John 2:13-22
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ 17His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ 18The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ 19Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ 20The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After 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.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
be acceptable to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Churches take a lot of pride in their buildings. We can’t always afford to care for them as we’d like to… well, I mean, we probably could if the average tithe didn’t tend to hover around 2%, but that’s another sermon for another time.
We care for our stuff. That’s why a lot of churches stay locked during the day. We want to protect the stuff inside, to keep vandals and thieves away.
Even though the most valuable stuff in the church today is probably secured with a few sheet metal screws in the heat pump outside.
Still, it makes us feel better to lock the doors so that everything is still pretty when we walk back in here next Sunday.
Because we wouldn’t want folks to wander in any random time to see what a beautiful space we have, or to make this an open house of prayer during the week.
We like our building. We like our stuff. We like it so much we’re going to lock it up.
Because Jesus treasured the Temple, right? He wanted to get the sacrifice-market and the money-changers out of the Temple because they were distracting from the beauty of the space, right?
Because it wasn’t holy. Because it didn’t look or sound or smell holy. Right?
Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!
Stop making this so ugly!
Stop making this so smelly!
Stop making this such a racket!
Right?
I mean, that’s the way we act today. We focus more on the appearance of ministry, the way our facade looks and feels, than on the meat and meaning of doing ministry.
How many of us have been to a flea market? It’s quiet and neat and orderly, with the scent of Pine Sol wafting through the air, right?
Of course not.
It’s loud and disorganized and it smells like all the stuff people are bringing in.
And what are people doing there? They’re trying to make money. They’ve got stuff they’ve invested money and sometimes time and labor in, and they want to make sure they’re compensated for it. Their job is to sell you those goods at the highest possible price.
That’s what a marketplace is.
It’s not about providing you with what you need. It’s about providing the merchants with what they need. If those two manage to come together, well and good. But if the merchant can provide you with a cheaper product that makes you happy or fools you, he wins and you lose.
That’s what Jesus is taking issue with here. People taking advantage of each other.
It’s like going to Walt Disney World or Dollywood. You pay an exorbitant fee to get in, and then you shell out gobs of cash for a hot dog for lunch. Because what else are you going to do? Drag the whiny, hungry kids all the way back through the park, past five or ten different eateries, go find your car where the cooler is, and sit on the bumper while you eat cold cuts and apples? No, of course not. You’re going to find the closest place, hand over ten bucks for a hot dog you could’ve gotten at Pal’s for two, or made at home for pennies, and feel miserable and heavy for the rest of the day so you just plain don’t want to argue with the kids about the tee-shirt, pinwheel, and flashlight that cost you an additional $50. For each kid.
Their job is to make as much money off you as possible. Their job is to take advantage of you. And make you feel like you’re getting something out of it.
Jesus saw that going on in the Temple and said, “No way!”
It is the job of the Temple and its establishment to provide the way to make the people holy. It is the job of the Temple to be a means of grace.
And all that marketplace junk was getting in the way.
By the time Jesus came along, there was a lot in Judea that was just getting in the way of helping the people toward holiness. The Temple and the law had become incredibly cumbersome.
Jesus recognized that there was inherent value and beauty in the law.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.
But Jesus was also aware how complicated and hard it had become.
Maybe that’s why John differentiates between word and Word.
Remember how John starts:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
That word is λογος, which is different from one that John uses at the end of today’s reading.
22After 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.
The scripture: γραφη.
And the word: λογος.
Not. The. Same. Thing.
The Bible: the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, the Epistles, the Gospels, all that mess is the scripture. It’s the word, the γραφη, but it’s not the Word, the λογος.
There is a fancy schmancy word we use to describe what happens when we make scripture the Word: bibliolatry.
It’s a scholarly way of pointing to commandment #2:
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
The Bible helps point toward holiness, but it can’t make us holy. Reading and studying, and even teaching will only get us so far. It’ll only point us in the right direction.
The only one who makes us holy is the Holy One.
Who cares if we do or don’t have the commandments posted in the courthouse? Is the courthouse the place that’s going to make you holy? Of course not!
I mean, neither is the church, for that matter.
We try and we try and we try to preserve some semblance of what we think is Christianity in the public sphere, but we can’t force Christ on people!
All that does is get us tied down in legalism and scripturalism.
Do you want to make a difference in the world? Offer the world Christ. Don’t hand them a Bible. Hand them your hand. Don’t preach to them, tell them they’re forgiven. Don’t proclaim their wrongdoing, proclaim Christ crucified!
Do you know why the law of the Lord is perfect? It’s because it’s simple. Remember again with me how Jesus encompassed all the law and the prophets:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
If it doesn’t make sense to simplify everything down to that essence, don’t worry. You’re in considerable company. Maybe not the best company, but nonetheless a lot of company.
25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
God’s wisdom, God’s law is love. And that is the law we’re called to heed today.
Love one another.
Then will the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart be acceptable to God.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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