“Jesus – A Man of Action”
Third Sunday in Lent
March 15, 2009
St. Paul Lutheran, Liberty Center OH
St Luke Lutheran Wauseon OH
John 2:13-22
INI
1 Are you a man (or woman) of action? When you hear Nike say, “Just Do It” do you say, “preach it brother!” A while back I was reading an article on Youth Ministry and part of the article was a profile of current generations – including the baby boomers, Generation X, and the Millenial generation. I learned a little about myself that night, just reading over the description of the behaviors and attitudes of ‘Generation X’. According to the research he cited, we are reactive, take charge, ‘just do it’ kind of people. I’d say that’s about right. I like to approach a text with the goal of applying it to life now, and in addition to giving the gospel message, I like to give practical suggestions for how our gospel freedom empowers us to live differently to show our faith, to take action.
2 So at first glance, today’s gospel text seems like it should be an easy one for me to expound upon right? I mean there’s plenty of action. Plenty of Jesus getting things done – making things happen. He goes up to Jerusalem and there in the outer courts of the temple, which should be reserved for gentiles to pray and meditate and worship, he finds a market of animals being sold for the sacrifice and currency exchange tables for those who don’t have the correct currency to pay the temple tax. So Jesus goes ‘Old Testament’ there in the marketplace roughing the people up and driving out all the animals! When asked to account for his actions by the temple leaders, he gives this foolish answer, “Tear down this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” To which of course, the temple leaders really don’t know how to respond. Oh yeah! Jesus is all about action and getting the better of his opponents isn’t he? He’s my kind of guy!
3 A few years ago, it was really popular to wear a WWJD bracelet or t-shirt or have it as a bumper sticker on your car or whatever. WWJD, of course stands for, “What Would Jesus Do”? The underlying implication of WWJD is that when you are in a situation where you have to make a choice, you ask yourself what Jesus would do in this case, and presumably that would also be the right thing to do too. So I figured this is great! I can come in here tomorrow, when church is usually busier and do what Jesus would do! First I’ll go and take out Jen Schmidt and the table where the Chapel Players are selling tickets to their next production, and then maybe I’ll go rough up the ladies over at the Crocus Bookstore! Sure they’re not cheating anybody, but this Scripture gives me the mandate to go in and clear out our lobby so that people can be in a prayerful and meditative state when they arrive at church, RIGHT? Answer: NO. Jesus is not necessarily calling us to action here. He is not asking us to Do the WWJD thing.
4 So what do we make of this passage? This is not a Jesus we are used to seeing. This seems like an angry Jesus, a Jesus who is having a bad day. Last week the little kids bulletins that they hand out had a picture of Jesus with an angry face pointing and yelling at another guy in the picture. My son noticed and asked me why Jesus looked like that. You and I are not used to picturing Jesus this way. We’d prefer to have our loving good shepherd Jesus, the one that has that loving smile and open arms, not a mean face and pointing finger. Of course the gospel message last week was Jesus saying, “Get behind me Satan” to Peter, which is what the picture depicted. Two weeks in a row now, the gospel message depicts a Jesus that you and I aren’t comfortable with. This time Jesus is forcefully and physically removing people and making what sounds like a very rash statement. In both stories, Jesus is on his way to the cross in just a matter of time. Maybe he’s starting to be antsy about it and is projecting his anxiety through anger and hostility. Maybe that’s our lesson here, “When the going gets tough, the tough get angry!” If you’ve got stress in your life, vent it out, don’t hang on to it, it’s not healthy! That sounds like a good application, right? Answer: NO, not really! There must be more to it.
5 So what do we make of this passage? Why do we have it? What does it tell us? It tells us about Jesus. It tells us about who Jesus is and why He came here. Just prior to this passage in the book of John, we have the story of Jesus’ first miracle – changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana. This miracle is the first sign recorded in Jesus’ public ministry, the first sign that things were changing, that things would be different from now on. Jesus was now heading to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the feast where the Children of Israel remembered their exodus from the land of Egypt. It is in that Exodus that this whole story finds its context.
6 Prior to the exodus from Egypt, the Lord struck Egypt with ten plagues. The first was the changing of the Nile River to blood. Through Moses, God changed the source of life, the Nile River into a pool of blood, which could not be drunk, nor would it support life. This was the first sign God did to show his people that he meant business and he had the power to free them. Jesus, through his earthly ministry is beginning a new Exodus – this time from sin, and death and disease! His first sign to show us that He has power to free us is to in a sense ‘undo’ the first plague by changing water into something so much sweeter, the fruit of the vine, and not just any average wine, but as the captain of the feast said, “It was the best”. The final plague before the exodus, the one commemorated by the Passover was the killing of all the firstborn sons in Egypt. The final sign before our Exodus is the undoing of this plague by the resurrection of the firstborn son of God! And if there is a first born, that means that there must be others – You and Me!
7 After the Exodus, God led the children of Israel out into the wilderness where he gave them, in the context of a free and redeemed people, the Torah, including the Ten Commandments which we heard read today, so that they would know how a redeemed people of God were empowered to live. Also, because God wanted so much to dwell with His people, but could not because of their sin and his holiness, he established a system of tabernacle (later temple) worship including sacrifices and the like. Through those sacrifices the people could approach God, who so desperately wanted to dwell with them.
8 With Jesus’ arrival, things are changing. No longer will the temple be required to meet with God. No longer will the sacrificial system be required to pay for sins so that people can dwell with God. In Him the ultimate sacrifice is come. His action is cleansing the temple is an attempt by God himself to drive out all of the external elements which have clouded over the underlying meaning of sacrifice, so that people in the temple can focus on prayer and learning Scripture. He wants to prepare their hearts for his message, that the ultimate sacrifice is come. Jesus refuses to let this corruption of true worship interfere with his mission to save us from sin. In his zeal he drives out all the distractions! In last week’s gospel message we heard Him call Peter ‘Satan’ for trying to correct him in his plan to go to Jerusalem and suffer and die. Jesus will not let anything stand in his way – He’s a man of action!
9 And of course we know that Jesus followed through on that action and went on to suffer and die, the ultimate sacrifice. And the temple leaders finally got their sign, just as Jesus had said, “tear down this sanctuary and I will raise it again in three days.” John is kind enough to help us out by stating in verse 21, the temple that he was talking about was his body. And true to his word, he did raise it up again on the third day, defeating death, disease, and the devil once and for all! Because of him we are free to dwell with God, free to know Him, free to live in eternity with Him! Jesus is a man of action!
10 That’s the great thing about this story is that Jesus does all the action! He has authority to cleanse the temple, because it’s His temple. He has authority to do what he does because he is the temple made flesh, the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of all people on earth, all who have ever lived and all who will ever live. We have but one small task, and even that is done for us. John writes in the close of his gospel “All these things have been written that you may believe Jesus is the Christ and so doing you may have life in his name”. What is the application of this text for us? John tells us right at the end of our section, John 2:22, “After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken”. Nobody present understood the sign Jesus gave them in our story today. Yet through the Holy Spirit you and I are able to read about these things and because of them believe that Jesus is the Christ.
11 For a Take Charge, Just Do It Generation X’er like myself and for all of you out there, that is the message from this passage. This Lenten season as we reflect upon Christ’s path to the cross, take the time to take each word to heart. Hear the Scriptures and believe! Jesus did all of this for all of you out there. Use this Lenten season to get to know your savior a little better. He was a man on a mission to bring you salvation. He did not let anything stop him from taking action, doing his father’s will, suffering and dying for you. He asks nothing from you – Only believe his words and you will have life and you do have life in His name. AMEN