First Sunday in Lent

John 2:13-22

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he 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. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

So 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.

God went to the first people, who’d sinned (according to our Old Testament lesson), and said, “What is this that you have done?” Shortly thereafter, He declared that a Savior would be coming, Who would fix what had been broken.

Isn’t that what happens in a place like this every single week? God comes to you in His Word and says, “What is this that you have done?” Convicted, you, as a sort of modern Adam and Eve, confess your sins (we presume that after they got through making excuses, they did too), and you hear the pastor say that a Savior has fixed what you have broken. He has turned the accusation you owned onto Himself, so that God was saying to Him now, “What is this that you have done?”—and He was made to face your consequences.

God’s House exists for that purpose, for the purpose of Him confronting you with your sins, you confessing them, and Him declaring to you again the grace that He has provided in the substitutionary death of the Savior, Jesus. The end of it all is that your Spirit-given faith endures unto eternal life with Him in heaven. God’s House exists for that purpose.

So, when Jesus arrives at the Jerusalem Temple for Passover and finds what He finds, He is overcome with righteous zeal to put right the wrong that He sees.

It occurs to Him immediately, that the impression one gets at the scene in God’s House is not that it is the place in which God confronts sinners, they repent, and they receive His grace, but rather that it is a house of trade. Whatever necessary selling of sacrificial animals to far-off travelers may have formerly been done has more recently given way to an atmosphere unbecoming of God’s House. It doesn’t appear to exist for its original purpose anymore. God’s House doesn’t appear anymore to exist for the purpose of God speaking necessary words to sinners.

To bring that situation about is the devil’s purpose. His purpose is to prevent people hearing God speaking necessary words to them.

Think of how he does that in our Old Testament lesson. He goes to the ones to whom God’s has already spoken, and he works to undo what God has done, he works to deceive. He implies that it would be naive to think God’s perspective is the only perspective, that the peoples’ own truth isn’t just as legitimate, just as wise, to be valued just as much.

We might imagine the situation in our text came about in the same sort of way. Travelers to Jerusalem for feasts like the Passover had been burdened with trying bring sacrificial animals with them on their long journeys. A solution had been conceived by some well-meaning congregant, that animals be made available for that purpose near the Temple (presumably at a respectable distance so as not to overshadow the true purpose of God’s House, OF COURSE!). But at some point in time, not overshadowing the true purpose of God’s House became less important than the convenience of being closer (perhaps also than the prospect of making even more money in the endeavor).

We can imagine the thought process. Do you really think being a little closer to the actual Temple is going cause such a problem? I mean, what are we even doing subjecting ourselves to this inconvenience? We’re trying to provide a service here! (Others around say, yeah, yeah, that makes sense, yeah. We gotta get closer.).

So, having set things up, now, in such a way that those entering the Temple must enter through the area of the sellers, at some point someone says, Would it be any problem, you think, if we were to put signs all around the area, directing people to each of the specific spots where things are being offered for sale (probably also with prices on them)? I mean, it’s going to be a whole lot less distracting for worshipers if they don’t have to work so hard to find what they need. Their minds are going to be so much more focused on the worship. So, now there are market-like signs all around.

Having moved the buying and selling area immediately in front of the Temple, and having put advertising everywhere, someone says, You know what would make this even more convenient for weary travelers?—connected restaurant. They gotta eat, right?! What kind of people are we, letting them worship on an empty stomach. That’s not neighborly! (Others around are saying, No, no; you’re right, you’re right. Gotta have a restaurant).

Pretty soon this perhaps initially well-meaning service of providing travelers to Jerusalem with necessary sacrificial animals in the vicinity of the Temple is now a market blocking the Temple, distracting weary travelers from the very purpose of God’s House, which is Him confronting them with their sins, them confessing them, and Him declaring to them His grace in the Savior. The devil has succeeded in turning God’s House into a house of trade. Sellers and buyers together have lost what God has intended for them have in His House.

That’s what Jesus’ righteous zeal in our text all about. It’s about the very purpose of God’s House being lost as peoples’ reasoning related to it has replaced their desire to receive from God what He wants them to have.

Their sin of elevating their reason over God’s Word feels very close to home, doesn’t it? Hasn’t it also been your sin sometimes to justify things you know are wrong, to find a way to massage it so that once you’re done making a case for the wrong, it actually comes out sounding like right! It actually comes out sounding (this thing that comes into conflict with God’s Law) like the only righteous thing to do. You have given in to the same temptation as your first parents, haven’t you?  You have let the devil talk you into putting aside what God has said in favor of what you really prefer. You are your first parents’ child. Your confession earlier was right on the money when you said you have justly deserved God’s temporal and eternal punishment.

Having clarified for the people the purpose of God’s House as the place at which He speaks to us, Jesus speaks again the critical message. He talks about His purpose for being here. To those who are determined not to believe, it is obstructed from their view in a sign, like a Temple entrance obstructed with a market. They are unable to see through it, to grasp what He is saying to them about Himself.

Later, the disciples understand though. After Jesus has suffered and died, remained in the grave three days, and risen from death, they recognize that when He says here, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”, He is talking about His body. He is saying what God wants to say to people who come to His House: for sinners He has provided a Savior—His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. He has provided the One Who couldn’t be manipulated by the devil during forty days of temptation in the wilderness—couldn’t be made to imagine that whatever He could think up in his mind was wiser than what God has said. The only time God says to Him, “What is this that you have done?”—it’s because He has taken upon Himself what you have done. He has put Himself in your place for accusation, condemnation, termination. The temple of His body is destroyed as if He were the one out of all the people who put His own human reason over God’s Word.

So, in this place every single week, God comes to you in His Word and says, “What is this that you have done?” Convicted, you modern Adams and Eves confess your sins and hear the pastor say that a Savior has fixed what you have broken. He has turned the accusation you owned onto Himself, so that God has said to Him and not you, “What is this that you have done?”—and He has faced your consequences. He has bought your forgiveness. You are forgiven of every sin. God’s House has fulfilled its true purpose. Your faith is revived in order to endure unto eternal life. God be praised. Amen.