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Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is quoted from the New Living Translation of the Bible
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“Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and oxen, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.” John 2:15-16
"’All right,’ Jesus replied. ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’" John 2:19
What is the common thread running through these verses in John 2? DEMOLITION.
Jesus went into the Temple, drove out the animals, overturned the tables, scattered the money on the ground. Then, not but a few minutes later he begins to talk of the demolition of the Temple – or so people thought – “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
Demolition is the unusual sign of salvation. A few contemporary illustrations --
The pothole, half-paved road that we usually use to take Betsy to school at Pitman has been blocked off. It was a the back street route. Now, we have to get in line with all the other cars. But we noticed on Friday that where the road was blocked off there was a tractor completely tearing the old road out.
It’s going to be repaved – sorta’. You see, it was in such bad shape that they can’t really repave it without first tearing it out. So the demolition of the road is actually a very hopeful sign that soon things will get better.
Not a few of you are undergoing Taco Bell withdrawal. Last month they tore down the Taco Bell on Geer Road. But as you can see, there is a new larger Taco Bell going up in it’s place. And you’ll soon be able to return to your Sunday dinners at the Bell.
The demolition of the old Taco Bell was a sign of something new and improved on the way.
I’m on the management advisory committee at Covenant Village – which is the retirement community that we operate here in Turlock. And we’ve been doing a lot of thinking recently about what it’s going to take to get the Village ready for the next wave of retirees.
And frankly, there are going to have to be some major changes in Redwood – which is the main building. Redwood is very nice and very functional for now – but to stay competitive we need to add some amenities – covered pool, more food choices, additional apartments, more parking, more green space, etc.
So it appears that we’re going to have to remodel Redwood. The architect came up with an estimate of $10 million dollars to remodel. However, if we tear down the existing building and start from scratch the total cost –including demolition and construction will only (!) be $8 million.
Sometimes you have to tear something down in order to build it up.
And isn’t that the president’s thinking about Iraq? We’re dismantling a whole nation so that we can rebuild something new. And whether you agree with the president in this particular case or not – that is the plan. We’re tearing something down in order to build something better.
And in a strange – perhaps perverse way the demolition is the sign of salvation. At least that’s how it sounded on Assyria Vision this week. I was watching the broadcast and the television announcer could hardly contain himself – moving back and forth between English and Assyrian – “The liberation of the Iraqi people has begun! The liberation of the Iraqi people has begun!”
He was excited because of the initial missile attack against Saddam Hussein. Demolition to usher in something new and improved – at least that was how he saw it.
And such was the case in our gospel passage this morning. Jesus went in to the Temple with both barrels blazing. So much for the mild, meek, weakly good-natured, nice Jesus that we often imagine.
Jesus had walked down to Jerusalem from Capernaum in the north. He was there with everyone else for the Passover celebration. But when he got to the Temple he apparently became disgusted with what he saw.
The place had become a flea-market with vendors who had set-up shop – probably in the court of the Gentiles. That is the outer portion of the temple – the only place where Gentiles were allowed to worship.
Now, these vendors had a legitimate function. They provided animals so that people could make their sacrifices. But the system had become so corrupt that people had to buy their animals in-house – so that the
temple leaders got a kick-back. “No outside food!”
And then there were political squabbles over which vendors could sell there. It was a total mess. And the whole situation over-shadowed the original point of the Temple – to be a place of worship – of prayer.
So Jesus fashioned a whip and started to drive the animals out, over-turn the tables, dump the money. And he insisted: “Get these things out of here. Don’t turn my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
You know, sometimes you have to do a little destruction before you can construct. Demolition then functions as a sign of salvation.
And what do the people do when Jesus begins his rant? Call 911? Try to arrest him for disturbing the peace?
No, it’s almost as though they see this as some sort of messianic fulfillment. They knew the words of the prophet Zechariah who predicted that a time was coming when (14:21): “In fact, every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be set apart as holy to the Lord Almighty. All who come to worship will be free to use any of these pots to boil their sacrifices. And on that day there will no longer be traders in the Temple of the Lord Almighty.”
Tearing down the Temple mercado was seen as a sign of the coming of the new day of salvation – a day when all of Jerusalem would be seen as completely holy. So the Jewish leaders, instead of arresting Jesus, ask him “What sign do you show us for doing these things?" – John 2:18 (ESV)
Show us your badge. Let’s see your credentials. Do something to prove that you are the Messiah sent to cleanse the Temple and to set things straight.
At that point Jesus responds and says, indeed, I will give you a sign – "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John 2:19
Ah! Another demolition sign -- Now, of course, it made perfect sense to them, didn’t it? (yeah right)
Verse 20 – "’What!’ they exclaimed. ‘It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can do it in three days?’"
