Introduction: Have you ever wanted – even needed – something but you couldn’t get it. It was right there in front of you. It was within your reach. But you couldn’t get it. It was in front of you, you wanted it and yet something or someone prevented you from having what you wanted.
We’ve all been there. I’ve been there more than once, but never was it so painful and so frustrating and so overwhelming as it was when Katy, my oldest daughter, was born. As many of you know, Katy was born two months pre-mature. She decided that the world should be graced with her presence as soon as possible…so two months before her due date she joined us.
The problem with a baby joining the world two months early is that a baby isn’t ready to join the world yet. There’s a reason it takes nine months…not seven…for a baby to be born. And when they show up early some of the basic functions that we take for granted are up and running yet…like breathing, swallowing and sucking (thus eating), the ability to handle stress, etc. All of this to say that the world we live in is an incredibly hostile environment for a premature baby.
As a result, the hospital staff, doctors, etc. take great pains to protect the little one and my Katy was hooked up to all kinds of monitors, and tubes and IVs and placed in a small plexiglass box where we could see her, but rarely touch her. For the first month of her life, she lived in this little glass box and we could only hold her once every few hours to try and feed her.
We lived in Concordia, KS which was not equipped to deal with this kind of medical crisis so Katy was in the hospital in Wichita…more than two hours away. Merita stayed with friends in Wichita during the week and I stayed in Concordia and worked and took care of the boys. Every Monday I would drive Merita down to Wichita and for a couple of hours I would get to see Kaitlyn…even hold her for a few minutes…but if the timing were wrong, if we were late and missed the time when the staff said she could come out of the box…then I wouldn’t get to hold her until Friday when I picked Merita up so she could spend the weekend with us back in Concordia.
Let me tell you that when you want to hold your little girl and can’t it’s an incredibly frustrating, hopeless, painful feeling. What you want is right there….but someone or something prevents you from having it…it hurts.
My inability to hold my little girl when I wanted to was for her own good. So she could grow and develop and come home to live with us as a healthy newborn. And I knew that so it made the pain bearable…but just barely. However, there are times when we want or need something and it is prevented, we are blocked from getting that which we so desperately need or want and the prevention is not for the good. It’s because someone is calloused or selfish or is just plain evil and they prevent us from getting what we need. Sometimes its just carelessness on the part of others that block our access to what we want and need.
That’s what we’re looking at today. Jesus is confronted with a situation where people want…actually need…something desperately, but there are others that are preventing them from getting what they need.
As we continue to unfold and look at this compelling portrait of Jesus we going to dive into the book of John again. We’re picking up where we left off last week. We’re in John chapter 2.
I want to begin by reading this passage…taking a quick glimpse at the narrative that John gives us and then we’ll dive into it. And remember…with John you have layers to the story. You have the historical event that he recounts, but you also have the “Story behind the story.”
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!"
His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
John 2:13-17 (NIV)
We have here a compelling portrait of the anger of Jesus. Here is a man who was gentle and compassionate. Who cared for those who could not care for themselves. And here we see his anger revealed. This is an important event in the life and ministry of Jesus. It is recorded in all 4 Gospel accounts.
Mark, Luke and Matthew all record this event as happening at the END of Jesus ministry but John records it at the beginning…what’s up? Remember, John’s purpose is not primarily historical but rather theological. John did not write a chronological historical account of the life of Jesus. He shared the highlights of Jesus’ ministry…key events…for what purpose?
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written 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 20:30-31 (NIV)
So, with that in mind, let’s look at this compelling event from Jesus’ life.
The Historical Event – Cleansing of the Temple
Jesus, being a God-fearing and law abiding Jew goes to Jerusalem for the Passover. Upon arriving in Jerusalem he goes to the temple and, John tell us, In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
Now we need to understand that this isn’t something that just happened one day and Jesus had never seen it before. This was a common practice. If Jesus had been to Jerusalem before he would have seen this going on…so what exactly was going on? I mean, had a bunch of farmer decided that the temple was a great location to open up shop? Were they trying to capitalize on the heavy foot traffic in the area? And what’s with the money changers? What were the changing the money into?
Let me try to explain it a little bit.
