March 2, 2024

Dear Road Church Friends,

This week’s Gospel reading is about “the event” in the life of Jesus that gives us a sense of just how controversial a figure he was in the eyes of the Jewish religious establishment. The incident I’m referring to is known as “The Cleansing of the Temple.” The first thing Jesus did when he arrived in Jerusalem was to go to the Temple courts and overturn the tables of moneychangers and use a whip to drive the merchants selling calves, lambs and doves—pre-approved as temple offerings—out of the temple precincts. It’s easy to dismiss this event as an isolated incident. But it wasn’t a spur of the moment reaction. It was a dramatic statement that was a longtime coming. It was the culmination of what Jesus had been doing all along. It was an act that called into question the need for a brick-and-mortar temple, or a separated priesthood, because Jesus and we are God’s temple. Jesus and we are priests.

SERMON TITLE:  Jesus Versus the Temple 

SCRIPTURE:  John 2:13-21

Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” But the temple authorities demanded, “Prove that you have the authority to do this.” “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body.

IN THINE OWN HEART

Though Christ a thousand times in Bethlehem be born,

If he’s not born in thee thy soul is still forlorn.

The cross on Golgotha will never save thy soul,

The cross in thine own heart alone can make thee whole.

by Angelus Silesius

Blessings to you all,

Pastor Norm

This service on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/xG3r5Ess9Ug?si=cWpk85E63G5yuG6g