| March 26, 2000 | Conflict for Us | John 2:13-22
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Some have asked if this is my "farewell sermon." After Wednesday, I am not sure when I will have the privilege of sharing God's Word with you again, and so it may be best to consider this a farewell sermon. However, I would have to say that I don't care for the idea of a "farewell sermon." It carries with it the notion that I am up here as an individual human speaking my thoughts to you. It suggests that I would use this time for speaking about my personal feelings toward you and my departure. That would be best left to another place and time. Now, it is time to hear of our Lord and His Word. So, it would be better to consider myself and others who would occupy this pulpit as those who are placed here to speak God's Word.
This is the reason, by the way, why pastors ought to wear an alb or robe. By covering himself the identity of the man would diminish and instead you would see the called servant of the Word speaking to you. It is best to neutralize the preacher's identity so that who he is, what he looks like, etc. do not distract from the delivery of God's message to you. You see me here every week dressed the same way, which is intentional. It decreases the emphasis on my personal identity and directs you to the Lord, who is, we pray, speaking to you through my mouth. Now let us consider how God speaks to us in our text.
I wonder if most people really carefully consider what Jesus is doing in our text? I wonder, because many seem to have a lopsided view of Christianity. They start with truths: God is love. He brings peace and reconciliation. Therefore, we ought to try hard to get along with other people. Then, however, the truth gets stretched. We ought avoid conflict at all costs. We ought never speak up when things are wrong and when God's Word is opposed. We ought to overlook error.
This is lopsided. It is not really the Christian message. Of course, the chief question we can ask is whether this was how Jesus behaved. And the answer is given by today's text. Jesus did not always behave peacefully. He did not tolerate wrong. He did not avoid conflict. Instead, we see Him getting into great conflict right in our text. Perhaps He got into a conflict over something we might not even make that big of a deal about.
Many churches have considered the issue of whether there ought to be selling of wares going on in the church building. They debate whether they should charge for meals. The questions can even consider the extremes of whether we ought to be discussing money and raising funds to support worthy causes. I am not going to give you any answers on these points today. What I do want you to notice, however, is that Jesus commenced to fighting over this issue. He constructed an offensive weapon and attacked the tables and goods of those who were selling in the Temple. The point was Jesus dove into conflict over an issue of right and wrong and the holiness of God's house. He was anything but peaceful.
One of my Seminary professors pointed out the irony that people will easily get into arguments over such issues as what kinds of cars to buy but avoid discussing religion. One will argue that Fords are best and the other Buicks. Farmers argue about the types of implements to use and their color. People will argue about sports and politics. Now, when is the last time you have heard someone argue about religion? The irony here, as my professor pointed out, is that we argue about things that are of much less importance than religion. We argue about things which don't matter in eternity. You won't care if you are driving a Ford or Buick when you get to heaven or hell. What will be important is whether you get to heaven or hell. So, religion is much more important. In fact, it is the most important thing we could talk about. And it is worth getting into conflicts over matters of faith. These matters are so very important.
Do we, however, shy away from conflict. Are we afraid to get angry because we think it unloving? Wallace Hamilton wrote: Anger is not the opposite of love; often it is love's clearest expression. How can we love people and stand by while they are wounded and exploited by selfish (people)...One of the most lamentable weaknesses of our generation lies in the lukewarmness of its love--the feebleness of its protests growing out of its lukewarmness. Monstrous evils thrive right under our noses, become entrenched in politics and custom, grow brazenly insolent to every plea for decency and justice because we who are Christians do not speak. Hamilton challenges us to stand up for what is important. He calls us to speak out when conflict is necessary, rather than assume that we must avoid all conflict to love people.
I used to shy away from conflict. Lately, in my ministry the Lord has given me more strength to deal with conflict. That strength comes from Him teaching me the value of what is being defended. I don't have strength to stand up and defend what kind of car is best to buy. When it comes to matters of God's Word and the truths of the Gospel, that is another story. God has showed me the incredible value of His Word and the good news of the Gospel.
I grew up in a church that did not hold a high value on God's Word. At least part of the Bible was just a nice story, but not true, I was taught. I also never heard the Gospel. My confirmation materials never once explained that we have free forgiveness by grace through Christ's death and resurrection. I grew up without these precious gifts. Now the Lord called me to the truth just about eight years ago. Then He called me to come and serve as a pastor to share those wonderful truths with others. I share them now from the perspective of knowing how truly precious they are. We all ought to be willing to stand up for God's Word and the Gospel whenever they are challenged.