Temple worship (worshiping God at the temple) involved animal sacrifice. Devout Jews would travel from all over the world to Jerusalem so that they could go to the temple and worship God through the sacrifice of an acceptable animal.
Traveling great distances made it impossible to bring the animals with them so they would come to Jerusalem and purchase and animal to be taken to the temple and offered as a sacrifice.
The men selling animals in the temple courts were doing a service for the pilgrims by providing them with a necessary victim for sacrifice. However, there was a little bit ( a lot really) of graft going on. Animals offered as a sacrifice to God had to be pure and without blemish. You couldn’t offer lame, or blind, or mangy animals. The temple priests would inspect the animals to see if they were acceptable.
There were people in town who would sell animals to travelers for a set price (let’s say $10 for a lamb). But the people who sold the animals in the temple courts would charge 3 to 4 times as much. And quiet often the priests would inspect the animals and reject the ones bought outside the temple courts but accept the ones bought at a higher price. Thus the sellers (and probably certain priests) were making a killing…an unfair profit…off of pilgrims who had come to worship God. This angered Christ…and rightfully so.
The money changers also were providing a legitimate service. When people came to worship God they had to pay what was known as the “Temple Tax.” This was a necessary tax in that it provided the income necessary to keep the temple running. The tax was the equivalent to almost two days wages. In first century Jerusalem there were lots of different currencies floating around. You had Roman coins, you had Greek and Egyptian coins, you had coins from Tyre from Sidon and even Palestinian coins. All were valid as currency, but the temple tax was required to be paid in Jewish coins. Pilgrims arriving from around the world for Passover would have to change their money from their home currency to the currency acceptable as a gift at the temple and so the money changers provided the service of “changing the money” into an acceptable currency for the temple tax. And to do so, they charged a fee. This was acceptable since they were providing a legitimate service…however they tended to charge an outrageous fee, fleecing the pilgrims of an additional two or three days wages for the privilege of converting their currency.
Here you had people who could have been and should have been providing legitimate services to aid others in worship but instead, they were hindering worship. These men were keeping pilgrims from worshiping God, they were standing in the way of the pilgrims’ opportunity to connect with God.
This is what angered Jesus. Not the activity that was going on, but the fact that the activity was used as an opportunity to steal from the poor and prevent them from worshiping God.
But it was even worse than that. See, the temple was set up so that outside of the holy place where the priests would offer sacrifices on the altar was the court of the men of Israel. In this place the men could come and pray and worship God. Then you had the court of Israel which is where Jewish women could come and pray and worship. Outside of this was the court of the Gentiles. This is the place that everyone who was not a Jew, but wanted to worship God was allowed to come to pray.
The problem was that the livestock traders and the money changes had set up shop in the court of the Gentiles. They were preventing those who were seeking God from having the opportunity to come and worship and pray.
This is what angered Jesus so. That in the name of God, in the name of worship there were those who would prey on the pilgrims and by their actions prevent some people from having the opportunity to come and connect with God.
This was a violation of everything the temple stood for…the purpose of the temple was that it was where people would come to worship, to connect with God, and they were being prevented from that on the temple grounds and by the very system set up for worship.
This is why Jesus went through the temple courts driving out the sellers of animals and turning over the tables of the money changers. He couldn’t stand by and watch while genuine worshippers were prevented from entering the presence of God.
That’s the historical record…Jesus driving the money changers out of the temple. But what else is John saying. What is the “Story behind the story?”
John’s “Story Behind the Story”
In this case, John’s story behind the story is the application for all of us. Jesus concern wasn’t so much the issue of disrespect for the temple…the house of God. What the money changers and the men selling animals were doing was ostensibly set up to provide a legitimate service to worshippers. But their own greed had caused them to stop loving others and focus only on what was in it for them. They had turned the worship of God into a method of personal satisfaction and personal gain.
In so doing they were hindering others from truly being able to worship God. They were getting in the way of worship.
Now there is more behind this story that we can look at quickly…but we don’t have a lot of time today.
Let’s look, quickly, at the interchange between the Jews in the temple and Jesus following his actions.
Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
John 2:18-22 (NIV)
John records this interaction between Jesus and the Jews at the temple. You’ll first of all notice that they didn’t question what he did. They didn’t question the moral rightness of his action…the merely asked him where he got the authority to do it.
