The Third Sunday in Lent

“And [Jesus] told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade.’ And His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”

+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
           
Just recently I watched an interview with George Barna. George Barna is a Christian and a researcher and is the founder of the Barna Group, a market research firm that specializes in studying the religious beliefs and practices of Americans and the intersection of faith and culture in the United States. In his video he made an astounding assertion—that only 4% of Americans make decisions based on a Christian worldview and that only 25% of Americans even believe in a Christian worldview. Now what is a Christian worldview? Fundamentally, a Christian worldview is one that views the world through the lens of the Scriptures and the teaching of the Church. Barna’s statement, backed by market research, says that American society in general is one that has turned away from God and no longer thinks in Christian terms.

I want you to keep that in mind as we consider today’s Gospel lesson from St. John.  Today’s passage is St. John’s account of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem. What is interesting about John’s version is that it takes place very early in his Gospel account, right after the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle or sign. John tells us that Jesus returned to Capernaum after being at Cana, and then went to Jerusalem for the Passover. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, on the other hand, record the incident as taking place during Holy Week, after Palm Sunday and before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. We can resolve this problem in two ways, both of which are valid: First, Origen (one of the Church Fathers) reminds us that the Gospels are not exact biographical accounts but are accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus to proclaim to us that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah. And St. John himself tells us that if he had tried to include all the things that Jesus said and did, that there would not be enough books to contain it all (see John 21:25). John reminds us, “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name.”(John 20:31)  Second, St. Augustine (another Church Father) asserts that there is textual evidence to conclude that Jesus performed the act of cleansing the Temple not once, but twice: the first time recorded by John, the second time recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

When we consider this event, we’re a little taken aback, because we don’t see Jesus acting very warm and fuzzy for people. Last week Jesus called Peter, Satan. This week, He is driving people out of the Temple courts and overturning tables. But we understand (we think) why Jesus is angry. Jesus is angry because of the corrupt spiritual practices of the Jewish people at that time. He’s angry that the Temple, which is a place reserved exclusively for the worship of God, is being used as a market. Jesus, being the Son of God, is rightly consumed with the idea of the right worship of God, that the holy place is not to be contaminated by corrupt beliefs and practices.

We get that, and we’re appalled right along with Jesus. And we ask ourselves, “How could the Jews have allowed things to get so bad?” But that’s the wrong way to look at it. Because the truth is that spiritual corruption is built in all of us because of sin. St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans, explains to us the problem in considerable detail. Paul says that that God gave us a perfect Law, highlighted in the Ten Commandments, which we read for our Old Testament lesson this morning. God laid out for us the path to have a relationship with Him and to live a life that was both pleasing to Him and intended to bring us joy and satisfaction. But just as the Jews failed to keep the covenant they made with God, so have we. We know what is right and we don’t do it. Instead, we keep on doing the things that we know are wrong.

That is why we have no cause for self-satisfaction when it comes to the spiritually corrupt Jewish religious practices found in the New Testament. Because we’re spiritually corrupt too. If we’re honest with ourselves, when we come to church, we’re not always focused on worshipping God, we’re focused on something else. We’re focused on ourselves. Another thing that George Barna talked about in his interview is that his market research has revealed that many American Christians have a hard time staying faithful to what they profess to believe. Barna says that we have a conversion experience, and we fall in love with Jesus, and we’re really growing spiritually—for a time. Then we start to get distracted. We start focusing on other things. We begin to demote Jesus in the order of our life’s priorities. Generally, the reason for this is that we don’t want to surrender ourselves completely to Jesus. We won’t yield to Him, and say, okay, Jesus, you’re in charge of my life. Lead me to where you want me to go, and I will follow You. No, we want to stay in control.

“Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus came and cleansed the Temple because He insists that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth. And Jesus is determined that we should be right with God, no matter what it takes. C. S. Lewis wrote, “God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.” He will  not leave us alone until He has accomplished His purposes within us.

And we read further that when Jesus cleansed the Temple, he was challenged by members of the Jewish religious establishment, demanding to know by what authority He did these things.  And Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They are incredulous because they know that it took decades to build the Temple. But, as John explains, Jesus was talking about the temple of His body. What is Jesus talking about? His coming death and resurrection! Jesus’ death and resurrection is the solution to the problem of our spiritual corruption. There’s nothing wrong with God’s law and God’s plans for us. The problem is that we need transformation, not reformation. We need hearts of flesh to replace our hearts of stone. We need the Holy Spirit living and working in us so that we can follow God and live a life that gives glory to Him.

The Jews in Jesus’ time had to go to the Temple to worship God. Because the Temple of Jesus’ Body died on the Cross on Good Friday and was raised to life on Easter Sunday, then we no longer need to go to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship God. God the Holy Spirit now makes His home in us. Therefore, we can turn away from sin and spiritual corruption and worship and serve God the way we were meant to.

​+In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.