Jesus Got the Job Done

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 7686 The Boy Went Second Mile

Mr. Bryden was looking for a boy to start to work in his hardware store and learn the business. He picked three boys for a tryout, Ed Marble, Jack Morris, and Tom Beech. Taking them one at a time on separate days, to each he handed a parcel containing an aluminum pie pan with instructions to deliver it to Mrs. J. B. Peterson of 789 Chestnut Street.

Ed telephoned back to the store from a drugstore to ask whether the numbers was 798 or 897, and finally he returned with the pie pan, saying there was no such number.

Jack, on his tryout, came back in due time, bringing his pie pan and reporting that 789 Chestnut Street was a church, but that a Mrs. J. B. Peterson had lived at 789½, and had recently moved away.

Tom Beech took longer than the other boys to do the errand, but he returned without the pie pan. He had learned the same things Jack had learned, but he had not stopped there. He had ascertained the new address of Mrs. Peterson and gone there. Mrs. Peterson told him (and of course it was true) that she had ordered no pie pan. But Tom had unwrapped it and showed it to her and had told her the price that had been mentioned to him and induced her to accept it and pay for it. Which boy did Mr. Bryden hire?

Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

John 2:13–17 ESV

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

A strange scene, that day when Jesus cleansed the Temple, His Father’s house. Between the animals milling about, the sellers shouting, and the officials fuming, the people who had come that day to worship the Lord and receive His forgiveness must have been struck with awe as they watched Jesus “be about His Father’s business.”

This is a strange passage for us as well. We read it, and we conjoin to it the Synoptic passages that also speak of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple. After all, John shows Jesus doing this to remove activities and people who are seemingly not involved in the primary purpose of this building, and so do Matthew, Mark, and Luke. As Dr. William C. Weinrich writes in the Concordia Commentary, John 1:1-7:1:

John 1:1–7:1 “The Lord Will Suddenly Come to His Temple” (Mal 3:1)

All four Gospels report that during a Passover festival Jesus entered the temple precincts and forced those selling sacrificial animals to leave the area (Mt 21:12–13; Mk 11:15–17; Lk 19:45–46; Jn 2:13–22). Although the four accounts p 340 are broadly similar, even a superficial comparison will reveal that the account in John’s Gospel is significantly different from that recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. Immediately evident is the fact that the account of John is considerably longer than the Synoptic accounts. There are differences of detail: John alone mentions the sheep and oxen; John alone mentions the whip; John uses different Greek words for the money changers; John alone mentions the scattering of the coins; and John alone mentions the presence of the disciples. On the other hand, Matthew and Mark alone mention the overthrow of the seats, and Mark alone mentions that Jesus did not allow anyone to carry a vessel through the temple. Such differences of detail could easily mark the different recollections of witnesses. They are in themselves rather insignificant and incidental.

There are other significant differences, particularly as to the timing of the act. Are there two cleansings, one at the beginning and one at the end, or is there only one cleansing, which John places at the beginning of his message to make a theological rather than a chronological point, while the Synoptic writers place where it happened historically; at the beginning of the week that will end in His death?

Then, why are we reading this now, when in about a month we will be addressing these same events as part of Holy Week? You all praying with me saints? You see, if you pray for me, this will preach easy. Some body say,

preach through Him, Lord!

Oh, help me Holy Spirit! Those folks had been in that temple for years, changing money, selling sacrifices, all the little things that made the sacrifices go smoothly. They were just doing what God needed to be done in the building that He allowed them to build and from where He had promised to listen to their prayers. Surely Jesus knew those things, and surely He knew what was involved.

John 2:18–20 ESV

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”

You know, it’s a shame that we only have a few minutes for this. There is so much rich food on this plate. Let me just take a little piece of meat for you now; can I do that church?

They knew that this was the House of the Lord; Jesus hadn’t told them anything new. THAT’S why they were there in fact, just supplying the materials that the Lord had commanded. But Jesus calls it an ἐμπόριον - a market. How many of you all used to go to the club when you were younger? How many of you are still “younger?” What did folks call the club, where you were going to have a good time and hopefully, find somebody? A “meat-market!”

Jesus came in to purify His Father’s house that had been trespassed upon, where the true divine purpose of life had gotten obscured by the business of living.

You still praying, church?

When you come into your Father’s house, you need the Lord to bless you. When you come into your Father’s house, you need the Lord to hear your cry. When you come into your Father’s house, you need the Lord to see your soul so He can make you whole.

But when you have too much going on in your Father’s house - no, I’m not talking about the building that Solomon built, and I’m not talking about the building that Herod built.

I’m talking about the building that Jesus built, not with mud and stones, but with His blood and groans. I’m talking about the house that Jesus paid for and was slain for, then got up to make His claim for.

John 2:21–22 ESV

21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore 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.

Household of Faith Lutheran, the Spirit of the Lord is talking to you today. He wants you to know that Jesus cleaned you up and turned you around. He put you on the solid ground of His Word and Sacraments. Jesus wants you to know that you can hold on because He’s holding onto you. His Word has a hold of you. His Spirit has a holy grip on your life, and He won’t let go, because He told you so.

He didn’t come to beat you. He came to take a beating for you. Do you hear me Church? COVID-19 can’t beat Jesus, Congress can’t beat Jesus. Your flesh can’t beat Jesus. He’s already been wounded, He’s already been bruised. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed. Don’t look at your problems without looking unto Jesus. Don’t look at your weakness without looking unto Jesus. If you keep your eyes open and your ears attentive, the Lord will show you how much you mean to Him. He’ll show you by sending you the message of peace and reconciliation. He’ll show you through the communion of the Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The season of Lent is the season of preparation. God is preparing you for what He’s going to do. He’s preparing you Faith to shine in Lake Forest while others are stumbling in the dark. He’s preparing you, Northern Illinois District, to be the shelter in a time of storm through the Word of the Lord. He’s preparing you, Missouri Synod, to preach the pure Gospel in a corrupt and chaotic situation.

Jesus got the job done:

He has washed you clean, with the Blood of the Lamb, He has purified you with the washing of water by the Word. He has sanctified you, with the precious Holy Spirit of Promise. As long as we walk together, we can stand together, because Jesus got the job done.

As long as we worship together, we can win together, because the Word of God says that we’re more than conquerors. As long as we pray together, we are not alone because He said I’ll be there in the midst of you.

That third little boy got the job because he heard what the man said, and he did what the man wanted. God will use His people as we hear what He says and do what He wants. So Keep on listening to Pastor Jim. Keep on working with Pastor Del, and keep on praying for Lake Forest, for Illinois, for Gary, Indiana.

Keep on supporting the church, the mission, and the synod.

Because Jesus got the job done!

And let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.