This sermon was preached at St Matthew's Lutheran Church, Maryborough, 8.15am, and Grace Lutheran Church, Childers, 10.30am.
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father,
and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus answered them,
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations
of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In our Gospel reading today,
we read about where Jesus goes into the temple in Jerusalem, and he throws out
the traders. The second thing is where some Jewish leaders go to Jesus and
question his authority. And these two things are going be to focus of our
sermon today.
Let’s come to our first part,
where
I.
Jesus cleanses the temple.
We read: The Passover of
the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In John’s Gospel,
this event is recorded early in Jesus’ ministry. But in the other gospels, it
happens later on Palm Sunday, a week before he died. Now, we Lutherans believe
that the Bible doesn’t have mistakes. Our congregation’s constitution states
this, we pastors confess this at our ordinations, and also it is stated in our
church’s confession of faith, the Book of Concord. In Luther’s Large Catechism,
we read: We know that God does not lie. I and my neighbor and, in short, all
people, may err and deceive. But God’s Word cannot err. However, it is common in the bible to find some
difficulties and things which seem to contradict. We all recognise that these
things are there and all scholars who are honest know about them. The
difference between people who think the bible does have mistakes and we
who believe it doesn’t is not simply that we are too naïve to see them
or not honest. The difference is in how we deal with these differences.
So instead of chucking the
bible out the window, it has always been the custom of Christians to propose a
harmony of these difficulties, and give a possible explanation. Some writers in
history believed that Jesus cleansed the temple twice, once earlier and once
later. We read in the Gospels that Jesus performed similar miracles more than
once: for example, at one time he fed 5000 people, and at another time he fed
4000. Other writers believed that it only happened once, but that John wasn’t
too worried about the chronological order. Sometimes the different writers put
things in a different order. Whatever the answer is, we know that this event
really did happen, either once or twice.
We read in our reading: In
the temple [Jesus] found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and
the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all
out of the temple, with
the sheep and oxen. And he
poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. Even in Mark it says: And he would not allow anyone
to carry anything through the temple. Now, in this passage, Jesus is angry.
In a culture like ours, where people often don’t believe that there is such a
thing as truth, people emphasise that we always have to be nice. A person who
loses his temper, loses the argument. But what about Jesus here? Here we see
him not always mild and friendly, but also angry.
Sometimes people make the
mistake of saying that in the Old Testament, is an angry God, and in the New
Testament, he is a friendly God. People almost talk like there are two
different gods! There is only one God, and he is both angry and friendly.
Both of these things show that God cares: his anger shows that he cares
about his law and his commandments. Sin makes God angry. But also, God cares
about sinners, like you, and he wants to rescue you and win you. Even though
Jesus here is angry and often speaks God’s law, he is also friendly, because he
wants to save you with the Gospel.
Now in this reading we’re
talking about the temple. Now, in the Old Testament there are some parts (which
might not seem very interesting!) which describe in great graphic detail how
God wanted his temple to be built. He planned it exactly to be a beautiful
house of worship. In the New Testament, we don’t have a temple, because all of
the old ceremonies of the Jewish people no longer apply. We don’t sacrifices
lambs and bulls anymore, because we have a better sacrifice, Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God, who was sacrificed once and for all. But Jesus cares here about
worship and about the temple. When he was a boy, he called the temple his
Father’s house. And so also, we Christians too should dedicate ourselves to
worship, and come to church, and hear the word of God.
We learn something here about
the Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy. In
the Old Testament, the Jewish people had to keep all kinds of rules and
regulations of ceremonies and worship. They were forbidden from working on
Saturdays, they performed sacrifices, circumcisions, offerings, washings, and
all kinds of things. In the New Testament, we don’t follow these things,
because Jesus has fulfilled these laws and has brought them to an end.
Sometimes today, we come across Christians who believe we still need to do
these things, like worshipping on Saturday and eating certain foods. We believe
that these things are now left free, including the day of worship. We worship
on Sunday freely, because Jesus rose on Sunday, not because it is commanded.
