His Disciples Remembered That It Was Written
John 2:13-17
April 3, 2022
Abraham Hong
Sermon Script
I like movies. I like watching them at movie theaters with popcorn. I like watching them at home on my computer. And I especially like to watch great movies a second time.
The reason why is because it’s pretty fun and satisfying to notice and remember all the details and words and moments in a great movie that make it even better the second time. Perhaps it’s a pivotal conversation between two characters. Or a symbolic camera shot. Or a not-so-obvious clue that foreshadows the ending or gives it deeper meaning.
Jesus’ disciples experienced something similar to this in today’s passage. They saw Jesus do something big. They saw Jesus cleanse the temple in Jerusalem (I’ll explain what the temple is all about in a moment). They saw Jesus cleanse the temple. And then they remembered something. Something that was written long ago before their time… that helped them understand what they saw.
What was the temple all about? There is so much that can be said here. But allow me to explain it simply like this. The temple was a building. And the temple was God’s house among his people. Why did God have a house? God had a house so that his people would know that he was with them and that they were with him. But why did God have to do this for his people? The answer is very bad news. Because we sinned against God. Because in Adam we forfeited and lost the first and original temple. Because we were exiled and orphaned from God’s house with us in the garden of Eden. This was that the temple was all about.
But there is good news. God’s house - that temple in Jerusalem - it came with a big promise attached to it. God’s house symbolized and foreshadowed how God would one day provide his people with something amazing: an everlasting home with him, a forgiven relationship with him, a resurrection life with him, a kingdom with him and without sin nor death, and, last but not least, him. The temple promised and symbolized and foreshadowed the Son of God, Jesus, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The temple was all about Jesus. The temple was all about his salvation for us.
Praise be to our God!
Now, if you know and believe all of this about the temple, then you should readily understand why Jesus did what he did in today’s passage. Jesus cleansed the temple because people stopped making it about him and his salvation from sin and death, and they started making it about them and their desires for trade and profit. They turned God’s house into their business. They didn’t care about the problem of sin and death. What they did was really messed up. They really messed up the temple. And so Jesus cleaned it up. He cleansed the temple. He removed all the animals that were being sold in the temple. He removed the coins and tables. He removed the money-changers.
And he did it all with zeal.
Quick tangent. Jesus did not do it all with anger. It is easy to picture Jesus going off on everyone in the temple with holy wrath and righteous fury. And it is popular to reassure folks that when Jesus got angry here, it was a sinless anger. But it’s worth saying this. Nowhere in the passage (and nowhere in any of the parallel stories of Jesus cleansing the temple in Matthew 21, Mark 11, or Luke 19) does it say that Jesus was angry. It doesn’t say that our Lord had anger. It says that our Lord had zeal. Zeal and anger are not the same thing.
So the quick tangent and lesson here is this. Please be careful not to put words in the Bible that are not there. Please be careful and not add your own imaginations or interpretations to the Bible. And please, please, please do not put on a What-Would-Jesus-Do bracelet and go around whipping Christians who make mistakes or flipping bake sale tables at church.
Alright, now back to the main point. Jesus cleansed the temple. His disciples saw him do this. And then they remembered something. Something that was written long ago before their time that helped them understand what they saw.
They remembered the book of Psalms in the Old Testament and the following words that were written in Psalm 69:9. “Zeal for your house will consume me.” And when they remembered those words, they grew in the grace and knowledge of who Jesus was and what Jesus came to do.
But what is Psalm 69:9 and the entire psalm all about? It is about a savior who would one day come and save us from sin and from death. But this savior would not be consumed WITH his zeal. This savior would be consumed BECAUSE of his zeal.
Unfortunately, many people don’t bother to look up what the disciples remembered. Many people do not read Psalm 69 and the true meaning of the word “consume.” And so many people walk away from this passage thinking that Jesus was consumed with zeal. And so many people say things like, “Wow, Jesus was consumed and overwhelmed and absorbed and gripped with zeal! Wow, Jesus was so passionate and eager and devoted and on fire!”
But the truth is this. Jesus had zeal for the temple and what the temple was all about. And because of that zeal, the Jews consumed him and condemned him and crucified him.
This savior would be consumed - that is, he would be hated and attacked and destroyed - by people who would reject him… because of his zeal - that is, because of his obedience to the law and because of his relationship to God the Father as God the Son.
This savior would be consumed - that is, he would receive reproach from sinful men and ultimately the weeping and the suffering and the humiliation and the forsakenness of the cross… because of his zeal - that is, because of him emptying himself by taking the form of a servant and humbling himself by becoming obedient to the work of being a sacrificial atonement for our sins and therefore dying on the cross for us.
This is what Psalm 69 is all about. This is what Psalm 69 foreshadowed and promised. And so when Jesus’ disciples saw him cleanse the temple, they started to make the connection.
But it was only the beginning. Next Sunday, we will look at what happened next when the Jews confront Jesus about his cleansing of the temple. Next Sunday, we will learn about the very special connection between Jesus and the temple.
Dear Highland, let us praise the Lord. Jesus was consumed for you. Jesus suffered and died in order to take away and forgive your sins. Jesus was consumed so that the ultimate temple would be ours. So that we could live in the house of God. So that we could have an everlasting home with him, a forgiven relationship with him, a resurrection life with him, a kingdom with him and without sin nor death, and, last but not least, him. And Jesus did what he did because of his love for you. Praise the Lord!
Soli Deo Gloria