Third Sunday of Lent 2024
Texts: Exodus 20:1-17; John 2:13-22
Last week Jesus got annoyed with Peter and told him, “Get behind me Satan, for you are setting your mind on human things.” This week Jesus is downright angry with what is happening in the Temple. These are the only two recorded instances of Jesus being angry.
The money-changers were profaning the Temple by using it for commerce. They were taking a large cut of the exchange of Roman coins for shekels. Only shekels were used to pay the temple tax and to purchase the animals for sacrifice. The money-changers were taking advantage of the people.
People would travel to Jerusalem to offer animals to God for sacrifice. The animal would have to be brought to one of the Temple priests to be determined acceptable. Those who could afford it could buy a pre-certified unblemished animal at the Temple. The usual sacrifice expected was a calf or a lamb, but poor people could only afford doves. Animals to be sold were being kept in the Temple. It had become a smelly stockyard.
Jesus drove them all out of the Temple with a whip. He was righteously indignant. In profaning the Temple all these people were insulting God.
The Temple leaders asked Jesus by what power did he have the authority to do this. They asked for a sign. When he responded, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” he was speaking about his own body being destroyed and being resurrected after three days.
The Apostle Paul would later introduce the concept of the Church as the Body of Christ, and each member as a temple of the Holy Spirit. He used this imagery to describe how believers are connected to one another within the Church, and to show each person as a vital member of the Church. In his commentary on John’s Gospel, Archbishop William Temple wrote that now “The habitation of God is man.”
As the Temple in Jerusalem was consecrated and the inner holy of holies the place where God resided on the mercy seat, so now is each one of us consecrated by virtue of our baptism and within us resides the Holy Spirit. During Lent we take the opportunity all together to pray and engage in spiritual self-examination.
This morning we are given the Ten Commandments as a measure of what is within us. They are not so much an external set of rules to be imposed. Rather, the commandments were intended by God to be internalized by each believer to such an extent that they become guiding principles for how we live our lives. These are the ten basic ways of living a full, natural, and good life as a human being created in the image of God, in whom dwells the Holy Spirit.
God first states, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”. He is basically saying to the Hebrews, “Now that you are free, this is how you shall remain free.” We remain free as human beings by living the Ten Commandments.
God had just saved Moses’ people, so keeping this covenant is also an act of gratitude. This is how we live in response to God’s grace, and his grace is not contingent on whether we keep these commandments perfectly. In being reminded of them on a regular basis we are gradually being formed internally so they become a natural part of us.
Architecturally St. Michael’s is very much like a Virginia colonial church. All the colonial churches had the 10 commandments posted on the wall behind the altar—-as we do, and they were regularly recited by the congregation. I’m sure that had an impact on generations of early Virginians as they were growing up, people like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.
The first 4 commandments have to do with keeping a good relationship with God, while the latter 6 have to do with keeping good relationships with each other. They apply to us in all circumstances, even when it is tempting to break them. We we do fail to keep the commandments, we have a need for repentance, reconciliation, renewal, and spiritual growth.
I’d like to briefly take a look at the first 4 commandments, because the latter 6 have already been codified in one form or another by laws or norms in most parts of the world. The first 4 are also the commandments I believe we break the most.
The first: God says, “Worship me alone. I am the one who created and saved you. Do not accept foreign gods, they are not real. I am real.”
This is the fundamental commitment to recognize God for who He is, to give Him the credit for life. We human beings cannot make it on our own apart from God. When we try to do that, we drift into trouble. Just look at the daily headlines for evidence of this. Breaking the first commandment just may be the root cause of most of the trouble in the world, failing to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.
The second: Do not worship idols, things that are not God. These would be the things we put in the place of God, the things of creation—creation itself, the climate, political ideologies, financial security, fame, success, or even family. As human beings created in the image of God we experience the things of creation, and we need them, but when they get in the way of our relationship with God, they have become idols.
The third: Do not swear by God’s name for that is blasphemy. Take God’s name seriously. It is holy. Do not presume that God will bless all your thoughts and desires. He hears when you call His name. Do not trouble Him with petty or silly things, especially when you’re angry. Speak His name reverently because He is listening.
The fourth: The sabbath day is set apart from all other days of the week. It is a different kind of day, a day for resting and worshipping God. We need this day. It is a day to be measured by God, not by us. It is a holy, feast day, a day for us to rejoice in God together. The world will still go on if we take this day for God—who gave us all our days. We cannot say, “Jesus, I love you, but…I don’t feel like going to church today.” We are not to do business on this day, there are six other days for that. We Christians could show the world the value of keeping the sabbath.
When we say ‘no’ to those who would invite us to do something on Sundays because we are observing the Christian sabbath, we are witnessing to them. They see in our choices the power of God to draw people to Himself.
Just imagine what would the world be like if more human beings tried to live by these first 4 commandments, loving God, worshipping only Him, respecting His name, and keeping the sabbath.
In keeping the first 4 we are enabled by God himself to keep the latter 6. We can’t do it without Him. There is a limit to the human capacity for goodness. God pours into us His own patience, compassion, and mercy, and we in turn are enabled to be patient, compassionate, and merciful to our neighbor.
The situation at the Temple had developed because the people had forgotten to honor God with what they were doing. In driving out the money-changers and the animals Jesus was reclaiming the Temple for God’s purposes. We Christians are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s own Body in the world. This Lent let us reclaim ourselves for God’s purposes. Amen.
