Second Presbyterian Church

"I Saw It Happen"
March 23, 2003

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2003 » Sermons for March 2003

3^rd Sunday of Lent, Year B
by Nicodemus

• Exodus 20: 1-17
• John 2: 13-22

Let me introduce myself. My name is Nicodemus and I am a Pharisee. I am the one who came by night to ask Jesus some questions. And I am the one who accompanied Joseph of Arimathea and anointed Jesus' body with myrrh.

What I want to share with you today is what it was like on that day Jesus came to Jerusalem, just before the feast of Passover. It was Spring, the days were longer and the weather was very nice. Passover was one of the most important festivals in our Jewish calendar. It was the feast that remembers the time of the exodus from Egypt, when the Lord, through Moses, led us from the bondage of Egypt and into the wilderness where the Children of Israel received the Law from Mount Sinai.

Pilgrims would gather in Jerusalem from all over the known world, faithful Jews from Asia, Africa and Europe would gather for the feast of the Passover. It has been said that as many as 2,700,000 persons would gather in the holy city during this festival. For my era, that is a lot of people!

Now, in our ritual at that time, two thousand years ago, much of the liturgy and rites involved animal sacrifices and offering. We were to bring offerings of sheep, oxen, even doves for certain sacrificial ceremonies. These animals were slaughtered and offered to the LORD for the appeasement of sin, for offerings of thanksgiving and for prayers for a prosperous harvest, or year.

But there was a logistical problem. As you can imagine, it was not very practical to travel long distances with live animals that would be used for sacrifice. Not only that, but the sacrificial animals had to be without blemish, in perfect condition, not lame or scarred. Even if a pilgrim started on the journey toward Jerusalem with sheep, or oxen that were suitable for the temple cult, it was probable for that animal to have been killed, maimed, or injured before the pilgrim ever arrived in Jerusalem. And a killed, maimed or injured animal was no longer suitable for sacrifice.

So, the temple priests had arranged to provide acceptable animals for sale in the Court of the Gentiles. That was the outer court. It was very large and open space. It had developed the atmosphere of a farmer's market. It provided a situation where the pilgrims could purchase the needed animals for the cultic sacrifices.

There was another logistical problem. The currency of Rome was not suitable for use in the Temple. It bore the image of Caesar and was inscribed with his divine title, Caesar's claim to be a god. Since it bore the image of a man and claimed to be a god, Roman currency was forbidden beyond the Court of the Gentiles. So, there were "money changers" in the Court of the Gentiles. These weren't people who were giving you change for a 20, or 10, or coins for a dollar. They were exchanging the Roman currency for the Tyrian currency, the temple currency that could be legally used in the Temple for the offerings, temple tax, and for tithing.

It worked something like this. Pilgrim A, from Spain or Italy would arrive in Jerusalem, purchase the animals he needed for the proper sacrifices and exchange his Roman currency for the temple currency. Then he could worship the LORD, celebrate the liturgy of the feasts and pay his offerings. It all seemed pretty neat and well worked out. It was all Kosher.

I've told you all of this, because you might not realize that the animals for sale and the money exchange were absolutely necessary for the temple cult and worship to take place. It helps to note that Jesus did not accuse them of being robbers, as the accounts of the temple cleansing in Matthew, Mark and Luke indicate.

It is not because there was widespread cheating going on by the merchants that Jesus did what he did. In fact at that time in Jesus' life nobody really understood why Jesus came into the Court of the Gentiles and began removing the animals and overturning the tables of the money changers. Even his own disciples did not understand what Jesus was doing, until after he was resurrected!

What Jesus was doing was challenging the temple cult. To become reconciled to God was no longer by way of the Temple cult and its sacrifices. All the animal sacrifices and offerings that had degenerated into a market culture were not what it took for people to be righteous and faithful in the eyes of the LORD.

Jesus was being very, very bold! He was saying that He, Jesus of Nazareth, was THE way to the LORD! He was the sacrifice that really counted, not the animal sacrifices.

He had said, "destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." What was Jesus talking about? First of all, it helps to understand what "temple" means: it means the "location of God's presence." Jesus, when he said those words, was saying that one does not find God in the cult and the sacrificial rites of the Herodian Temple. The temple, where one finds the true presence of God, is in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Messiah!

This is why I believed that it was important to come back to you, after nearly 2000 years, to explain this passage of John's gospel to you. It is similar to the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned the water into wine. Again, he used the jars that were used to hold the water for the rite of purification. People had to be ritually pure in order to perform certain religious and ceremonial functions. People had to go through certain ceremonies in order to be cleansed, ritually clean.

And what does Jesus do? During a wedding party, he orders the jars to be filled with water and then he turns it into wine. It is time to party and celebrate what God is doing through Christ. He is the good wine that came last of all. He was the superior solution to the plight of humanity, far superior to all the cultic rituals of that time and of your (present) time, too!

(Nicodemus takes leave)

So what does all this mean for the people of the Christian Church in the year 2003? The detail is interesting and we now have an appreciation for why there were animals sold in the outer court of the temple, and the money exchanged. It wasn't because the religious leaders were corrupt, as such. It was because the worship of the LORD had become dependent upon this ritual and that ritual. It had become dependent upon certain, rightly administered practices, rather than upon the love and gratitude and praise that we have for such a sovereign and awesome and loving and merciful God!

And this passage, in keeping with the season for Lent, encourages us to continue to focus our attention upon the true presence of the LORD, Jesus Christ. Whose body was the true temple and who invites us to become temples too. We are to provide a place, in our hearts, in our congregation for the LORD to preside. We are to provide a place, in our hearts, in our congregation for the LORD to be present. We are to provide a place, in our hearts, in our congregation for the LORD to manifest himself so that people around us will experience the presence of God even as we live our lives!

To put it another way, when we focus upon Jesus, the one who lived, died upon the cross, and rose from the dead - when we keep our focus upon Jesus, then we become the presence of God to those around us.

What does it look like? It looks like us, living out the commandment of Christ. It looks like us when we love the LORD, with no other gods put ahead of the LORD. It looks like us when we love God with all we have, mind, body, soul and strength. It looks like us when we love our neighbors as ourselves. It looks like us when we love our enemies, when we pray for them and - when the opportunity arises - when we minister to them and bless them.

I believe that our Gospel lesson reminds us again that our rituals, even the ones practiced here, can never replace Jesus Christ in our lives. It reminds us to remember that our redemption was purchased at great cost to God, and that is what reconciles us to God and to one another. Nothing, no statement, no deed, no sacrifice, no ritual can even come close to accomplishing what Jesus of Nazareth did for us and for all humanity when he died for our sins and rose from the dead so that we can be alive in and through him!