“Jesus Cleanses the Temple”

John 2:13-25

(sermon note: 01-18 sermon note)

¹³ It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. ¹⁵ Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. ¹⁶ Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

¹⁷ Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”

¹⁸ But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”

¹⁹ “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

²⁰ “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” ²¹ But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.

²³ Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. ²⁴ But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. ²⁵ No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.

This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a monk, a rabbi, and a priest who were talking about how to cleanse their temples that had become overridden with squirrels. The monk said, “Well, I decided that it was God’s will for the squirrels to be there, so I left them alone.” The rabbi said, “Interesting. I spread fox urine around the sanctuary which worked for a week, but the squirrels wised up and came back.” The priest added his two cents. “Hey, I got rid of them for the most part! I caught each one then baptized ‘em so they only come back on Christmas and Easter!”

Aaaah, silly Chreasters! They’re an interesting phenomenon in church life. One would think they’d get bored only hearing the same two stories about Jesus year after year! The beginning and the end. There was a whole life in between, a whole ministry, full of rich stories that have brought people to lasting faith and belief in our Lord. Yes, the resurrection is arguably the richest of the stories but c’mon, it’s just the culmination of a multitude of stories that bring a person to faith in Jesus. Jesus did some pretty amazing things besides the resurrection. And Jesus has continued to do some pretty amazing things over the last 2,000 years. Jesus has been preaching and teaching and healing and setting people free for a long time now and it doesn’t look like he’s gonna stop anytime soon. Isn’t that just as amazing, if not more, as the virgin birth and the resurrection?! I’d argue it is. And all the miracles and teachings and witnesses of the Bible, taken as a whole, are just as powerful. We are blessed to able to reflect on them the other 50 Sundays of the year. But I imagine the Chreasters have been with us since the early church and will always be with us, so we ought to be glad to have them. They’re missing out on so much of who Jesus is though…

Well, enough about the Chreasters. The three leaders in that opening joke were tasked with cleansing their temples, not unlike Jesus in today’s reading. It’s a little disorienting that John chose to describe the event immediately after Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana, right at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The other three gospel writers have it occurring at the end of Jesus’ ministry where it serves as a sort of last straw in compelling the Jewish leaders to have Jesus arrested and crucified. How dare Jesus would come into the temple and cause such a scene of disruption! Overturning the tables and disrupting the “business” of the temple was something the Jewish leaders just couldn’t allow to happen! Who’s to say others wouldn’t follow his lead and the business of the temple was forever disrupted? No, it’s one thing to teach and heal in ways that were foreign to the temple. It’s a whole nother problem when he disrupts their money-making ventures. How would the temple survive without money? How would the church survive without money? Whether intended or not, Jesus’ actions posed an interesting question. Can the church survive without money? Jesus, of course, would say yes. The church survives on faith and faith alone. The money follows the faith. But Jesus’ primary purpose of overturning the tables and ridding the temple of them was to separate business from worship. The church needs both but there ought to be a separation between them so that our hearts and minds can focus on one or the other.

Now then, why does John choose to place this story at the beginning of his narrative rather than the end like the other gospel writers? Perhaps to undergird the importance of preparing ourselves to receive Christ into our lives. We must prepare our hearts to receive Christ if we’re ever going to receive him. Christ comes to all but only those with prepared hearts can receive him. And that preparation is different for each of us. Some of us have closed hearts. Some of us have damaged hearts. Some of us have dirty hearts. The closed hearts need opening, the damaged hearts need repairing, and the dirty hearts need cleansing. How do we cleanse a dirty heart? Through confession and repentance. Through acknowledging our sins and seeking forgiveness for them. And God in his infinite mercy and compassion promises us absolute forgiveness. John tells us in his first letter, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (1:9) In a sense, Jesus will clean the very heart that he wants to come into! How’s that for convenience?! But only if we ask him to cleanse us. Jesus has no problem cleansing us! Jesus loves us! Jesus wants to dwell in our hearts and free of any distractions to loving…loving him and those around us.

Jesus’ cleansing is important for both the church and us. Again, John writes, “But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” (1:7) We want to live in the light! Friends, living in the light is good. There is warmth and security and peace in the light. And we live in the light through his cleansing. His love is revealed to us in the light. So as we continue through this season of revelation, let us seek his gracious cleansing to welcome him into our hearts and lives. And let us give thanks! Thanks be to God!

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.