King of Holiness
Notes
Transcript
Warren Brosi
February 18, 2024
Dominant Thought: Jesus loves us so much to clean us up and raise us up to new life.
Objectives:
I want my listeners to understand the passion of Jesus to honor His Father.
I want my listeners to recognize what distracts us from holy living.
I want my listeners to choose something to start or stop this season of Lent to walk closer with Jesus.
As we look through John 2.13-25, we see the actions of Jesus, the conversation He has with the religious leaders, and the response of the people.
First, we see the actions of Jesus (John 2.13-17). John, the gospel writer helps us understand much about the timeline of Jesus’ ministry by identifying the feasts that Jesus attends. In John 2.13, we read, “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover.” This feast took place in the Spring of the year. It was like Independence Day here in America. The Jewish Passover celebrated how God rescued His people from slavery in Egypt. The destroyer “passed over” the houses who had lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their houses. Moses then led them on dry ground through the Red Sea.
Passover was one of the Holy feasts people would journey up to Jerusalem to celebrate. Jesus, a faithful Jew, goes up the Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
When Jesus arrives at the temple courts, He found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. The temple was where you would sacrifice your offerings to God for forgiveness, to tell God thanks, to make things right between others. So, it is natural to expect to see animals. However, it appears that the priests would judge to see if the animal you brought was fit for sacrifice. If not, then you had to buy one of their animals at a higher rate. Also, only a certain type of currency was allowed for the temple tax. If you came with foreign currency bearing the image of the emperor, then you would have to exchange your money for the proper coins. Again, they would charge you a higher exchange rate. For more information, see The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim, pp. 368 ff).
So, when Jesus enters the temple courts, a place for the nations to gather to come close to God, he saw lots of animals and corrupt system ripping off the people of God.
John tells is in John 2.15, “So He [Jesus] made a whip out of cords...” Does this picture surprise you. I wonder how He did it. With all the animals nearby, there would be plenty of ropes or cords to find. Did He braid it? Did He twist it? Was it like Indiana Jones’ whip? He uses the whip to drive out the animals from the temple courts. Then, He scatters the coins of the money changers and turned over their tables. These are bold actions when many of us have a mild manner picture of Jesus. Remember, Jesus is the perfect Son of God. Fully God and fully human. He did not sin. These actions tells us He doesn’t like it when His Father’s house is tainted with corruption and pushing people further away from the Father’s love.
In John 2.16, we finally have some verbal words of Jesus recorded. He’s already said much with His actions. Now He speaks, “Get these out of hear! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
Upon seeing these actions and hearing these words, the disciples remembered a verse of Scripture from Sunday school. David wrote in Psalm 69.9, “for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.” The disciples can see how Jesus loves His Father and the opportunity for people to worship and draw close to the Father.
A larger view of Psalm 69 may even give us a deeper appreciation of this moment in the temple courts in Jerusalem that day. David speaks about living among people who do not honor his heavenly Father. He opens the Psalm, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck” (Psalm 69.1).
The disciples of Jesus recall this Psalm, one that describes David feeling swept over by the water, no foothold, worn out for calling for help, eyes tired for looking for God, being hated without reason, many enemies seeking to destroy him (Psalm 69.1-4). Then, they recall this Psalm with a subtle tweak, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The passion of Jesus for His Father will consume Him or eat him up…or destroy Him. His passion for His Father will land Him on a cross.
So, as we look over this scene with bleating sheep, mooing cows, manure, overturned tables, and coins rolling across the ground, we must ask ourselves a question.
A couple of friends gave me a shirt this summer that reads, “”Jesus took naps and went fishing. Be like Jesus.” I was wearing this shirt one day and another friend said, “I want the shirt that says, ‘Jesus took naps and flipped tables. Be like Jesus. Because sometimes you just need to flip a table.”
What does Jesus need to clean out of our house?
Second, we see the conversation Jesus has with the Jewish leaders (John 2.18-22). I wonder what the Jewish leaders were thinking about Jesus and their emporium that had literally been turned upside down. They have a question for Jesus. If they were in our day it may have gone something like, “Who do you think you are?” In their day, they said, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” (John 2.18). I guess the boldness to challenge their corrupt system was not enough. They needed a sign. Remember, John has recorded one sign from Jesu that we studied last week, Jesus turning the water into wine.
Jesus replies, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2.19). The temple was their prize. The Jewish leaders protected the temple. If you spoke against the temple, they could convict you. In fact, the other gospel writers, Matthew and Mark, cite this as one of the charges the Jewish leaders brought against him in the trials (Matthew 26.61; Mark 14.58).
The leaders replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days” (John 2.20). The remember how long it took Herod to rebuild this temple not too many years earlier.
John gives us some insight when he writes, “The temple He had spoken of was His body” (John 2.21). Ah, Jesus was giving a prediction of His resurrection from the dead. You want a sign? I’ll give you a sign, I’ll rise from the dead.
John tells us, “After he was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said” (John 2.22). The sign became clearer for them after Jesus rose from the dead. Ah, that’s what He meant by destroy this temple and I’ll raise it again in three days.
John tells us that the disciples believed or trusted in Jesus. In fact, he writes, “they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken” (John 2.22). What verse from today do you need believe?
Third, we see the response of the people to Jesus (John 2.23-25). John tells us about the Passover Festival. It wasn’t almost here. Now, the Passover had come. The feast where they would sacrifice a lamb and eat bitter herbs to remind them of the bitter suffering as slaves.
John the Baptist has already introduced Jesus to us in John 1.29, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
The people saw the signs Jesus was performing and believing in His name. Jesus would not entrust Himself to them. While they believed Jesus, Jesus did not believe them. He knew they may have been enamored by the signs, but not the Savior. Is it possible to see the signs, but miss the Savior? Remember these signs all point to Jesus.
Jesus knows what’s in our hearts. We cannot hide from Him. He also desires a deep rooted faith.
"The monastic life is a continuous Lent of tasting toward God's kingdom. But since there aren't many of us who are strong enough to run a marathon every day, we encourage the whole community to set aside the season of Lent as a time to refocus on our goal and strip away anything that is slowing us down in our pursuit. The best way to do this is to be diligent about unlearning bad habits and to devote ourselves to prayer with tears— to reading, to soul-searching confession, and to self-denial.” -The Rule of St. Benedict
What is something I need to start or stop to become a better follower of Jesus?
Jesus loves us so much to clean us up and raise us up to new life.