Offer God the True Worship - Sermon by Canon James Juhari (Lent 3)

 Sermon (ST. Thomas Church, Bintulu)

Lent 3 (3 March 2024)

Old Testament: Exodus 20.1-17

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1.18-25

Gospel: John 2.13-22

Sermon

I shall begin my sermon on the Gospel reading with a bit the history regarding the worship in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

The Jewish Passover celebration commemorated the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, when the death angel passed over every home where the blood of a lamb was applied to the doorposts of the home (Ex. 12: 1-13).  Passover reminded the Jews of the time the angel “passed over.”  It was followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasted for a week.

Passover attendance for Jewish males 12 years old and over was compulsory.  On the 10^th day of Nisan (March/April), a lamb without blemish was taken to Jerusalem, and on the 14^th day at about 3.00 pm, the sacrificial lamb was killed. Passover was a sacred holiday for the Jewish people.  Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world flocked to Jerusalem during the Passover celebration.

The temple where they gathered in Jerusalem was built forty-six years earlier by King Herod. He did not do it because he loved God, but because it was good politics. It was a way to keep the Jews under his control.

The whole temple precinct covered approximately 36 acres.  At the centre was the Holy of Holies.  There were four courtyards that surrounded the temple building.  First, there was the Court of the Priests.  Only the priests were allowed to enter this court.  Second, there was the Court of the Israelites. This was a huge courtyard where Jewish worshippers met together for joint services on the great feast days.  It was also where worshippers handed over their sacrifices to the priests.  Third, there was the Court of the Women.  Women were usually limited to this area except for joint worship with men on the Great Feast Days or to make a sacrifice.  Last was the Court of the Gentiles. It surrounded all the other courtyards, and was the place of worship for all Gentile converts to Judaism. The Court of the Gentiles filled an area of about 14 acres.  

The gentile proselytes were not allowed to go beyond their court and high wall was constructed to separate the Court of the Gentiles from the other courts, so this was the closest they could come to God’s presence. 7And it was in this gentile area that the merchants were selling lambs, oxen, doves for the annual sacrifice.

Now the purpose of these merchants and money-changers was two-fold. One, many of the people came from outside of Jerusalem, and it was not convenient for them to bring animals with them for sacrifice.   In that way, the merchants were providing good service to the worshippers by selling them animals for sacrifice.  

Second, all Jewish males and proselytes were required to pay a half-shekel temple tax or worship tax.  And because foreign monies had the image of a pagan deity or the emperor, they were unacceptable.  So the tax had to be paid using Jewish coins.  The money changers were there to provide the service for a small fee.  Again, it made perfect sense for the money-changers to provide the service to the worshippers.

During the earlier days, these activities took place outside of the temple area. You may remember the story in Luke 2:41-50, when Jesus was 12 years old, His parents brought Him to the temple. It was in that court area that Jesus had a religious discussion with the Jewish scholars and teachers, and they were astonished with His Old Testament knowledge.  The court area then was a place to worship God and study His word.  But nearly 20 years later, the court of the gentile had become a place of where the merchants and money changers carried out their business.   

The activities of the merchants not only deprived the gentiles of a place for worship. The business at the temple court was anything but legitimate. It was monopolized by the priests and merchants.  Annas, the high priest, was very much involved with the whole system.  Some people sarcastically called the temple the “Bazaars of Annas”.   The high priest actually sold franchises for money changers and stock merchants to operate in the temple precinct.  And the priests and merchants worked hand in hand to cheat the worshippers.  The animals had to be inspected and approved by the priests before they could be offered.  All the priests had to do was reject animals that people might have brought from home.  So the worshippers were forced to go to the merchants for an “acceptable sacrifice,” which would be sold at inflated prices.  At the same time the money changers were also making huge profit by charging commission on the worshippers more than they should.   It started with a well-meaning intention but greedy people hijacked it and made it into a money-making deal.

What were made for the convenience of the worshippers had developed into something that took away the sacredness of the temple.   When trading was moved into the temple courts for the convenience of the people, it created further problem.  Jerusalem was surrounded by city walls and the only means of getting in and out was through the gates.  One of the gates was right at the temple itself leading to the Court of the Gentiles.  So the Court of the Gentile became a thoroughfare and a short-cut for people who entered and exited the city.  

