Reflections on God and Money: March 2013

Sunday 31 March 2013

Cashing in on the Cross (3)

And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee’. And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”, but you make it a den of robbers’. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

Matthew 21:10-14

In these Reflections, we explore the strategic dangers of serving money, or mammon: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual dangers. Yet, how vulnerable are Christians when materialism and consumerism are presented to us in the name of Christ himself?

On Friday I referred to Keith Green. Another thing I learned from him was the term, ‘Jesus Junk’. I cannot now recall whether I first read it in his biography, No Compromise, or in one of his leaflets but in the biography his widow writes this.

‘It seemed that selling Christian producers was very big business – not only in Christian bookstores, but at festivals as well. I was with Keith the day someone told us that at one Jesus festival they sold over $98,000 worth of “Jesus Junk” in just a few days! Keith nearly fell over from hearing those two words casually linked together.

‘“Jesus – and junk?” He said angrily. “Those must be the two most opposite words in the English language!”’

In Matthew’s account of Jesus driving the bankers and traders from the Temple for the second time, what strikes me most about it is that afterwards, ‘the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them’. You could say that mammon – the power of money – had been surpassed by the power of God!

I am reminded of a story often attributed to St Francis of Assisi. In one version, he is at the building of a cathedral, in another visiting the Vatican; in one he is talking to the bishop, in the other to the pope. ‘No longer need we say, “silver and gold have we none”’, boasts the bishop or pope. Francis replies, ‘But neither can we say to the lame, “Rise up and walk”’.

I would like to pose some more difficult questions for Easter about the extent to which Christians and ‘Christian’ organisations deny themselves the power of God by their compromise with the power of money.

To what extent do Christians demonstrate their commitment to the consumer society by the accumulation of badges, jewellery, ornaments and other lifestyle accessories styled just for them?
To what extent can such things, harmless in themselves, become 'must have' lifestyle accessories, or even status symbols, for certain churches and groups?
To what extent might churches and 'Christian' conferences compromise their witness by excessive or inappropriate merchandise?

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Saturday 30 March 2013

Cashing in on the Cross (2)

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers”. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

Mark 11:15-18

Jesus twice drove the traders and bankers out of the Temple courts: the first time, early in his ministry, as a sign of his intent to ‘clean up’ people’s understanding of true religion (see John 2:13-16); the second, during his final week, what we now call ‘Holy Week’, as a stage in removing the kingdom from Israel (see Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17 & Luke 19:45-46).

I can easily believe that the first bankers and traders who set up in the Temple were providing a good service to pilgrims, exchanging foreign money into Jewish coins that would be acceptable as offerings and by selling sacrifices that it would have been difficult to transport from home. By the time of Jesus’ visit, a diverse and well-established religious marketplace was thriving in the Gentile areas of the Temple, the space where the people who were not Jews were free to worship. This not only limited the space available for worship but suggests that the bankers and traders were not themselves Jews. Moreover, I cannot help but wonder whether the Temple authorities took a percentage of their profits!

Today, a very profitable industry has grown up to supply household gadgets, ornaments, jewellery, crockery, clothes and a host of other merchandise especially branded for Christians. Pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, rulers, rubbers, key fobs, mugs, T-shirts, ties, scarves, badges, bumper stickers have crosses, fish ciphers, Bible verses and spiritual maxims. I am not against these things and have some for myself; I can see how they can be helpful reminders of our faith and make good gifts. But we ought to ask some awkward questions about the sheer scope and scale of this business.

Who profits? Are they produced by Christians concerned with helping people? Or by businesses who would be as willing to profit from any religious group?
At what point do we slip into disrespect for the things of God – and perhaps even into sacrilege? Most Christians seem to have no problem with the slogan ‘Jesus Saves’ on a badge – but is it so appropriate on a t-shirt or coffee mug? Or on a piggy bank?
Would the Apostles have been better witnesses if they had worn ‘gospel’ badges and put ‘Bible’ stickers on their baggage?

I will continue this thought tomorrow.

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