March 23, 2003
All Saints Lutheran Church
Pastor Tim Johnson
1 Cor. 1:18-25
John 2:12-22

I really think Scripture has some incredibly important things for us to attend to this morning. In our reading from Corinthians, we hear the contrast between the wisdom and ways of the world as contrasted with the wisdom and the ways of God. We hear about foolishness and crosses. We hear about strength and weakness. And then in this reading from John's Gospel, we hear the account of Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple, followed by prophetic talk about the coming event of Jesus' death and resurrection, and the new temple of his body.

But, I wonder what it was like the day that Jesus entered into the Temple courtyard. People, no doubt, were coming from all over. A time of great religious celebration. After all, it was the Passover--the great remembrance of God's mercy and power to deliver from the enemy. Maybe something like the scurrying that happens as people are getting ready for Christmas.

Perhaps, though, just a bit of contextual history here is helpful. A look at what was required of those who visited the Temple might help us to understand what drove Jesus to act the way he did.

Because many traveled large distances, it was inconvenient to bring their sacrificial animals with them. These sacrifices would be their offerings to God and the way they were called to remember God's great mercy and power.

And so, merchants, seeing a chance to provide a service and probably eyeing considerable profit during this time, set up areas in the outer courts of the temple in order for travelers to buy animals. The moneychangers were needed because the temple tax, paid annually by every conscientious Jewish male 20 years of age or older (Exodus 30:13, 14; Matthew 17:24-27), had to be in Jewish or Tyrian coinage (because of its high purity of silver). And so, those coming from foreign lands would need to exchange their money into the proper coinage for the tax. The moneychangers charged a fee for the exchange.“ (John MacArthur, MacArthur Study Bible, p. 1579.)

Many biblical scholars surmise that both the animal dealers and money exchangers exploited the situation for monetary gain, resulting in religion becoming crass and materialistic.

Now, where Jesus cleaned house was not the actual Temple, but the area around the Temple called, "The Court of the Gentiles." The Temple was a small building, and contained the Holy of Holies into which only the high priest could enter, and then only on the annual Day of Atonement. Several courtyards surrounded the Temple. Where the cleansing took place was the Court of the Gentiles, into which anyone might come. No Gentile could go beyond the Court of the Gentiles or they would be punished with death. There was even an inscription between the Court of the Gentiles and the other courts which said: "No stranger is to enter within the balustrade... Whoever is caught will be answerable for his death, which will ensue." Now, this inscription was a total affront to everything that God had desired for His people the Jews, whom He had called to be a "Light to the Gentiles."

God required His people to come to the Temple each year during Passover to remember His faithfulness in delivering the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. It was time set aside for the people to be reminded that God is faithful, His love is sure and unwavering, and His provision is certain for those who love Him. Each year people came to this place, laying aside everything else in their lives so as to draw near to God.

But something about all of this was horribly out of place for Jesus. Was it that people were being cheated? Was it that it had gotten too chaotic and noisy? Was it that they were celebrating incorrectly? Or, was it even more serious than that such that Jesus made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple?

“Zeal for your house will consume me.” where the words that the disciples recalled. These were words that were spoken by King David to God in a time when David was particularly besieged because as he sought to follow this God who had been so merciful and forgiving to him, he was attacked and ridiculed at every turn. In short, this is a man who knows that only by the grace and mercy of God can he raise a song to his Lord.

Out of that great love from God came a great love for God and an even deeper confidence in God's mercy. “Zeal for your house consumes me,” he said. In the presence of Almighty God, he knew that grace and mercy was given.

And now, in the Holy of Holies, in the Temple, one was to be able to receive this same grace and mercy and love of God.

But now, in Jesus' day, the focus had been lost. The temple had become a place where business and human priorities and practices had obscured the fact that it was to be a place of prayer...a place of refuge...a place of sanctuary...a place of where the sacred presence of God could be counted on to save and restore lives.

