March 3, 2024 Third Sunday in Lent The text is John 2:13-22.

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¹³The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” ¹⁸The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” ¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After 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.

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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

“It’s not about the building!”  This declaration has been made many times over the last few years when the topic of the future of Emanuel Lutheran Church has been discussed.  It has been acknowledged that, while Emanuel’s people have great affection for this building, we have come to understand that it is the people themselves who constitute God’s church in this place.  And this concept of the building being the focus of the faith community is at the core of what takes place in our gospel story this morning.  And of course, in Jesus’ time the building in question was the holy temple in Jerusalem.

This building is where the Jewish people were said to have housed the ark of the covenant, within which were contained the Ten Commandments, the most revered, sacred elements of the Hebrew faith.  The temple was where the faithful came to offer sacrifices to God, where the people gathered for the several Jewish religious festivals each year, and most importantly the temple was where it was believed that God resided on earth.  To say that the holy temple in Jerusalem was at the center of the Hebrew faith would be an understatement; the temple was where God abided and there was no holier a place in the Jewish world.

And the temple would have been overflowing with the faithful as they came to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover, as we read is taking place this morning.  This, one of the most important of Jewish observances celebrated the Exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt.  And Jesus of Nazareth, as a devout faithful Jew would have been compelled to come to the temple, along with the throngs of others, to satisfy the obligation that all were required to fulfill during these religious festivals.  And two of the practices that were an essential part of worship in the temple were taking place when Jesus entered the building this morning.  There was a necessary temple economy that was part and parcel of the worship life in Jerusalem.  Animal sacrifice for atonement and ritual purification, and the payment of the “temple tax”, a small amount that each worshipper was required to pay to help upkeep the temple; not unlike parishioners today bringing their offering envelopes to church.

Therefore, there would have been brokers selling cattle, sheep, lambs, and doves in the outer courtyard of the temple at the Passover celebration, as well as during the several other religious festivals.  The faithful would select an animal for sacrifice depending on how much each could afford and also which was proportionate to the level of sins against God that the animal was sacrificed to atone for.  And only local coinage was accepted as payment for sacrificial animals, as well as for the temple tax.  This offering to the temple was a half-shekel, and this was the annual donation that was expected from every Jewish person at the time.  Since the Temple was located in Jerusalem, and the faithful made their way there from throughout the Middle East, many brought with them the currencies from the areas where they lived; many, far from the city.

Some might have brought a Greek drachma, a Hasmonean bronze coin, or even a Roman denarius.  Whatever the denomination it had to be exchanged for the local coin of Tyre, the half-shekel in order to pay the temple tax.

Since these two practices were central to the life of the people and economy of the temple, we must question why Jesus so violently reacted when he observed them.  He wasn't specifically against the practice of making animal sacrifices to God, in fact he would have engaged in this same ritual.  What so upset him was not the selling of animals for sacrifice, but It was the corruption that enraged him, especially since he observed that this exploitation was taking place within the walls of the holy temple.  In the marketplaces outside the temple a dove for sacrifice might be purchased for a penny or two; the ones being sold inside the courtyard of the temple were priced as much as fifteen times more than what one would pay outside the walls.  And the moneychangers who exchanged the foreign coins for the shekels required to pay the temple tax often added exorbitant fees for this service.  They weren’t alone in their corruption, the occupying Romans allowed the marketplace to exist and the money-changers to ply their trade, and they also made a tidy profit from it.  The temple priests also profited from these transactions, and these examples of extortion were seemingly the reason for Jesus’ violent actions in the temple this morning.  He was enraged that these examples of corruption were directed at devout people who were at the temple in order to achieve righteousness with God through their obedience to Jewish Law.

But, it is Jesus’ proclamation that if the temple were to be destroyed, he would raise it up again in three days that most distressed those who observed his actions that day.  They took his words literally and it’s only through the narrator of the gospel that his readers were to understand that Jesus was referring not to the physical building of the temple, but to himself as the incarnation of God on earth.  As mentioned, the temple was the meeting place between God and the people of Israel and it was in this building that human life met with divine presence and blessing.  By foretelling his resurrection, Jesus is letting the people know that, “It’s not about the building!”

The very first verses of John’s gospel proclaim that Jesus is the Word of God and that this Word became flesh and lived among us.  After he was raised from the cross the resurrected Jesus became the instrument through which the people and God meet.  The replaced temple, the new covenantal bond with the divine, Jesus’ body was raised up in three days.  The people of God are now connected with the divine, the sacred, the holy because Jesus proclaimed that he abides within those who believe in him.  Jesus Christ, God incarnate lives in each of us.  “It’s not about the building!”

Jesus made it clear that day in the Jerusalem temple that it was the worship of God, obedience to God’s Law, and the keeping of the Commandments that make the faithful children of God.  It is how God’s people treat one another, how they rush to serve those in need, how they gather together in support of what they hold dear.  In a few moments we will meet to review what happened over the last year in the life of Emanuel and we will discern what actions need to be taken in order to secure successful future years for God’s people in this place.  You will read and hear of the efforts made in support of our neighbors, within and outside of our walls.  You will learn of the need for increased support if this church’s ministry and mission are to continue and flourish as the financial headwinds we face are presented.  You will be asked to vote to accept a budget that reflects a rather large deficit, keeping in mind that our financial reserves are limited; and that if the current trajectory remains unchanged that Emanuel, as it currently exists faces an expiration date. 

There are several options that the people of this church may be need to consider at some point and not all of them include remaining in this space, beloved as it is by so many.  As people of faith in the Savior who was raised in three days, we trust that God’s will shall determine the future of this church and her people.  And while we too accept that, “It’s not about the building”, we should nonetheless strive to ensure that we do all we can to maintain and grow Christ’s mission whether within these walls or outside of them.             

Amen.

God is Good, all the time.  All the time, God is Good.  Amen.