With the business and the chaos taking place at the Court of the Gentile, the gentile proselytes who came to the temple would not be able to worship properly. The problem would not affect the Jews because they could worship in the inner courts, but the gentiles had no other place but to worship in the midst of the noise and chaos.  That was why as Jesus approached the temple, He became angry at what the temple had become.     

We don’t want to be critical of the temple worship just to be critical of the Jews. This story reminds us of our own worship.  If the Jews had committed mistakes, it is not possible for us to do the same in our worship system?  If convenience had taken away the sacredness of the temple, has it also taken away the sacredness of our church?  If the temple system had deprived others of worship, what about our system of worship?  The the High Priest Annas and the other leaders had exploited the message of salvation for personal gains: have we not done the same?

First and foremost, we need to remember that the God we worship and serve is a Holy God!  God’s temple is holy, whether it was under the Old Covenant or one that exists under the New Covenant.  During the time of Moses, God was worshipped in the Tabernacle.  Exodus 40:34-35 gives this description: 34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”

Later on King Solomon built the first temple. It was completed in 957 BC.  It lasted about 400 years, until it was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon when his army conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC.  The cause of the destruction of the temple was the sin of the leaders and people.  God described the situation in Jeremiah 23:11 “Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness”.  The second Temple was built by Herod in 20 BC.  But in Mark 13:2 Jesus prophesied about the fate of the temple: “Do you see all these great buildings?…Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down”.  Jerusalem was beseiged by the Romans and the the temple was destroyed in 70 AD.  Today the Muslim Dome of the Rock, built between 685 and 691 AD, sits atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

As far as Christians are concerned, the Tabernacle and the Temple were things of the past.  But God still has a temple on earth.  In 1 Cor 3:16, Paul reminds his readers what that temple is: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?    In 1 Cor 6:19-20 he writes, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body. ”

God now dwells in His church.  He lives inside the temple of every Christian’s body. And just as the old temple was made holy by the presence of God and was to be kept that way by those who entered, so God makes the temples of our bodies holy by cleansing them with the blood of His Son Jesus Christ and by taking up residence within them through the Holy Spirit.

But, it is hard for us to live completely pure and holy lives in this sinful world.  Every one of us sins against God and our bodies from time to time. We can get angry over something or with other people even as we worship God in Church.  That is why every Sunday, when we worship, we begin by confessing our sins.  God loves us and He is ever willing to forgive us so that we are cleansed and become His living temple.

Second, we must remember that worship is costly. There is an example in the OT, in 1 Chronicles 21: 18-30.  When David sinned by numbering the people of Israel and God punished Israel with the plague. However, judgment was held off when David built an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah. Araunah had offered to give the land for free to David, but David responded, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.”

We need to ask ourselves here and now: how seriously do we take our worship?  Does our giving cost us anything?  I am not going to tell you how much you should give: that is between you and God.  Giving is part of worship.  If we love God as we say we do, then that love needs to be shown in our giving. My point is, as much as possible, make your giving a conscious effort and an expression of your love for God.

Third, I want to touch on how we are to treat God’s house of worship.  Over the years people have fought over what church buildings should be for, and what they should not be for.  They have argued whether guitars and drums should or should not be used.   People have argued against church’s sales, righteously claiming that God’s house should not be turned into a marketplace.

That is not what this passage is saying. Yes, we respect our place of worship because it is where we honour and give glory to God. The problem is we can become concerned about how the church building looks or that traditions are meticulously kepts, while allowing judging and bitterness to infest our souls.   Our church building is temporary, but our souls, which last forever is what God cares more.

Having said all these I also want to say that we need to think about the effect of our presence.  The temple system was made to help people in their worship and yet it became a hindrance for the gentiles.  Those of us who are leaders and long-time members of the church, need to remember that we must not do things that make it difficult for others to come to church.  We can be a stumbling block to other worshippers, or we can be a stepping stool for them, lifting them higher. I am not saying you are completely responsible whether or not someone else worships.  But we have a part to play in it.  

We thank God for this story: we too need need Jesus to drive out from our hearts and minds what are not right, so that we can offer God a true worship.   

~Can. James Juhari~