Noisy Children in Church
Noisy Children in Church
Matthew 21:12-17
Have I told you that Jesus loved children? Let me clarify that a bit, if you don’t mind. The world today has a very perverted understanding of love. As I observe society and social media, it appears that love has nothing to do with love and everything to do with sex. Love is reduced to what you do in the bedroom. In this context, I tell you this, because I saw a social media post that refered to Jesus as a pedophile–because Jesus loved children. That’s how terribly perverse our society has become.
We have allowed society, especially the seamier parts of society to define love and there has been very little pushback from the Church. Very little, he snorts. Practically none. And it’s time we responded with some emphasis. When you see a sign proclaiming, “love is love,” we need to stand up and say, no, it isn’t. What they call love isn’t love at all, but only lust. Briefly, then, we need to define what Jesus meant, what the Bible means by “love.”
There are four Greek words that translate (poorly) into the English word “love.” I’ve done this for you before, so this is a refresher for most of you.
The first is eros (AIR-oss). This is sensual preference, not properly love, but it’s what we mean when we say, I love roses, or I love ribeye steak, or I love Bach, or I love satin. It refers to what pleases our senses. It is the word we use in reference to sex, because of the feelings, the pleasure we get from it. When a teenager “falls in love”, has a “crush”, this is what they mean. They like the object of desire. They feel good around them and want to be near them. Eros is part of life and an element of marriage. It is how we interact with the world around us. But let’s call it what it is - preference. Enjoying someone’s company may be pleasurable (eros) without being sexual. We could say, then, that Jesus enjoyed the company of children without calling him a pedophile.
The second is phileo (fill-AY-oh). This is friendship, still not Biblical love. It is the relationship that men at war develop within a unit – call it “foxhole” love. It is brotherly love, the love between siblings. Phileo is not the same as eros, and it is not sexual in nature. We enjoy the company of friends without feeling sexual urges. We could say, then, that Jesus enjoyed friendship with children.
The third is storge (hard G - STORE-gay). We call this parental love, the love of a father for his sons and daughters, the love of a mother for her children. It is protective, and provisional. It is a caring love. Proper parental love is never sexual in nature. We could say, then, that Jesus was protective and parental toward children.
The fourth is agape (hard G - ah-GAW- pay). This is the word Jesus used when the said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). This is a giving, altruistic love. It is the sort of love defined in 1 Corinthians 13 as not self-seeking. And it is the sort of love that Jesus commanded in John 13:34-35, when he told us three times to “love one another.” It is the sort of love that sacrifices one’s time, efforts, resources, even one’s life, on behalf of another. And this is most certainly what we mean when we say that Jesus loved children – for he laid down his life for their salvation and included them just as he included each of us.
This fourth love is also the kind of love that does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth (1 Cor 13:6). It does not dishonor others, but does not tolerate or excuse evil. Love values the truth of God, and God himself, above everything. While we live in a world that sees tolerance as the highest good, even to the denial of truth and reality, the Scripture calls us to value holy love as the highest good. And holy love is quite intolerant, particularly of anything that causes harm, and especially harm to children. That will lay a good foundation for our text. There are two things are happening here – all wrapped up in the one event.
Jesus enters the temple courts. Here the witnesses disagree in one detail. Matthew and Luke have this happen consequent to the triumphal entry. Jesus enters the city, riding on a donkey in fulfilment of the prophecy of Zechariah and then enters the temple courts. In Mark 11, Jesus enters the court, looks around and leaves, returning the next day, thus placing this particular event the day after the triumphal entry. Neither Mark nor Luke mention the presence of the children at the temple.
Just an contextual note: Have you noticed that the pictures of Jesus driving out the money-changers always depict Jesus with a whip. Even in The Chosen video, Jesus is swinging a whip. None of the gospels mentions a whip at all. There is no whip. There is a similar account in John 2 in which Jesus does fashion a whip out of cords (Jn 2:15). But while the Synoptics place this event in conjunction with the triumphal entry, John places it early in Jesus’ ministry. It is possible that Jesus does this twice, because John’s account differs in several important details, and accompanies a resurrection prediction. John also places this prior to the Baptizer’s imprisonment and execution. But, let’s let Matthew tell his story, shall we?
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves. What were they all doing there in the first place? Well, Roman coin, which everyone used, was not acceptable in the temple, and could not be used to purchase the lambs for Passover sacrifice. Beside the Roman coin, there were other coins in circulation. They, too, were considered unfit, unholy, for Passover. So money-changers were stationed to exchange temple coin for Roman, and the money-changers naturally charged a commission for their service. It was profitable business. As for the merchandise, doves, etc., what could be better than the temple version of Walmart – everything for Passover in one place? Get your Passover kosher matzoh, your bitter herbs, apples, walnuts, and wine for charoseth, your sacrificial lamb – or if lamb was too expensive for you, a couple of doves would serve the purpose – all in one place and one trip. The place was convenient, too, for the lambs were to be sacrificed in the temple courts before you could take them home to roast. It was a one-stop Passover shop. And it was the Jewish equivalent of the Christmas season for the merchants and for the priests. The merchants made most of their annual profits; the priests made most of their annual donations; and the people got ... Well ... Ripped off! Instead of a place of worship, they had turned it into the equivalent of a Turkish bazaar or the Hong Kong night market.
