Third Sunday in Lent (2024)

Goal: That the hearer be convicted of his own dishonor and sin before God and believe that Christ's consuming zeal has redeemed him.

IN JESUS’ CLEANSING THE TEMPLE, WE SEE CHRIST’S ZEAL REVEALED.

It's amazing how rude people can be to one another. Maybe someone raised their voice harshly to you in a public situation. Maybe you hear language at work or during a hockey game that doesn’t even belong in the locker room. We like decorum, quiet, calm.

Sometimes, though, what appears rude—socially inappropriate—may simply be the outburst of strong conviction. Someone sees a miscarriage of justice or something wrong going on and just can’t remain quiet or polite. Or, perhaps you hear someone say something about your Lord and His Word that is completely false, which cannot stand. Conviction, zeal for a cause, demands a dramatic, applecart, upsetting response.

In our text this morning, Jesus upsets apple-carts (and more!). He creates a scene and grossly offends. Rude? In reality, No! What we have here is zeal for God’s house. Finding his Father's house being misused and abused, Jesus’ zeal simply can’t be kept under wraps. It’s got to burst out in action.

IN JESUS’ CLEANSING THE TEMPLE, WE SEE CHRIST’S ZEAL REVEALED.

The zeal of Christ is revealed in his Passover, his person, and his power to save us. As a result, we, the Church of God, his temple in the world, are called to be a people zealous for good works (Titus 2:14).

Christ’s Zeal is Revealed in His Passover.

Today’s text occurs as Jesus comes to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. For centuries, the Passover had been a chief revelation of God’s zealous love for sinners.

The Passover, you remember, had climaxed the plagues by which God had brought his people out of slavery in Egypt, something you heard our seminarian, Alex, preach on last Wednesday.

Every plague demonstrated God’s zeal for the greatest commandment: “Love the Lord your God.” Each plague was an ironic twist on the false gods of Egypt.

The Egyptians worshiped the Nile, frogs, the sun, and first-born sons. In the various plagues, God turned each of these against them.

Each plague was God’s zealous deliverance in action; every plague was God’s zealous righteousness, opposing false gods and unbelief.

Now, in our text, the zeal of Christ for the true God is revealed as well. Jesus is consumed by the sin against the temple.

All those centuries, roasted lambs had conveyed the Passover miracle. God was zealous for a people of Passover as he passed over their sin for the sake of the bloody Lamb to come. Every animal whose blood was shed was a sign pointing toward the ultimate sacrifice, God in the flesh.

Now, God in the flesh comes into his temple. God would not spare his own firstborn Son in the conquest of our idolatry and false worship, but gives him willingly so that we “passover” from death to life by his zealous life, death, and resurrection.

Are we living today as people of the Passover? Or, are we like the Israelites of old whom God saved from their bondage to the Egyptians, yet except for two, that first generation all never made it into the Promised Land?

They had it all, yet their unbelief of that first generation of Israelites resulted in death in the wilderness, instead of entrance into the Promised Land—that is, except for Joshua and Caleb.

Since we are the people whom death has passed over, how can we not zealously spread that word to others? “Passover” is a powerful word. It speaks Law to those not covered in blood, yet it speaks Gospel to those covered with the blood of Christ, the Lamb. Jesus’ zeal, revealed in the Passover, covers us.

But, does it also move us?

Goal: That the hearer be convicted of his own dishonor and sin before God and believe that Christ's consuming zeal has redeemed him.

Christ’s Zeal is Revealed in His Person.

Christ’s zeal is revealed, second, in his person—so different from ours! Our zeal is often like that of the merchandising Jews, as we use God’s Church for our own ends.

We seek the glory and adulation of others. Pastors and elders use their positions to manipulate their people. Worshipers seek a person-centered service of good feelings and emotional highs to draw people in rather than a God-centered one.

We worship with dollar bills rather than tithes, as God said we ought to do. And when times get financially challenging, we employ the wisdom of the world instead of listening to what God has told us. We think a fund-raiser is what we are missing; in reality, we just need to do what God has told us. Or if we give our tithes, but with tainted motives, perhaps wanting control over how it is spent.

If we are not seeking glory and adulation, or financially motivated, our thoughts wander while in worship. We treat his Sacraments casually, as if it really doesn’t matter. We don’t really believe that He is physically present in the Sacrament, washing away our sins again, making us clean and fit for Himself.

In reality, only God’s perfect person can meet our pitiful person. The “zeal of the LORD of hosts” (Is 9:7 ESV) meets us in the person of Jesus Christ.

We refuse to bow to decorum if it means compromising God’s house.

No polite “Well, let's see about this,” when it would rob God’s people of the comfort and assurance of forgiveness they should receive when they come into the temple.

No playing it safe, blending in, keeping quiet, even though this sort of outburst will get him killed.

No greater love, no greater intensity, no greater mercy, no greater humility could be shown us sinners than what we see in the person of Christ.

With all zeal, Jesus was obedient and reversed the curse handed down in the Garden of Eden.

With all zeal, Christ Jesus overpowered the devil and bound him forever.

With all zeal, He covers us today with the flowing and drenching waters of Baptism.

The zeal of his body and blood covers, cleanses, and cures us from our sin.

This person of the Lord Jesus Christ is authentic and genuine.

Unlike the money changers and sinners like us, He offers more than a fair exchange.

He exchanges our guilt for His acquittal.

He exchanges our crosses of damnation for His cross of salvation.

