Text: John 2:13-22
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17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
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.”
Jerusalem is a hot bed for so much of the world’s religious as well as political turmoil but so is the Temple Mount.
The second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. For Jews today their activity is restricted on the Temple mount. The Dome on the Rock is there and is holy to Muslims and Jews are not allowed to pray there, though some do pray under their breath. For Jews in Jerusalem there is a growing need to rebuild the Temple, to resume the temple sacrifices and to wait for the coming of the messiah.
In our gospel reading for today we move to the book of John. As we looked at our gospel lesson in Mark last week, Jesus explained that he must suffer, be rejected by the Elders, Chief priests and the scribes, be killed and after three day, rise from the dead. Mark 8:31
Jesus was zealous both for his Father’s House in driving out those who had made it a house of trade selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, [along with] the money-changers [who were] sitting there, just as he was with Peter last week, rebuking him for “not setting his mind on the things of God.”
The Jewish leaders now ask Jesus – what is the evidence that you can give us as to your authority for doing such things, by casting those out of the temple?
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, Paul tells the Corinthians in our epistle lesson for today. 1 Cor. 1:22
So Jesus tells them,
19 … “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
As you can imagine, the Jews that Jesus is talking to believe he is talking about “The Temple” the building of the second Temple that had taken 46 years to build, where all the daily sacrifices had taken place.
This is the place where God dwells … where sin is atoned for.
You can see that not much has changed in the nearly 2000 years since the cross of our Lord. The Jews today are still rebuilding the Temple … and the cross as Paul says in our epistle is:
23 … a stumbling block to Jews and folly [or foolishness] to Gentiles,
But we who have been blessed to be brought to the foot of the cross see Jesus as our savior and trust in his work; where true temple worship is in his once and for all sacrifice for sin.
Jews look to rebuild the Temple and resume the sacrifices while Gentiles see foolishness in belief of a saving God, especially one who has takes on flesh.
Their wisdom tells them to trust in self.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 cor. 1:25
But many fall short. For some, the stumbling … or the foolishness is just plain stubbornness.
It remains a problem for many still today. For the Jews the Temple remains something to be rebuilt and stumble while others believe that the Cross of Christ remains [foolishness], or something to be seen as weakness and not the power of God.
The cross is an offence, so much so that at times we shy away from it, especially in the midst of the world.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book: Life together writes,
“Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God.
So the Christian too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community
In the turmoil of the world the cross of Christ will be a stumbling block or foolishness.
When I went back to college to get the required courses so that I might get qualified for going to the seminary I took a class on the Bible. It was a secular class that looked at the text and asked us to analyzed in our papers what we thought it said and what we believed it meant.
Most people took the class to fulfill an elective requirement and thought it might be easy or as a class for non-credit but of interest and enrichment.
I sat next to a nice Jewish man who turned to me during one of our classes and said, “When we get to the New Testament, you’re going to have to help me!”
Not an unexpected response. It was not part of his understanding.
My friend Mark had a different obstacle. I bought him a Bible during one of our many years of discussions and he had a problem – a stumbling block with one page. It was the one page between Malachi and Matthew. It read The New Testament. Mark said to me, “I couldn’t get past it so I tore it out. Now, it’s one book.”
The stumbling and foolishness of that one page was just too much for him. But, God by his Spirit gave him wisdom to see and overcome it. God has opened the eyes of his understanding and has brought him into his family of faith.
For many though Jesus life death and resurrection remain a stumbling block and foolishness.
21 But [Jesus] 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.
In spite of our weakness and in spite of our failings God in Christ was focused on the cross for you. The Temple of his body that was destroyed for you is victory! It is victory because the full wrath of God was poured out on Jesus and as a result you have no fear of standing before our holy God.
God in Christ has taken your sin and my sin upon himself and has given you and all who believe his righteousness in exchange for it – what wonderful good news – and as a result we are free of the bonds of sin, death, and the devil and are covered by Christ’s righteousness and made his child through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Christ is consumed with his zeal for you and just as he has been raised … you too will rise!
May our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, who has redeemed you, and called you through the power of the Holy Spirit to faith, complete this blessed good work in you now and forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen.
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