And so Jesus drives out the moneychangers and those who were selling animals. And he spoke of destroying the temple and he becoming the temple.

Isn't that scene, in a way, a bit like our lives this morning? For, as we come here into God's house, into the sanctuary of worship and into the presence of God's Holy Spirit, don't we also need to keep our focus clear? Don't we need to leave certain things in the courtyard? Aren't there some ways that we want to experience the purity and the clear proclamation of the Gospel?

And, yet, we bring it all with us in here, don't we? Our conservative and liberal politics. Our various stands on various issues. Our ethical and moral considerations. Of course, some think those things never belong in the church. That we should keep social and political issues separate from our faith. I even read a sermon this past week that said following Jesus and his demands were meant for our personal lives and relationships, but when it comes to larger matters, we were to lay that aside and just trust that those in authority were acting on behalf of God, even if it didn't wash with Jesus' life or teachings.

Some of you, perhaps, are eager for statements from the pulpit that give support for the war or a condemnation of it. For, it is something that we are called to wrestle with. And, we are called to wrestle with it through the lens of our Christian faith, trying to hear the voice of God and the promptings of the Holy Spirit, acknowledging that so often times God's ways call us to leave our other perspectives behind.

In the early Corinthian church, there had developed all kinds of divisions. Some were saying they were following Apollos or Cephas or Paul or Christ. But Paul urged them to be united in the same mind and the same purpose.

Same mind and same purpose, you say? We may wonder how that could ever be possible. What does that mean in a divided country? Perhaps, in a divided household? With divided politics and morals and ethics? Different doctrines and dogmas? Where is there ever to be unity? There is an answer.

For Paul and for all who call upon the name of Jesus, it is the cross. It is Christ crucified. In fact, he says that “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”1Cor.1:18

What does that mean? It means that the cross doesn't make sense to the world's ways of being. It means that if you try to resolve the conflicts of your marriage or of your family's conflicts or the divisions among nations by using worldly wisdom, you can pretty much count on the fact that God is up to something different. “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” asks Paul. The world does not know God through worldly wisdom, but through the cross of Christ.

Christ crucified. The definitive act of God coming in mercy. The new temple of God that is instituted in the blood of Jesus shed for you and for me. It's a different kind of exercising of power. It embraces suffering; it has courage to give one's life for the sake of another. In Philippians, it says that we are to “let the same mind be in [us] that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave...becoming obedient to the point of death--even on a cross.”Phil.2:5-8

Jesus Christ crucified is the center through which everything about us must pass--our sins, our morals, our ethics, our politics, our families, our very lives! Indeed, every rationale for our acts, for our faith, should pass through this centerpiece--Jesus Christ crucified. In that act is our forgiveness. In that act is the model for lives of mercy and service. So, though it is foolishness to the world, it is the power of God to save! Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. All who claim his name can do nothing but find this One who emptied himself for us.

Our temptation is to allow things other that Christ crucified to be the center of our lives. Other agendas. Other ideologies. Other people. Other gods. But you and I need to cling only to the Lord Jesus.

I'll leave you with a question, then, this morning. A question that I hope will help you to be grounded in the life that has been given to you in and through Christ crucified. A question, I pray, that will help you to cling to what is crucial for you and to let go of those things that are not.

What, today, would Jesus drive out of your life? What distractions? What sin? What worldly ways have been keeping you from a deeper relationship with the Lord? What anger or frustrations might he be calling you to release? What cynicism or old patterns are keeping you from experiencing the Holy of Holies?

What keeps you from seeing Christ's cross?

What in your life would Jesus drive out in order to create a space, a sanctuary for God to reside?

Food, clothing, power, money? Maybe God is calling you to quit relying upon yourself in order to measure up and instead accept the gift that Jesus is the only one who fully measures up and that He has done so for you. His life given up for you. Jesus Christ crucified. His life. His blood shed for you and for the world.

His mercy to become our mercy. Amen.