He exchanges our weaknesses for the strength of His resurrection.

He exchanges the weak things of our world for the strong world of his heaven.

He exchanges, on the Last Day, our vile bodies for His victorious, resurrected one.

Goal: That the hearer be convicted of his own dishonor and sin before God and believe that Christ's consuming zeal has redeemed him.

Christ’s Zeal is Revealed in His Power.

For you see, Christ’s zeal is revealed in his power. The money changers had power.

The pious Jews coming to receive an even exchange were abused by the powers in those high places. Temple currency.

But the power of God is His zeal to save people abused by the world’s system. That was no weakling Christ, no coward wielding that whip! And the grossly offended powers-that-be in the temple weren’t seeing the half of it. This was almighty God!

When we feel abused by inflation, by poor health, or by our unfair share of struggles, when we feel no zeal or passion for life, know this: His Holy Spirit is near.

Luther’s Small Catechism

Our Father who art in heaven.

What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.

In any time of need, we don’t revert to the wisdom of the world, which is foolishness to God, we turn to our Father who loves us and promises to supply our every need.

St. Paul reminds us boldly,

Romans 1:16 (NASB95)

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…

St. Paul was transformed from a zealot of self-righteousness to a servant of Christ Jesus. As he counsels us in today’s Epistle reading, he exchanged his own foolishness for the wisdom of Christ.

The power of Christ is unmatched, and Christ’s zeal is tuned by his love for you. His energies all move toward the intent of his Church.

Even the gates of hell cannot prevail against this lowly yet mighty body of believers.

His zeal and his power will one day raise our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.

Christ’s zeal, though seemingly destroyed on the cross, was instead raised in power on Easter.

And because he lives, we live forever.

IN JESUS’ CLEANSING THE TEMPLE, WE SEE CHRIST’S ZEAL REVEALED.

In His Passover, his person, and his power, which all proclaim his zeal to keep you forever.

“Salvation unto us has come

By God's free grace and favor,

Good works cannot avert our doom,

They help and save us never.

Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone,

Who did for all the world atone;

He is our one redeemer”

(LSB 555:1).

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

NOTES:

Sermon Theme: In Jesus' cleansing the temple, we see Christ's zeal revealed.

Text: John 2:13-22

Other Lessons: Psalm 19:7-14; Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Goal: That the hearer be convicted of his own dishonor and sin before God and believe that Christ's consuming zeal has redeemed him.

Liturgical Setting

The season of Lent enables us to see Jesus at his best. How foolish (Epistle)for us to presume that our obedience can merit God's favor. The Introit speaks clearly (“My eyes are ever on the Lord”) of the zeal of the Lord Jesus, in our place, looking to the Father wholeheartedly. The Gradual invites the Church then to “fix our eyes on Jesus,” because in him our faith is viewed as perfect by the Father. The Collect reminds, “We of ourselves have no strength, “but God’s zeal, performed in Christ and declared to God's children, keeps us from all “that may assault and hurt the soul.”

Textual Notes

V 13: The Passover was a red-letter occasion for Jews, requiring an appropriate offering to the temple. Before us is marked the glory of Christ as the Lamb, the Temple, and the Passover (Jn 1:36; 2:19;1 Cor 5:7).

At a later Passover, his final one, Jesus will find a similar scene and react in a similar way (Mt 21:12-13). With the profit to be gained from exchanges, there is no doubt Jesus performed this cleansing repeatedly.

Vv 14-15: Some exchanges during Passover were legitimate, as foreign currency was involved and some travelers found it impractical to transport animal sacrifices. God had provided for this (Deut. 14:24-26). In some cases, though, the money changers would discard worthy animals brought by worshipers and require purchase of a temple animal. The cost was often exorbitant. Hence the temple had become a warehouse.πol-ήσας, an aorist active participle, indicates Jesus’ readiness to act before even saying a word. Rope was in ample supply as larger animals were restrained. Jesus exited both men and beasts from the temple proper.

Some scholarship suggests that the selling took place in the Gentiles’ courtyard, robbing even earnest Gentiles of the opportunity to approach the true God.

V 16: Jesus gives ownership of this temple to his Father. “Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise” (NKJV), έμπορíov (literally, “of trading, gain-setting, unjust dealing"). In this Greek word, one sees the English “emporium,” a marketplace.

V 17: Here we see the Lord's high regard for worship and prayer. καταφάγεται, “will eat up,” indicates that Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Ps 6:9. Just as Jesus èσ-πλαγχνίσθη ("yearned from the inward parts") for the multitude (see Mt 9:36),so, too,his depth of passion for the purity of worship is without comparison.

Vv 19-20: τòv ναòν τοûτοv, “this temple,” “this sanctuary.” The unbelieving Jews were so consumed with the temple building that they missed the Lord, the true Temple. The temple was to proclaim the sacrifice standing before them. Jesus' body would be destroyed, but it would be built again on the third day. Notice, Jesus does not say that he will destroy the temple, as later charged (Mk 14:58; see also Mt 27:40), but rather challenges the Jews to “destroy (λύσατε) this temple,” which they will do when they crucify him. Ironically, by doing so, they would also be tearing down their own sanctuary. All men have done the same in relation to God's glory, by disobeying his holy will.

Vv 21-22: God’s Son became one with us by virtue of his fleshly body (τοû σώματος αύτοû). Our destruction is then destroyed with his death. Conversely, our resurrection is then secured by his. Christ's sinless and obedient form declares our sinful form free.