.

The way forward is informed by truth

The way forward is fuelled by grace.

The way forward looks like a cleansed Temple

and water turned into wine.

Jesus says the Temple is not to be a den of robbers,

not a marketplace,

but a house of prayer.

All people who come seeking God ought to be able to.

You and I are stewards of the mystery of God.

We are the baptized,

we are led by Jesus, full of grace and truth.

We are the operators of the day to day of Christ’s church,

at least this particular congregation called Advent.

We need to hear the warning from Jesus:

this is a house of prayer!

It shall not be a den of robbers,

and it shall not be a marketplace.

We cannot give into consumer Christianity.

Grace is not for sale.

People are not for sale.

Salvation is not for sale.

Creation is not for sale.

Church members and visitors

are not consumers buying a product.

If we want to grow,

it cannot be so that new people can help pay the bills.

Grace is offered here.

Grace is expensive.

But Grace is free.

The house of prayer

is a house of prayer for all,

for any who hunger and thirst for the living God.

I’ve shown you this cartoon before,

It is a caricature,

It says “We Welcome Short People”

but you can see only tall people

can access the door.

Thanks be to God,

looking out at you all,

we are including tall and short alike.

We are making strides towards including

all the community here:

For example, Worship is available online

for folks who cannot make it to the building,

let alone the faithful

who need a Sunday morning in pyjamas.

It was compassion that did this,

along with some pandemic realities,

we saw a problem,

people needed to worship,

we need to worship,

so we removed the barrier

bought some tech,

and moved online worship.

To God be the Glory,

and we can also find a little warm-glow feeling

knowing we made worship accessible online,

But, you need a smart phone or computer

if you want to join us online.

Interestingly, I recently extended an invitation to someone

to read one of my sermons online.

That person can only access the internet

at the library.

Boy did I put my foot in my mouth.

Online worship isn’t enough:

barriers remain.

Part of our purpose is to help make God accessible

here in this place.

We just took compassion and built a compassion room.

we just built some technological improvements.

We are taking action to alleviate the suffering

of families not having a place to go for quiet and comfort

when we host a funeral.

We have taken action

so people with cataracts and complex lenses

can see the projection on the wall.

You shape your buildings,

and then your buildings shape you,

and we are shaping ourselves for compassion,

today and for the long haul.

We could have spent that money

to make more money,

or to trick people into a religious experience,

or to come up with some kind of product to sell,

but by God’s grace we chose compassion.

The question was asked in our bible study on Tuesday,

If Jesus came to Advent in the flesh today,

what tables might Jesus toss?

What warning might Jesus give?

Or, what kind of compassion are we being called to take?

I hope we have heard the warning against consumer Christianity.

I believe Jesus would point to barriers,

physical and emotional.

We are getting older,

physical limitations are becoming more prevalent:

walkers and wheelchairs and canes; oh my!

Are we truly wheelchair accessible here?

Our building is all on one level,

yet there remain small accessibility barriers.

Might Jesus point to those?

In this time, a veil is being lifted in society,

and we are learning and growing

with regards to human sexuality.

Statistically,

about 2/3 of Advent members believe that

God wants us to bless same-sex unions,

while some of us are struggling with this kind inclusion

in comparison to “traditional” biblical interpretations

about human sexuality.

Statistically, about 4.4% of Canadians report

being part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

By the numbers, then,

there ought to be 9 or 10 members

of Advent Lutheran Church

who identify as gay, lesbian, transgender, or other.

I will maintain confidence,

but I can tell you that at least that many people,

members and family of Advent Lutheran Church,

have come out to me,

or shared their own stories with me.

Some of these members are struggling to belong here.

Like the woman at the well,

or the Gerasene Demoniac,

maybe Jesus is already out looking for them,

looking to restore them to community.

I believe God is calling us into this work

of restoring our community.

We have an opportunity for compassion

for and with our siblings in Christ;

one with us in the Body of Christ.

Historically both 2SLGBTQIA+ people

and people with physical limitations

have been told by too many Christians

that they are sinful because of their affliction,

Or told they need faith and they’ll be cured,

or told there are no wheelchairs in heaven.

or told they are sinful because of who they love

or who they are attracted to;

clobbered by the misunderstood clobber verses.

For hundreds of years,

well meaning Christians have placed barriers

making it harder for people on the margins

to access God.

I believe this is the kind of injustice

that makes God, our Mama Bear, righteously angry.

That kind of injustice ought to make us righteously angry

and ready to act in compassion.

My sisters, brothers, and siblings in Christ,

you are filled with the Holy Spirit,

you are the faithful,

and by God’s grace,

we are all seeking to live faithfully together,

to do what is right and just.

It is happening!

we are caring for those in need,

we are helping to feed the hungry

and clothe the naked,

we are ministering with refugees,

blessing those in poverty,

caring for the widow,

visiting the sick,

we are proclaiming Christ and him crucified:

God is at work in and through you, Advent.

We have a history of compassion.

In our 46 years, we have seen the problems,

we have had empathy,

and moved forward in action

to alleviate suffering.

By God’s grace, we can do it again.

We are about to sing together a song of

God’s way forward,

a song of grace and truth:

The Canticle of the Turning. (723)

in this song, we will hear echoes of the song of Mary,

the Magnificat;

a song that echoes the song of Hannah

from centuries before.

We will sing together of our hope in God

and God’s work in our midst.

I invite you to take a leap of faith today:

to trust and believe that what we will sing:

this is what God is doing,

and what God has been doing,

and what in Christ is accomplished.

That this is God’s new way forward for us.

Indeed our God is turning the world around,

and God’s way forward is informed by truth,

fuelled by grace.

So with our voices and with our very lives,

let us rise, and join the song,

#723 The canticle of the turning.