John 2:13-22

John 2:13-22 | Lent 3B | March 3, 2024 | Dr. Judson F Merrell |

Lent 3B March 3, 2024

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

 ¹⁴ In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.

 ¹⁵ Making 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.

 ¹⁶ He told those who were selling the doves, „Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!“

 ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, „Zeal for your house will consume me.“

 ¹⁸ The Jews then said to him, „What sign can you show us for doing this?“

 ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, „Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.“

 ²⁰ The Jews then said, „This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?“

 ²¹ But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

 ²² After 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. (Joh 2:13-22 NRS)

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

My mom has fairly recently learned how to text.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love my mom.  But she didn’t learn how to text because she wanted to talk to me.  Nope.  She wanted to her grandchild.  Texting may seem easy, but we all know there are some things you have to learn about texting.  For example, look at all the abbreviations that appear in text messages.  LOL means laughing out loud.  IIRC is “If I remember correctly”, and so forth.  But the biggest thing to learn is how to communicate emotion.  We have emoji’s and most folks know that the use of all capital letters means you are yelling or talking really loudly.  But besides that, it is extremely difficult to communicate emotion in written text. I would argue there are times it simply can’t be done.  That is because we need the context.  Emotion is something we hear.  It is something we see on the face of the person talking to us.  It is not something we automatically get in written text. The one caveat to this is when a story is being read.  And with a story, it may take a whole paragraph or even a whole page of a book for the author to communicate that emotion.

This morning, our text is in my opinion one of the few times where we see the true emotion of Jesus.  There are many times where Jesus is mentioned as having compassion, the Bible tells us that he wept, grieved, had joy, and was sorrowful.  As we contemplate on him turning over tables, made a whip and drove people out of the temple….what emotion would you say the Son of God was showing?  Frustration?  How about anger? This text has puzzled believers for a long time.  It is one of the only texts that show Jesus using what is described as physical force and seeming mad.  As someone who proclaims a ministry of peace and reconciliation, it is difficult to grasp why Jesus does this and why this show of force is necessary.  Why did Jesus grab up some rope, make a whip, and drive the people out of temple? In Matthew 26, Jesus chastises his followers who want to use the sword against the mob that has come to arrest him.  Why then, is this emotion of Jesus so important?

Multiple places in the Bible we read that we are to fear God.  We also read that we are to love God.  1 John 4:18 says “¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.“  This is why Jesus’ emotion is so important.  We live in the tension.  God does not rule us with an iron fist and control every single aspect of our lives.  He has given us the ability to choose.  But sometimes our choices are not the right ones and we have to be reminded that with sin, comes the consequences.  In the church we call this law and gospel.  The law condemns, and the gospel saves.  By using force, and showing us this emotional side, Jesus brings to bear the fullest extent of God’s law.  He does so to show the fullest extent of God’s grace, that through destruction of his very body, the temple, grace may abound on the world.  After this had all taken place, John tells us that the disciples remember the words of Psalm 69:  “Zeal for your house will consume me.”  I wonder if the disciples happened to remember the rest of that psalm, which is a prayer for deliverance.  It is rather long, but it says:   “⁹ It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me. ¹⁰ When I humbled my soul with fasting, they insulted me for doing so. ¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. ¹² I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me. ¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your faithful help ¹⁴ rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. (Psa 69:9-14 NRS)

Psalm 69 is a powerful psalm that speaks to our emotions and both the love we have for God and God has for us.  It is very fitting for Lent, as it wasn’t very long ago that we covered our heads with ashes as a sign of mourning.  Some are fasting during this season as well.  That psalm is also very fitting for the ministry of Jesus, as he rides that line between Law and Gospel.  Here in the Lutheran church we like to talk about the gospel more than the law, but we can’t ignore the law.  We still strive to live as children obedient to God’s law.  But we also live as children of God who are claimed in the waters of the font.  This morning we have a baptism where we see God’s grace at work right in front of us.  Like emotion, we hear the sounds.  We see the faces.  We see the action of God, and what a graceful moment it is.  Grace abounds…in this world held in tension by the love of God for all creation.  As we live in the tension, may our own emotions always reflect God and his goodness, so that grace may abound.  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.