However, God still commands us to come together as Christians and hear the
preaching of the word of God. The writer of Hebrews tells us not to neglect
to meet together, as is the habit of some.
Jesus in our reading cares
about the temple and about the worship. He lived a perfectly obedient life as a
Jew. Just as Moses came down from the mountain when he saw the people
worshipping the golden calf and became angry and even smashed the Ten
Commandments, so also Jesus throws these traders out of the temple, because
they hinder worship and prevent people from hearing the word of God. Jesus
says: It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’. How
can it be a house of prayer with all this going on? How will people learn to
pray if all they think they need to do is pay God off with a few cheap animals?
Now these words: My house
shall be called a house of prayer, are written in large letters at the front
of our church in Maryborough, together with some beautiful wooden plaques
depicting the different sections of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus says: It is
written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of
robbers. Jesus says: Take these things away; do not make my Father’s
house a house of trade. Jesus doesn’t distinguish here between good trade
and bad trade—he throws everyone out. There is a time and place for trade, but
this temple is a place for prayer.
We Christians also need to
realise that the church is not a business. God’s house is not a house of trade.
Now, sure, every church has various expenses—we have buildings and property
that need to maintained. Pastors also need to have a living. Paul says: the
Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by
the Gospel. However, we don’t preach the Gospel for a price, but freely,
and sometimes pastors need to work on the side, if the church can’t support
them. For instance, Paul made tents. But the problem of church finances is not
getting more money out of people’s pockets, but getting the Gospel into
people’s hearts. God is a living God, and he has already provided what we need,
even if we can’t see it. The question then is how can we use our money, our gifts,
and our abilities freely in the service of others.
John writes: [Jesus’]
disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume
me.” Here we see that Jesus’ anger is a holy zeal, it is pure and
righteous. However, when we get angry, we always have some sin in it. We always
get too angry. Parents know this well, and we parents have many regrets
about this. We knew that we were right to be angry, but if only we hadn’t been so
angry! Or sometimes we were wrong and we got angry. Remember Jesus died for
bad tempers too. He died not just for the sins that are easy to fix, but
especially for the ones that we hate ourselves for. Jesus covers over our
excessive anger with his pure and righteous anger.
Now what if a pastor comes to
a new parish (cough!) and finds things to be not as he would like it? Should he
make a cord of whips and fix everything straight away? Let’s look at Martin
Luther. When Luther went into hiding at one time, a man called Carlstadt
thought that we have to fix everything in the church right now, and he made a
real mess. Luther said, Just because some people in the world worship the
stars, doesn’t mean we pluck them out of the sky! Wine, women and song make a
fool of many a man, but that doesn’t mean that we pour out all the wine and
kill all the women! A reformation must only happen through prayer and teaching,
and Jesus himself must open the door for any change in his own time. He says: I
am the door for the sheep.
However, sometimes the church
is desecrated. I remember once seeing in recent years a situation in Germany
where an imam was invited to sing the Muslim call to prayer in a church at the
beginning of a concert. A lady in the audience shouted out and said that
salvation was only in Jesus Christ, and that this act didn’t belong in the
church. I think she was right for doing this. Sometimes, zeal needs to take
over, and sometimes this kind of zeal comes from the Holy Spirit. Sometimes,
the only way in dealing with a problem in the church is to say, Begone, Satan!
Now, we come to the second
part of our reading, about where
I.
some Jews question Jesus’ authority.
We read: The Jews said to him,
“What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them,
“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then
said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it
up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When
therefore 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.
Here Jesus calls his own body
the true temple of God. In John 1 it says: The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us. Literally, it says: He pitched his tent among us, or made his
tabernacle among us. Just as God dwelt in a tabernacle and a temple in the Old
Testament, Jesus teaches that God is now to be found in him. Colossians 2:9
says that in [Jesus] the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily. This
means that Jesus’ human body is a house for the living God. But it’s not as if
Jesus’ human body and his human flesh are a dead thing, like a house made out
of bricks, but his human body is connected to God in such a wonderful way that
Jesus is both true man and true God in one person. Jesus is not just a temple
for God, but he is actually God himself, and he lives in perfect unity with the
Father and the Holy Spirit.
