Sermon - Lent 3 - John 2:13-22

 

The True Temple

It’s one of those little phrases from the Bible that’s made it into the secular lexicon:  “Your body is a temple”.  But the scriptural theology of the temple is rich and deep, and goes to much more than treating the body well.  It steeps us in Jesus who is crucified for us, rises from the dead for us, renews and restores us by his grace.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Temple for the people of God.  In many ways, the temple was the center of it all.  The focal point of Jerusalem, built atop Mount Zion.  Central to the entire promised land, and that at the crossroads of the world, where 3 continents meet.  The temple!  The grand house of God, built by Solomon as a more permanent version of the Tabernacle, which was just a tent, really.  And it stood from Solomon’s time for some 500 years until it was destroyed by the Babylonians.  But then the Persians came to power, and Cyrus decreed the exiles should return and rebuild that temple.  So under Ezra and Nehemiah thy did.  And after another 500 years along came Herod the Great, a great builder, who extensively renovated that second temple for some 46 years.

The temple was massive.  It was the largest structure most of these people would ever live to see.  The disciples, we are told, gawked, “teacher look at these great stones!”  It was ornate, decorated with the finest materials and art.  It was also busy, a constant meeting place, a sort of town square in its own right.  Jesus taught there on many occasions to the crowds who gathered. 

The temple was the focal point of the religious life of God’s people.  It was the place of the sacrifices and the prayers, elaborate ceremonies and rituals conducted by the priests – a whole class of religious officiants.  It would have been bustling with activity, especially during the 3 great feasts of the year. 

And more than anything the temple was meant to be the House of Yaheweh.  A place where God would deign to dwell.  A place where heaven met earth, and where the Most High would make himself available to lowly sinners.  It was a place of grace, and mercy, where God gave the people access to himself, by calling upon his name.

But all that was lost, or at least heavily obscured, it seems, by the time Jesus arrived.  He found the temple very different.  Instead of a house of prayer it had become a den of robbers.  A place of business.  Bustling with all the wrong kind of activity.  Money-changers.  Animal dealers.  Most likely corruption and certainly greedy gain to boot. 

Jesus is incensed.  He is angry.  And he takes decisive action.  Not only does he turn over tables and pour out their coins… cling, cling, cling, cling on the temple floor.  He also goes so far as to make a whip out of cords, and sch-wack, sch-wack, drives out the animals, and apparently also the money changers themselves.

Momma always said, “wait till your father gets home.”  Well, friends, wait till Jesus gets home – it’s not a pretty picture.

So what do we make of all this?  Is this simply a warning for us to keep our worship life pure?  To show proper respect to God’s house in our day and age?  To treat our church with respect, and perhaps not to have a bake sale in the narthex?  Would Jesus come and turn tables here, too?  Or is there something deeper going on?

To be sure, our Triune God cares deeply about our worship life, and about how we treat the place where his name dwells for us.  There’s much to be said here about propriety in worship, reverence, and of the loss of focus that has led many churches down the path to entertainment church rather than its true purpose.  And likewise, we often hear about corrupt churches and church leaders who take advantage of people and perhaps even outright steal the church’s money, God’s money, for their own lavish lifestyles.  There’s plenty of “cleansing of the church” that Jesus might do today.  But there’s even more here.

If we springboard off of “your body is a temple”, then we might confess, “yes, perhaps, a temple of doom”.  For this flesh is corrupt.  This heart is wicked.  And nothing good comes from within me.  Each of us is a little temple that needs a spring cleaning, and Lent is a good time to do it.  But still there’s more.

To truly understand the significance of the temple, we must reconsider Jesus’ teaching that all the scriptures testify to him.  That means that the temple itself, and the tabernacle before it, testify to him. 

In other words, the temple is a picture of Christ.  It points us to Christ.  It shows us, fore-shows us Christ.  We can see how:

The temple is where God dwells on earth.  Above the Ark of the Covenant, between the wings of the Cherubim, was the mercy seat – considered to be the very throne of God on earth.  The touchstone of heaven and earth.

We read in John chapter 1, “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God…. And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”  Or more literally, tabernacled among us.  My friends, that’s Jesus.  The very presence of God among us in the person of Christ.  And not only that, but incarnate.  God and man united as one in the very person of Christ.  It doesn’t get any closer than that – than for God to take on our human nature.

The temple was also the place where sins were dealt with.  And Jesus, the very body of Jesus, is the place where sin is dealt with – not just for the Jews but for all people.  “Destroy this temple” on the cross, and Jesus would rebuild it in three days.  Crucify the body of Christ, and God will raise him to life again in short order.  Zeal for God’s house consumed him, that is to say, zeal and fervor to complete his mission as the true temple – it consumed him - even unto death.  But death would not, it could not hold him for long.

And so to all of this we can say, it’s not so much that Jesus is like the temple.  Rather, the temple is like Jesus. 

We come today to God’s house.  It’s not a temple, but a church building.  It’s far more humble, much smaller, and nowhere as noteworthy or historical.  But that’s ok, because it’s our church.  And the same God who dwelt in the Jerusalem temple has promised to be with us.  The same Jesus, whose bodily temple was destroyed and raised for us, now makes his presence to dwell here, in a new way.

He makes this his temple, because this is where his word is proclaimed for us.  This place, these pieces of furniture – altar, pulpit, lectern, font – they are sanctified by his word.  They are holy.  This sanctuary is a holy place, and this chancel is pattered after the very holy of holies, because Christ is proclaimed here.  And even more.

Christ’s true body and blood are distributed from this altar.  From here, you receive Jesus.  He dwells here for you in grace and mercy, for the forgiveness of your sins.  Here he makes himself so very concrete, according to his precious words, “this is my body.  This is my blood.”  This, here, these tangible, tasteable earthy elements of bread and wine – he promises – are his body and blood for you.  It’s so real, in time and space.  He locates himself here, for you, for your forgiveness.

And so the Christian congregation is not a country club.  It is not a senior center or a youth outreach.  It is not a spiritual gym for beefing up your life of good works, nor is Sunday just another day at the office.  Nor is it even a classroom where we go to expand our intellectual understanding and become experts in Christianity. This place is where you meet Jesus, or better, Jesus meets you – for the forgiveness of your sins. 

And so the zeal for God’s house would consume him.  That is to say, zeal for the true purpose of the temple – not a giant town hall, not a marketplace for profit and certainly not a venue for greed and gain, but rather the place where sins are dealt with.  And ultimately, then, the temple is his body. 

There, in his body, did he turn the tables.  He receives the whip, as well as the thorns and the nails and spear.  His body, which is sold into the hands of his enemies for greedy gain, 30 pieces of silver.  His body, at his cross, where he turns the tables on sin and death and devil once and for all.  The true temple himself is consumed with his zeal for our salvation.

But just as his temple, his body, was rebuilt in three days, so also has he turned the tables on death for you.  One day Christ will gather all people to himself, to his judgment seat.  And the goats will be driven out forever.  And we, the sheep, will enter eternal rest.  Revelation pictures that rest as a holy city with no need of sun or moon, and no temple – for the Lord will dwell personally in the midst of us forever.

Dear Christian, may zeal for his house also consume you.  May zeal for forgiveness drive you to Christ, to his means of grace, ever more.  May you find the cleansing of your own little temple always in Jesus, until that day when after your flesh has been destroyed, you stand upon the earth and see him face to face.