B, Lent 3 - Psalm 19:14 John 2:13-22 "Acceptable Fellowship"
The words of Jesus’ mouth and the meditation of Jesus’
heart, as he drove the traders and their stock out of the temple, destroyed the
fellowship of both, those changing money, and those selling animals for
Passover sacrifices. It seems Jesus was
angry as he bound cords, made a whip, and drove them out of the temple! What type of fellowship was Jesus dispersing?
Jesus’ disciples remembered words from the first half of
Psalm sixty-nine verse nine, “For zeal
for your house has consumed me.” (Psalm
69:9 ESV) Also, we can consider Psalm
one hundred and nineteen, verse one hundred and thirty-nine, as Jesus rouses the
temple traders and their wares, “My zeal
consumes me, because my foes forget your words.” (Psalm 119:139 ESV)
Rather than anger, Jesus was jealous for his Father’s
house! His words were solely concerned
with our Father’s word! If we consider
this jealousy as anger, his anger was restoring fellowship rather than wrecking
it.
However, anger does destroy fellowship! We all know when we become angry, or someone
becomes angry with us, we lose connection with the other party. This is the sin of presumptuousness; when one
seethes and becomes high-handed.
Fellowship and peace fly out the window when our feelings and the
musings of the heart, become words unacceptable in God’s sight.
Instead of God being our rock and redeemer, in our anger,
through our fear and lack of trust in God, we presume from our internal
reckonings, we are good and righteous, they are bad and wrong. Therefore, we presume, “they” need
correction.
However, our presumptions are assumptions with little to no
evidence. God is put out of the picture and is replace with our assumed
divinity! What is
good for us is not necessarily good for God who knows what is truly good and
evil, the true reality of our way, our truth, and our life!
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life of God the
Father. His way in all things, including
his way in the temple, is begotten of the Father. Jesus’ word is “the truth” and is begotten of
our Father in Heaven. The life Jesus
lives, being led to the cross by the proceedings of the Holy Spirit, is also
begotten by God our Father.
What appears to be anger on Jesus’ part is far from the
divisive anger you or I perpetuate.
Even the most righteous human anger kills fellowship. Whereas Jesus’ jealous word, works to restore
our fellowship with God and our fellow human beings.
At the sermon on the mount Jesus equates our anger with
murder. Murder kills fellowship! Yes, literally for the one murdered. But it kills fellowship with God, for the one
who has lifted his hand in murder. Even
an insult of “you fool” cost the name caller their fellowship. Jesus tells us, “Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:22 ESV)
Jesus takes our words of anger and stretches them, so
neither you, nor I, are free of God’s judgement in the Ten Commandments. God knows all active aggression hidden behind
closed doors! God knows all passive
aggression hidden behind a polite smile! He knows the disobedience of your human heart.
Anger in all humanity’s activities. Anger in the buzz of business. Anger within cultures and between countries. Anger over lack of other’s discernment. Anger instead of empathy. Anger born out of frustration. Anger between generations, and anger even
between the sexes! God sees all
unacceptable fellowship played out between people today, as sin.
Let the words of my
mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my
rock and my redeemer.
Paul tells Timothy what to expect as a result of the
fellowship breakdown of humanity before Christ
returns.
“But understand this,
that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of
money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, heartless, unappeasable,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such
people. For among them are those who
creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray
by various passions, always learning and
never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:1–7 ESV)
Today as God is being killed in our society, it’s as if
humanity is a hive of bees busy buzzing away in
human activity. Yet, when the
beekeeper comes to check on the hive, his workers become increasingly agitated,
for being disturbed, and attack he who has given them their hive as their home.
Before Jesus came,
temple Judaism had become like a hive of bees devouring themselves! Their hive was empty of honey, God’s word was
used presumptuously, against each other, therefore, against God. Fellowship had failed. Paul reminds us in his letter to Timothy that
in the last days this will happen too.
God and his fellowship will not only be killed in society, but bold presumptuous
attempts to kill him will occur inside the church before Christ comes again. This is because we in the church busy
ourselves with the same love of self, as those outside.
Yet Jesus says to the Jews of the temple, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I
will raise it up.” (John 2:19 ESV)
Begotten by God, Jesus was raised by God the Father, and by
the Holy Spirit who proceeded from the Father to raise Jesus from the dead! Like a seed planted in the ground, the life
of God contained in the perfect husk of Jesus’ human flesh, sprouted back to
life.
The temple was destroyed, and the Son of God, raised up the
temple of his church. You and I are
seeds of the Son, grafted into fellowship in Christ.
But what of the fellowship Jesus dispersed with a whip of
cords?
We return to Psalm sixty-nine to the words of God the Son,
written down by King David…
“Let not those who
hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who
seek you be brought to dishonour through me, O God of Israel. For it is for your sake that I have borne
reproach, that dishonour has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s
sons. For zeal for your house has
consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.”
(Psalm 69:6–9 ESV)
”Answer me, O LORD,
for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.“
(Psalm 69:16 ESV)
“You know my
reproach, and my shame and my dishonour; my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am
in despair. I looked for pity, but there
was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine
to drink.” (Psalm 69:19–21 ESV)
Jesus’ zeal consumed him!
He cleansed the temple! Yet he
became the reproach! He allowed his
fellowship with our Father to be severed, so God might temple within us, and
reseed in us fellowship with the father.
No longer do we need to fear the world, or what the world
is doing within the church. After all,
it is God’s church, and those who resist God’s correction, God’s call to
confess and receive forgiveness, will not be blameless and innocent of great
transgression.
But for those who willingly receive God’s word, allowing
the Holy Spirit to bring them to confession so that they not only glorify God
for the gospel of salvation, but even love the Law of God despite its
condemnation of their sin.
God’s Word in the church is sweet like honey. In Psalm nineteen we hear, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the
soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing
the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring
forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even
much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in
keeping them there is great reward.”
(Psalm 19:7–11 ESV)
When we hear and busy ourselves under God’s word, God’s
church is a harmonious hive. May we like
the Psalmist, be kept from presumptuous sins, so they do not have dominion over
us, nor separate us from the forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Rock and
Redeemer. Let us pray.
Lord God Holy Spirit may the words of our mouths be Jesus’ Word of forgiveness and fellowship, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in the eternal sight of our Father in heaven. Amen.