Now, you might know that
Muslims always pray in the direction of the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Wherever they are in the world, they have to face in that direction. When we
Christians pray, which way do we face? Now we might say, we can face anywhere,
but that’s not the whole answer. When we pray, we always face towards Jesus,
because he is our temple, he is our holy place. Jesus says: No-one comes to
the Father except through me. So, because Jesus is now seated at the right
hand of God, he is available and accessible anywhere, and he can listen to our
prayers wherever we are. And because of this, we can pray anywhere and in any
direction. But we also pray in the direction of Jesus, and in the name of
Jesus.
Now, sometimes, New Age
people say that their body is a temple. Normally, people mean that they should
exercise and keep their body looking trim, taut and terrific. But what they
never say is who their body is a temple for. Is it a temple for the Holy
Spirit, or some other spirit? Jesus’ body is a temple for the living God, and
he is also true God. Our bodies are also temples of the Holy Spirit. This is
not to say something particularly special about bodies. We are weak and we are
decaying. St Paul says: We have this treasure is jars of clay (not in
jars of gold) to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to
us. Our bodies as Christians are not simply temples for anything, but
temples of the Holy Spirit. St Paul says: Your body is a temple of the Holy
Spirit within you, whom you have from God. You are not your own, for you were
bought with a price. So glorify God with your body.
So when Jesus cleanses the
temple, he knows full well that the temple will become redundant. Jesus himself
is the new temple. When Jesus died, the curtain in the temple was ripped
from top to bottom. The temple is no longer needed. In the year 70 AD, the
temple was destroyed by the Romans. Jesus is our new temple, and his word will
never pass away. Just as Jesus got rid of all the hindrances in the temple to
hearing God’s word, so also we should put away all hindrances in hearing Jesus’
eternal saving words.
Jesus says: Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, “It has taken
forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
You know, it shouldn’t really take forty-six years to build a temple. But as
with all building projects, they get finished when they get finished. Remember
the Tower of Babel never got finished, because God didn’t allow it. The prophet
Daniel had said about the rebuilding of Jerusalem that it would happen in a
troubled time. This temple was actually the second one in history and King
Herod had built it. He wanted to make a name for himself. Sometimes in the
church, people want to make a name for themselves and start a building project,
but then the project for some reason takes a long time to finish. Even though
his building project took 46 years, Jesus’ building project—his resurrection
from the dead—only took three days. It only took the length of time to show
that he was really dead!
And so we see here that Jesus
is a real human being. He has a real human body. In other places, Jesus says
that he has flesh and bones, that he has a soul, a spirit,
a will, flesh and blood. He is a true human being just like us.
But he also shows us here that he is true God. He has the power to raise his
own body from the dead. He says: In three days I will raise it up. This
is Jesus’ building project, a building project like no other. He says: I lay
down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it
down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to
take it up again. Even on the cross Jesus says: Father, into your hands
I commit my spirit.
So what an amazing person
Jesus is! He is both true man and also true God. He lets us meet God the Father
through him—he is our temple. The temple was destroyed on Good Friday, but on
the third day, Jesus raised himself up again. Even today he speaks his gospel
to us again, and draws us to himself through his friendly, gentle words. He
shows his zeal and shows us how we should put away anything and everything that
would hinder us from hearing this word and his voice. He has baptised you and
made you a temple of his Holy Spirit. And he gives you that very same body, the
temple of the living God, and his blood, the sacrifice which atoned for your
sin, for you to eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper even today. His body and
blood is given for you and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This body
and blood was destroyed on Calvary, and on Easter Sunday it was raised up with
a power that is greater than all the power in heaven and earth. Let’s thank
Jesus for the wonderful way in which he cares for us! Amen.
Dear Jesus, bless us with
your Holy Spirit, and if there is anything unclean in us, then cleanse us out,
and make us vessels and instruments for you and for service in your kingdom.
Amen.
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