Download The Third Sunday in Lent, March 11, 2012

Lent 3, Year B, 3-11-12
Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
God is Building a Temple
There is a memorable passage in C.S. Lewis’ ‘Voyage of the Dawn Treader.’
Lucy and Edmund are engaged in their adventures when they come to a large grassy
expanse. The green of the grass spreads off into the blue horizon except for a white spot
in the middle of the green expanse. As Edmund and Lucy look at this spot intently, they
have difficulty making out what it is. Being adventurous, they travel across the grass
until finally the white spot comes into view. It is a lamb! The lamb, white and pure, is
cooking a fish breakfast. The lamb gives Lucy and Edmund the most delicious breakfast
they have ever had. Then ensues a wonderland conversation as they talk about how to
get to the land of Aslan – Heaven. As the lamb begins to explain the way, a marvelous
thing happens. The lamb’s snowy white flushed into a tawny gold and his size changed
and he was Aslan himself, towering above them and scattering light from his mane.
Lewis was illustrating a great truth of our faith – the Lamb is the Lion. In Biblical terms,
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
Qualities we consider to be lamb – like, gentleness and meekness, are indeed in Christ,
but so are the regalness and ferocity of a lion. In the book of Revelation we see the Lion
of Judah and the Lamb contrasted with one another. The Lion who reigns is the Lamb
who was slain.
This morning we are told in the Gospel of John that Jesus went to Jerusalem for
the Jewish Passover. As he was approaching Jerusalem the roads became very
congested. When he entered the city the congestion became even worse, with sellers of
trinkets and souvenirs on all sides. Then Jesus entered the temple courts, “In the temple
courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables
exchanging money. From Jesus’ point of view, what he saw in the temple was an
outrage! The money changers claimed their business was a necessity – changing foreign
currency into Jewish currency because foreign money was not acceptable for offering in
the temple. Authorities tell us that the money changers charged as much as two hours of
a working man’s wage to change a half shekel. So a man would end up paying an entire
days wage just to change his money! This brought a lot of money into the temple.
Furthermore, the sellers and inspectors in the temple sold all the sacrifices. The
inspectors had a good thing going. If they did not approve an animal, it would not be
approved. Extortion was common.
So when our Lord came to the temple, he found a religious circus! As his eyes
scanned the great Court of the Gentiles, he saw sheep, oxen, fowl, and everything else
that goes with them. There was huckstering, bartering, and haggling over the weight of a
coin. The commotion going on was certainly unacceptable to our Lord! The following
verse gives a glimpse of the drama which occurred. Jesus reached down, picked up some
chords, and quickly knotted them together. Then he began to cleanse the temple. Tables
crashed and money jangled across the floor as our Lord drove the money changers, the
sellers, and the inspectors out of the temple. Jesus’ words wee, “Get these out of here!
How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market” (v. 16). The Lamb was the Lion!
Jesus was displaying a great underlying truth: Love for the downtrodden, the poor, and
the oppressed also brings about a hatred for the conditions that caused their suffering.
Jesus’ detractors came to him and said, “What miraculous sign can you show us
to prove your authority to do all this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I
will raise it again in three days.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build
this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of
was his body” (vv. 18-21). Jesus was speaking of the destruction of the temple which
would take place in forty years. He was also speaking of what would take the place of
the temple. He was speaking of his resurrection body. He would be the temple of God.
The temple where the Jews worshiped had become corrupt. That temple no longer
fulfilled its purpose of proclaiming the Word of God and the gift of God’s salvation.
Jesus was now going to build a temple which would be born out of his resurrection. In
the book of Ephesians we read: “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens,
but fellow citizens of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is
joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are
being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Eph. 2:1922).
The new temple would not be a structure of brick and mortar. The new temple
would be made up of Jews and Gentiles. Up to this point Gentiles were excluded from
the temple by a wall and signs threatening death. Both Gentiles and Jews would be
members of God’s household. It would be built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets. The prophets of the Old Testament spoke of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus
Christ. The apostles were specifically commissioned by Jesus to preach the good news of
salvation. Jesus himself is the cornerstone. The cornerstone determines the architectural
unity and symmetry of a building. Jesus is the ‘tested stone’ that sets the symmetry of the
Church. The shape and stability of God’s new temple is determined by Jesus Christ.
In Jesus the whole building is joined together and becomes a holy temple in the
Lord. The whole structure becomes a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. The
important issue here is this – the Church which is founded upon the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is not made of brick and mortar. It is made up of God’s people. If for some reason
this building of St. Luke’s was destroyed it would not stop St. Luke’s ministry. We would
simple meet in a different location. What is important is what God is looking for in his
Church. He wants a Church that will honor and glorify Jesus Christ. He wants a Church
that will hunger for and feed upon God’s Word. He wants a Church that will humbly
love him and serve him in the world. God wants a Church that honors Jesus as the Lamb
of God who has taken away the sin of the world and recognizes Jesus as the Lion of
Judah who has conquered evil and reigns victorious for all eternity.