Now they think this guy is really wacko.
Remember, the Temple in Jerusalem was one of the main symbols of Jewish identity.
Originally, worship centered around the portable tabernacle. But as they became established Solomon built a real Temple building in the middle of the 10th century BC. It was incredibly beautiful. But the armies of the Neo-Babylonian Empire destroyed it in 586 B.C.
Seventy years later Zerubbabel rebuilt it on a modest scale.
Then in 20 B.C. Herod the Great started a construction project to rebuild the Temple on a scale which would exceed even that of what Solomon had built. And at the time of Jesus that reconstruction was still underway – and it wouldn’t be completed until A.D. 64. – only to be destroyed again in A.D. 70 by the Romans.
The point is that as Jesus was speaking there were construction workers all around the temple. They were in the middle of renovation. They were demolishing sections and putting new walls up. And it had been under construction for nearly 50 years at that point.
So that’s the background to the Jewish leader’s response in verse 20 – ‘It took forty-six years to get things rebuilt to this point and you’re going to tear it down and rebuild it in three?’"
But, of course, Jesus wasn’t REALLY talking about the physical building that was under construction around them. He was talking about something that would actually make the Temple building obsolete.
He was talking about his own body as the true temple –
the true holy of holies – the true dwelling place of God – the true center of sacrificial atoning life – (to use the technical jargon) -- the Temple which would ultimately render the stone or mortar version moot – useless in helping people stay connected to God.
For the sacrifice of his own temple – the demolition of his temple – would render the big beautiful building obsolete.
John 2:19 -- "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
The demolition sign of hope that Jesus was talking about had very little to do with the Temple building – rather it was the sign of his own destruction. The cross. The sacrifice. The demolition.
But it was demolition with a purpose – an ultimate purpose beyond anything that the enemies of Jesus were imagining. They were intent on demolition to preserve the status quo. But in God’s greater purpose it was a demolition so that there could be something greater built... Something which would ultimately upset the whole balance of power -- the oppressive grip sin.
“...and in three days I will raise it up," Jesus says.
Resurrection. But it wasn’t just to be a resurrection of the same old body – the new body – the new temple (to keep with the metaphor) was to be greater than the old... More beautiful. More wonderful.
It’s hard to not go back to 1 Corinthians 15 to interpret the implications of Jesus’ words in John 2.
1 Cor. 15:3-4 -- “I [Paul] passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me—that Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. [4] He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, as the Scriptures said.”
1 Cor. 15:20-22 -- “But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again.
“[21] So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ. [22] Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life.”
1 Cor. 15:52-53 -- “It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. [53] For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die.”
The old temple was destructible but the new temple is imperishable. Demolition is a sign that something new and improved is on the way. And if this was true of Jesus – it is also true of us who follow Jesus.
Friends, we live in a world of where demolition and destruction is evident all around us. Bombs, missiles, soldiers, helicopter crashes, political chaos... People are dying – including innocent women and children caught in the crossfire. And it’s not just happening in Iraq. We see destruction going on in our own families and in our own lives. Some of us are struggling with unhealthy and sinful habits that are eating away at the life in us. It’s all around us and we wonder if there is anything like hope left.
Is there any kind of hope in the midst of the demolition going on around us?
The answer? Yes, even the demolition itself is a hard sign of hope – for the old is going to give way to the new and the improved. You see, Jesus’ Temple rant and his story of tearing the temple down and rebuilding it in three days is really suppose to be a sign of hope for us.
But it is a hope presented in a way that catches us off-guard – because it is a hope anchored in a perverse and cruel symbol – a cross.
It’s his own death – his own destruction – his demolition – that makes way for a new life that belongs to all who believe in him.
Verse 22 – “After he was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered that he had said this. And they believed both Jesus and the Scriptures.”
They believed. In including this little episode in his gospel John is trying to help us to understand that even though we see the demolition in the world around – Jesus is believable.
He wants us -- you -- to put your trust in him – to rely on him and the new life that he has initiated through his death and resurrection.
Let’s pray:
Dear and Loving Heavenly Father, the world around us is so messed up and so hell-bent on destruction. And we confess that we are often willing participants in the madness. Yet, we hear your call to trust in you and the new life of Christ Jesus – the rebuilt temple. So we are here this morning to acknowledge not only what you have done but also our desire to entrust our lives to your care and guidance. We want to be a part of the new order initiated at the resurrection. And we want to give up – to put to death any of the old destructive ways – so that might truly become convinced and convincing followers of Christ Jesus. Amen.