Jesus stood up for what was right and true. The animals were not the problem. It was God's will, and indeed His commandment that the sacrifices of animals be offered in the Temple. The people who came to Jerusalem from a distance needed to buy the animals used for the sacrifices. Those coming from other nations needed to exchange their foreign money so they could buy the animals. In fact, the animal sellers and money changers were offering a needed service. So, what was the problem? It seems as if Jesus has an issue with the location of their businesses.
This is testified to, as reported in our text, by the disciples remembering the statement from Scriptures in Psalm 69, "the zeal for your house will consume me." They took Jesus' actions to be a indication that He was expressing His zeal for the house of God. The temple was God's holy house in Jerusalem. Other locations were not as significant as the Temple. This was the one place on earth where the Jews would come to offer sacrifices. Jesus was filled with a determination to keep that house of God pure and holy. The problem for Him was that the animal sellers and money changers had diminished the holiness of God's temple. So, Jesus got Himself into a conflict. He picked a fight, if you will.
Next, Jesus is challenged for what He did. This we should all expect when we stand up for the truth. The Jews challenged Him and they did expect and demand a miracle, as our Epistle indicates. They would not accept Jesus' authority to do what He did with the money changers and animal sellers in the Temple, unless He proved He was somebody great by doing a miracle.
In the Gospel of John we have this Temple-clearing reported in chapter two, which would seem to be very early in Jesus' earthly ministry. In the other Gospels there is also a Temple-clearing incident, but it is reported much later, after the Palm Sunday entry to Jerusalem. Now, according to the ordering of John's Gospel, Jesus did this Temple-clearing early, before He had performed many public miracles. In fact, in John, only the miracle of turning the water into wine is reported prior to the Temple-clearing, and that was a fairly private miracle. So, not having seen other miracles, the Jewish religious leaders challenged Jesus to show a His authority by a miraculous sign.
Jesus gives the suggestion of a miracle which must have been rather puzzling at first. He said, if the temple was torn down, He could raise it back up in three days. One wonders if the first thought of His hearers was: Why would we want to destroy the Temple? Still confused, the Jews think of how it took so very long to build the temple in the first place-46 years. That is basically their response to Jesus. Implied in their response is a doubt that Jesus could actually perform this miracle. They thought it was too much of a miracle for Him to perform.
The remaining two verses of our text are spoken from the narrator. First he explains that the Jews failed to understand how Jesus typically used the term Temple. Jesus did not use it to refer to the building in Jerusalem, but rather to His body. This notion of our human bodies being temples is also reflected in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." Christ called His human body a temple also.
So, in fact, what Jesus was saying to the Jewish leaders was this: If you kill me and destroy my body, I will be raised back to life in three days. This reflects the miracle of the resurrection. Three days after Christ died on the cross, He rose back to life. The miracle that He promised to the Jews was delivered exactly as He had promised. This disciples put this point together after Jesus was raised from the dead. As John's Gospel reports, then they believed the words of Jesus and the Scriptures to which Jesus referred.
What is not reported for us is the further response of the Jews. They doubted Jesus could rebuild the Temple in three days because it took 46 years previously. We have to wonder if they then turned on Jesus and chased Him away. Did the animal merchants and money changers go away and stay away from the Temple, or did they come back? These are questions we cannot answer in this life. When we start getting a lot of questions about Scripture where we have no answers, then we are probably getting away from what the Scriptures are trying to teach us, for God is not a god of obscurity. He doesn't keep things hidden from us. What Scripture is trying to tell us is plain for us to see. So we come back to the important point being that Jesus promised this miracle of His own resurrection, and then He delivered on that promise.
In fact, His own resurrection is the greatest miracle that Jesus did. Now, some others were raised from the dead by Jesus and some of the Old Testament prophets, but they were only raised back to the same mortal earthly life. They died again. Jesus was raised, however, to never die again. That is the greatest miracle.
It is important to note, in this season of Lent, that Jesus offered a prediction. If you destroy this body, I will raise it again. The destruction of His body is where we are headed as we move toward Good Friday. The prediction does not stop with Good Friday, however, but it takes us right through to Easter and the resurrection. That is the good news. In that prediction of His death and resurrection, we have Jesus showing us the lengths He would go to for us. We have Him promising to take those steps.
We have the Gospel here, that shows us the depths of the love of our God for us. As the Epistle last week said, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
The fact that Christ faced conflict over selling in the Temple should remind us that He faced the greatest conflict upon the cross. That was the ultimate time when Jesus stood up for what is right and what is God's will for us. His will was to express His love in saving us from all sins, death, and the power of the devil. He did it, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood. He did it in the ultimate conflict-giving up His life in that conflict. As Jesus showed zeal in clearing the Temple of the merchants, He showed greater zeal in going to His death for us. Praise be to the one who went into conflict for us, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.