Text: John 2:13-22
Date: March 7, 2021
Event: The Third Sunday in Lent, Year B
John 2:13–22 (EHV)
13The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers sitting at tables. 15He made a whip of cords and drove everyone out of the temple courts, along with the sheep and oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those selling doves he said, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of business!”
17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
18So the Jews responded, “What sign are you going to show us to prove you can do these things?”
19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
20The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! And you are going to raise it in three days?” 21But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and what Jesus had said.
Let Jesus’ Zeal Be Your Zeal
Zeal, passion, can be a good thing. Although we did see on Wednesday evening how misguided zeal can lead down really wrong paths, as we saw Peter brandishing his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane. But godly zeal, a zeal that is in tune with and focused on God’s will is a good thing. It’s a passion that leads to serving our God. It’s a fire that burns brightly in thanksgiving for all that he’s done for us.
This morning in our Gospel we’re taken to an early part of Jesus’ ministry, not long after he called his first disciples. This is the first Passover of Jesus’ ministry and, as we would expect, he and his disciples make the trek up to Jerusalem to go and worship.
The Passover was the celebration of God rescuing his people in Egypt from the plague of the firstborn and more generally from their slavery at the hands of Pharaoh. This was one of, if not the, biggest festival of the year. People would come from all over the known-world to return to Jerusalem, to the temple, to celebrate.
You can see the logistical trouble people might have had, right? If they were coming from a great distance they probably couldn’t easily travel with sacrificial animals. Their money was probably not correct for offerings in Judea. And so something started that on the surface makes sense. Why not offer a service at the temple, especially around these festivals, where people could purchase the animals they needed for sacrifice right there rather than having to travel with them? Why not offer to exchange money into the local currency for ease of use at the temple and beyond?
But what might have started with good intentions had gotten out of hand. The noise and smell of the animals, the clinking of money, the din of conversations and bargaining undoubtedly distracted the people trying to worship at the temple. It conveyed a sense of irreverence for God’s house and seemed to place a higher priority on business than worship and meditation.
Enter Jesus. He binds together some cords to make a whip to shoo the animals and people out of the temple courts. He overturns the money changers’ tables and casts the coins to the floor. He has a harsh rebuke for these people: “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of business!”
There’s probably a lot to talk about here at the intersection of church and business, but that’s best left for another time. I want us to focus on what this brought to mind for the disciples, a quote from Psalm 69 about the Messiah that we read just a few minutes ago in our service, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Why was Jesus so passionate, so zealous, for God’s house? Because this was where the people heard about their sins and need for a Savior. Here was where they heard God’s promises to send that Savior, those promises that in the next three years Jesus would fulfill completely. This was the place that the people would find rescue from sin, death, and hell and find eternal life.
Are we zealous for God’s house? I think that’s a really difficult question to ask right now at this moment because for so long we have been separated from worshiping together and are just now beginning to cautiously come out of that. I’m hopeful that today’s worship service is our first step to ultimately restoring the sense of normalcy in our congregation. But we’re not there yet. So maybe it’s easier to ask about what we hear in the house than the house itself right now: are you zealous for God’s Word?
What place does God’s Word have in your life? Are you regularly tuning in for worship or making plans to come in person when certain safety metrics are met? Are Bible classes a priority for you? Is Sunday School or Catechism a priority for your children and your family at large? Do you have time in personal devotions or family devotions around the table at some point during the day? Do you spend time in prayer to thank, praise, and ask God for help? Or, are there a multitude of others things that take precedence in your life and heart so that God slips down the priority ladder?
If the Word has priority in your life in worship, study, and devotional time, does it have an effect on the way you live? Do you walk away from a time with God’s Word more thankful for his love to you, more ready to serve your fellow people in gratitude to God? Or does it go in one ear and out the other? Does it become just a set of facts and figures to learn with no tangible effect on your heart or actions?
In other words, do you posses Jesus’ zeal for the Word or not? I can assure you I do not meet Jesus’ level of commitment and knowing that you all are sinners like me, I know that you don’t as well. We’re often dismissive of anything that would lead us off the of the path that we want to be going down, up to and including God’s will for our lives. Maybe we’re not setting up shop selling things at the back of church and distracting from worship, but often times our respect for God and his Word is on a similar level.
Understandably, those turning the house of worship into a market were annoyed by what Jesus did. Who was this guy to be doing this anyway? By what authority does he come in here and “clean house”? “What sign are you going to show us to prove you can do these things?” they ask. And here’s were we get to the heart of Jesus’ message and mission: What sign will he give? “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
You and I have not kept this godly zeal for God’s house and Word like we should have, but Jesus did. As we see his passion and zeal for God’s house come out, he’s living the life that you and I should have lived but didn’t, but it’s that very perfect life that Jesus gives to us. You could ask our Catechism students and they would tell you that this is an example of Jesus’ active obedience, where he kept all of God’s laws perfectly in our place.
But that doesn’t change the fact that we’ve not done this, that we’ve actively been not zealous for God and his Word and instead prioritized other things. Which takes us to Jesus’ statement about the temple. Destroy it and in three days I will raise it up. For us with the benefit of hindsight, we can see clearly what Jesus is talking about. And John, writing well after these events all took place, also gives us an explanation. Jesus is not talking about stone and mortar. But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body.
When the temple of Jesus’ body is destroyed by being nailed to a cross, that’s your solution and mine for our lack of zeal for God’s Word. As the temple of his body bears the weight of all of our sins and the punishment of hell that they deserved, we find forgiveness. Jesus will pay the price for all sin of all time on the cross. By his wounds, you and I will be healed.
But we know even in these dark and doleful days of Lent, this story doesn’t end in despair. Jesus knew how this story concludes even years before it happened. “In three days I will raise it up again.” His death will mean our forgiveness; his resurrection will prove his victory and ours.
It’s interesting to see how much these words stuck with the leaders of the Jewish people even years after Jesus spoke them. This was one point that the false witnesses came closest to agreeing on during the kangaroo court trial Jesus underwent before the high priest, which we heard in our Passion History this past Wednesday evening, “Some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: ‘We heard him say, "I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.” ’ Yet even on this point, their testimony did not agree” (Mark 14:57-59). In fact, these promises seem to have resonated with Jesus’ enemies more than with his disciples. While the disciples were cowering in fear and later would be shocked at his resurrection, it’s the Pharisees who go to Pilate remembering Jesus’ teaching of his being raised up and call for extra security measures at Jesus’ tomb.
As we strive for this zeal of Jesus, as we aim to have his Word and work mean as much to us as it should, may his words never leave our hearts and minds. May we always cherish, always prioritize, always rejoice in what he has done for us. In good days and in bad, may God’s love for us shown clearly in Jesus be our all-in-all, now and forever. May you be consumed with zeal for your Savior—and the zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish that (cf. Isaiah 9:7)! Amen.
