St. John 2:13-25
Dearly beloved,
Jesus enters Jerusalem, for the Passover feast was upon them. It
takes place early in St. John’s gospel. Jesus had just performed the
miracle of the wedding at Cana, where He changed the water into wine.
Upon entering Jerusalem, Jesus goes directly to the temple, where we
are told, He made a whip of cords and drove animals and
merchants out of the temple.
There is a need for some history here. It was a common practice that
there would be merchants selling animals, as well as people buying
animals. The temple was the place for sacrifices, and it wasn’t
practical for people to journey with their sacrificial animals.
Merchants figured that some money could be made by providing this
service. There is clear documentation to the regularity of this
practice in Rabbinic literature of old.
There was also a temple tax. The High Priest, Annas and his family
saw a great benefit for merchants and the temple through the practice
of buying and selling animals. There are two things that come to mind
in response to this. First, if we look at the beginning of sacrifice,
we see Abel giving an offering to the Lord. Abel gave the best of his
flock as a sacrifice. This was a true giving of the heart, whereas
Cain gave what he had left over. So, if the Jews were simply going to
the temple, buying an animal, and offering it to the Lord, then they
were not really giving the best they had. Hence, their sacrifices had
become more robotic and mundane. They were giving as Cain gave.
Second, Jesus has come on the scene. He had begun calling disciples
and preaching the everlasting gospel. In fact, in response, the Jews
asked Jesus, “What sign do you show to us, since you do these things?”
In other words, what teaching of yours contradicts years of this
Jewish practice? Then we hear it. Jesus utters the gospel which will
ring throughout the ears of the church for eternity: “Destroy this
temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
This is early in Christ’s ministry. Jesus defends the driving out of
the animals and merchants by referring to His death. Naturally, the
Jews didn’t understand what Jesus was saying. “It has taken forty-six
years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
Then St. John makes the editorial comment that Jesus was speaking of
the temple of His body. In other words, from a theological
perspective, the temple sacrificial system is no longer necessary.
Jesus is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Jesus is the temple
not made with hands. For the Jews, the Old Testament temple and
sacrificial system had become an end in itself. This was the life the
Jews understood. It had been passed down from Moses and Aaron.
Solomon had built the beautiful temple. This was their heritage.
They knew nothing else. They had somehow lost sight of Psalm 2 which
speaks of Christ’s suffering and death.
They had the lost the proper interpretation of Isaiah’s prophetic
book as being about the suffering servant. Jesus was the coming One
and the Old Testament temple was a type of Christ’s human body. The
sacrifices spoke concerning Christ’s suffering and death for the sins
of the world. Psalm 27 speaks beautifully of the Church’s gaze upon
Christ, speaking in New Testament terms, yet somewhat veiled in the
Old Testament: “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I
seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His
temple”(Psalm 27:4).
This verse speaks of the church’s destination: to behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire into His temple. Inquiring in His temple
is to marvel at the humanity of Jesus, the human nature of God. The
church beholds truly a lamb without spot or blemish. This is the
Nicene faith. We confess that Jesus is true man and true God. Jesus
is the holy temple. Solomon’s temple was merely a type and shadow of
the reality of God in the flesh. The sacrifices were God’s way of
overlooking sins until His Son steps onto the earth, taking the place
of sinful man.
St. Paul says it well to Timothy, “And without controversy great is
the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified
in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, received up in glory”(1 Timothy 3:16). This was an
early creed highlighting the two natures of Jesus. This is the
teaching that is difficult for the world to understand.
This is what tripped up the Jews, but the disciples heard Christ’s
statement. They may have forgotten it from time to time, but the
disciples are encouraged by the angels at Christ’s empty tomb to
recall these words that Jesus spoke concerning His body. Where do you
fit in all of this? What does this gospel lection have to do with you?
Well, on the one hand, you cannot help but wonder if this death and
resurrection stuff is true. If you are honest with yourself, you will
agree that sometimes your mind wanders and questions the validity of
the gospel.
It’s in all of us. To question is part of our sinful nature. The
disciples needed to remember. Kneeling at the empty tomb before a
couple of angels, the disciples needed to be reminded. They needed to
hear the gospel again. The empty tomb would be clearly evident, but
they needed the preaching of Christ to go along with that, and the
angels supplied them with that gospel. This is why the church is what
it is and why it does what it does.
I preach the gospel to you, and we proclaim the Scripture readings
every time we gather, because we need to remember. Sin is always
working on us, as it did with the disciples and the Jews. It is easy
for human beings to lose sight of what they are doing and why. This
is why the church must continually gather in Divine Service and for
Matins and Vespers in order to hear the gospel and have a sermon
preached on those texts. We are a baptismal community that wears
Christ and His merits.
We share a unity with Jesus and we need to be nurtured by Him and His
saving gospel. As it says in St. John’s gospel, “Therefore, when He
had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said
this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus
had said.” They believed what Christ said. They believed what was
written about Jesus and what had come to pass concerning His
suffering, death and resurrection.
This is the task and the life of the Church. She gathers to be in
Christ. She gathers to be one with Him. She gathers to hear the
proclamation of forgiveness. Your sins are washed away by Christ’s
substitutionary atonement, the sacrificial Lamb who granted us access
to the heavenly Father. You are a part of this. Coming together as a
baptismal and Eucharistic community, you have all the blessings which
Christ came to bestow. Someday, we shall look upon the temple not
made with hands and marvel at what we behold.
We shall partake of Christ’s unfathomable beauty, inquiring into
Divine and eternal truths, partaking of Christ and all His heavenly
splendor. Truly we are blessed to dwell in the house of the Lord.
Amen.
--
Rev. Chad Kendall
www.frchadius.blogspot.com
Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowell, Indiana
www.trinitylowell.org
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