Remember that in Malachi we are told that the messiah will appear suddenly in the temple and he will purify the temple. Jesus has just done this. But in the first century the Jews always demanded some sort of miraculous sign to prove one claiming to be the Messiah really was and so they ask Jesus for a sign…a miracle…to prove he is the Messiah and that he has the authority to do what he has just done.
His response is “Destroy this temple and I’ll rebuild it in 3 days.” John indicates that Jesus was referring to his resurrection as the sign of his Messiahship…his authority.
One of the layers running through John’s writing here is the idea that temple worship was inadequate and that Jesus, the Messiah was brining the perfect way to commune with God. The temple and its sacrificial system would be destroyed, but true worship…through Christ…would begin!
Jesus wasn’t saying that the Jews worshiping God at the temple all these years had been bad, but that it was no longer required. Jesus was the new high priest and through his sacrifice we would now have direct access to the Father, rendering the temple unnecessary.
No more would there be favored status for certain people. No more would those who could afford a sacrifice have access to God while those who could not afford it would be left out. Now all people…Jews and gentiles alike…would have complete access to the Father.
What Does This Story Reveal About Jesus?
What is compelling about Christ in this story? What piece of his character is revealed that we can examine and compare ourselves against? What we see about Jesus in this encounter is his desire that ALL PEOPLE…EVERYONE…have unhindered access to the Father.
Jesus wants all of us to have access to the Father and more than all of us…he wants everyone everywhere to have access to the Father…that includes the people we don’t get, the people we disagree with, the people we never even see because we are so busy with our own lives. Jesus wants everyone to have access to the Father.
And he hates it when we prevent people from worshiping. He gets angry when we act in such a way as to prevent people from connecting with God. He gets angry when we fail to act in such a way as to make it easy for people to come and connect with the Father.
Ultimately we see a motive of love in Jesus’ clearing the temple. His passionate love for people who wanted and needed to connect with the Father drove him to clear out those who would make that connection difficult or impossible.
So What?
And this is where we get real. This where we have to stop and look at this compelling picture of Jesus and then compare ourselves to it.
We each need to stop and ask…”AM I DOING ANYTHING THAT MIGHT KEEP SOMEONE FROM CONNECTING WITH GOD? AM I DOING ANYTHING THAT MIGHT HINDER SOMEONE ELSE FROM WORSHIPING?”
I’m not necessarily talking about worship styles or elements like music or instrumentation whether we sit at tables, sit in chairs, or stand in the corner. While these surface issues can have an impact. I’m talking about things that are much deeper.
I’m also not giving you the excuse that others can keep you from worshiping….(give examples of people who worship in any setting)
I’m talking about the things we do that make it hard for those who desperately need to connect with God to achieve that connection.
Your attitude (are you humble or arrogant)
Your sense of grace (do you invite everyone to worship along side or do you shut
the door on certain people or certain groups of people) (ROBERT E. LEE –
Illustration)
Do you respect those whose worship “style” is different than yours
Are you authentic?
Do you do everything in your power to ensure that others can worship freely?
I think that often, usually without realizing it, we find ourselves guilty of the same sin that the money changers and the livestock dealers were guilty of. I’m not talking about disrespecting the church building or buy and selling items on a day of worship. The sin I refer to has, in my opinion, a greater negative impact than that.
It’s the sin of not loving our neighbor as ourselves. We come to worship with the attitude of “what’s in it for me?
• Will it make me happy?
• Will it satisfy my desires?
• Will it meet my expectations?
Rather than approaching our times of corporate worship with an attitude that seeks to help others worship unhindered? We tend to worry more about what we can get than about how we can help clear the path so that others can connect with God.
I don’t know what that looks like for you. I don’t know if you need to change your expectations, get a better attitude or maybe just come with a heart and a mind focused on Christ.
So I challenge you to ask yourself……”AM I DOING ANYTHING THAT MIGHT KEEP SOMEONE FROM CONNECTING WITH GOD? AM I DOING ANYTHING THAT MIGHT HINDER SOMEONE ELSE FROM WORSHIPING?”
Then allow the Lord to help you answer those questions with honesty…and commit to love your neighbor as yourself…worship freely and allow others to do the same.
Let’s Pray.