Out of love for God and for all things holy ... Wait a minute, let’s define “holy.” The temple was dedicated, that is, declared to belong to God. It is God’s House, the place that bears God’s Name. It is for the worship of God. It is a sacred space. Things that were “devoted” were to be either destroyed completely so they could not be put to common use, or they were given to God for his exclusive use. This temple is holy because it belongs to God and is for his use. So, out of love for God and all things holy, Jesus rises up in a rage and starts kicking over tables, opening cages, and likely physically pushing people toward the exits. They don’t belong here. This is not a market-place. This is not the Saturday market, not a common fruit stand. This is a place of worship, a house of prayer. And Jesus does a bit of pearl stringing.
He quotes Isaiah 56:7, but the chapter begins, Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Foreigners and eunuchs, previously excluded will be included, God says, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” He quotes Jeremiah 7:11, but that chapter begins with a call for reform – Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. But Israel has sinned and continues to sin and thinks it is safe to do detestable things because God loves them and has chosen them. So God asks of his House, “Has this house which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you?” The Messiah has come and laid claim. You can hear it in Jesus’ references, and in this: He does not say, “God says, ‘My house ...” No, it’s Jesus himself, “It is written, ‘MY house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made MY house a den of robbers.’” Jesus has come home. It is his house they are profaning. He takes it personally and drives them out - squatters in the house of God.
When they are all gone, then come the foreigners and eunuchs, the blind and the lame, the sick and distressed, and are welcomed. And Jesus heals them.
Along with the sick, and blind, and lame, are others usually not included – children. It seems it was the children, as much as all the rest, that triggered the priestly rage. It was bad enough that Jesus had driven out the money-changers and the merchants. It was bad enough that he had laid claim to the temple as if it were his own. It was bad enough that the foreigners, eunuchs, and the sick invaded the sacred precincts to find healing. But, children? That caps it all. And especially because the children were not quiet and respectful in such a sacred place. Instead, they were singing and dancing. They were shouting. And not in a choir. It was chaos in the House of God, and all of a sudden, now they are concerned.
It’s not just that they were singing and shouting, nor was it just where they were doing it. Worst of all is what they were saying. They were mimicking what they’d heard the adults singing just a couple hours earlier. Jesus said that we are to enter the kingdom like little children – not childish, but child-like – believing what we hear and trusting that it’s true. The children had heard their parents shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heavens!” Parents know what they’re talking about, don’t they? Your children think so. They believe what you tell them. Be careful what you tell them. Be careful with your words, that you bless and not curse, that you tell them how smart they are, that you tell them they are beautiful, that they are worthy of love and grace, that they are precious, and especially that you love them. When you tell them these things, they believe you. The children believed what their parents had said about Jesus. They saw their parents at worship, heard them singing, and learned the words to the songs. Then they sang them all over again to Jesus as he healed the sick in the temple courts.
I remember when I was a teenager. We all sat in the back two rows, whispering to one another, passing notes, and just being a general nuisance. Someone complained to the pastor, “Can’t you do something about those noisy teens?” And when a baby cries in church, people turn to look with an expression that begs the mother, “Can’t you do something about that noisy baby?” When children are just being children – after all, an hour is a long time for a little boy to sit still – parents hear us, “Can’t you do something about your child?” Just like today, the priests and teachers asked Jesus, “Do you hear what the children are saying?” Can’t you do something about the children?
Children are filled with a natural wonderment. Frogs and lizards fascinate them. My mom tells a story about me finding a spider and bringing it and setting it gently on the pillow beside her head. Yes, she screamed and jumped out of bed. Bugs and flowers, caterpillars and other crawlies. They’re not only curious, children find them wonderful, exciting, sometimes even joyful. They rejoice. They come running. And apparently, the children found Jesus wonderful, too. But, “can’t you do something about the children? Can’t you make them be still?”
Jesus has one more pearl to string. He looks those concerned adults square in the eye and asks them if they have ever read the Scripture. Haven’t you read? And he quotes part of Psalm 8:2 (out of the Septuagint), From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth praise.
Psalm 8 – Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Children see it and sing. They see the wonders and are in awe. Jesus wasn’t just defending the children. He wasn’t just accepting their praise. He was giving the priests and teachers – and us – an example. Instead of silencing them, join them in their praise. Instead of complaining about them, follow their example. They have found something worth shouting about. Have we?
“Hallelujah! I have found Him whom my soul so long as craved.” That’s something worth shouting about. Have you found something worth shouting about