Commerce
/
Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!
-John 2:16
We live in a time and place where it seems like everything has been made into a marketplace. Buying and selling seem to be the engine that powers our culture. There are ads on TV and in magazines and newspapers. There are ads on the sides of busses and on billboards. There are ads shown before a movie in the theatre and tucked into public radio broadcasts. There are ads even inside toilet stalls! Is there noplace to escape them?
Jesus was disturbed that the courtyard of the temple had become a marketplace. There were tables there for people to exchange their Roman coins for approved temple coins, and then they could use the temple coins to buy doves and goats and other animals brought in for worshipers. Of course, it was a convenience - people needed these things in order to offer the appointed sacrifices so why not provide it right there for busy people? But it had also become a real money maker for the temple.
This reminds me of mega churches with Starbucks and McDonalds kiosks in their lobbies. I mean, how great to have coffee hour without anyone at the church having to do the work? It’s a convenience, of course, but it also becomes a real money maker for the church.
It is very difficult in our culture to know where the draw the line between helpful promotion and profit based advertising, between providing needed services and getting involved in monetized services. It seems like this might also have been an issue in Jesus’ time. But in an era in which people are largely defined, not by our faith, but by what brands we use and wear, it’s not hard to see that marketing has gone over an edge.
I wonder if there might be a lenten practice hidden in this for you this year? How could you remove yourself from some of the constant barrage of advertising we have become accustomed to? How could you refrain from participating in commerce for certain periods? How could you take a good look at how buying and selling, consumerism and pride of ownership have invaded your life in ways you’d like to change?
