March 15, 2009 Sermon

Three Days to Build
John 2:13-22

We just read a passage from the Gospel of John in which Jesus predicts his own death, and his resurrection three days later. (The other Gospels also contain this episode, making it one of the few to appear in all four. This indicates how important this saying of Jesus is.) Jesus does not just come right out and say, “I will die and then be physically resurrected three days later.” But scholars agree that is what he means by what he said in our passage. John explicitly tells us he refers to his own body. Certainly his own disciples interpret it that way later, after his resurrection. But why should we care? What difference should the three days part of it make to us, who live many years after it all happened?

Jesus' prediction that he would resurrect from the dead in three days matters to us, first, because of the context in which he says it. John tells us he has come to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. He has come to the heart of the Holy Land, to the center of the world for any observant Jew, on the holiest Jewish holiday. The temple at that time served as the place where Jews could lawfully make the sacrifices to God their religion required. The temple was the one place they could worship Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty, fully and completely. It was supposed to be a holy place—indeed; its innermost room was called the Holy of Holies.

But as Jesus approaches the temple at this Passover season he must work his way through a market. Merchants have gathered outside to sell the animals needed for the proper sacrifices to be made inside. Others offer to change the wide variety of coins Jews have brought with them from all around their part of the world to the Roman coinage accepted at the temple. These would be needed and lawful services—were it not for certain under the table arrangements. Bribery and protection rackets lurk beneath the surface of this temple market. Soldiers, Roman officials and even the Jewish priests entrusted with the operation of the temple profit from it all. They enrich themselves at the expense of the (usually) poor people who have come to the temple to worship God.

Jesus becomes enraged at this abuse of the temple. His anger, which might seem out of proportion to a casual reader, arises from his deep desire to defend the holiness of God the Father. Imagine a modern Christian church with a souvenir shop and a bookstore right on the premises. Imagine that the church requires you to bring a Bible you bought there into the service with you. Imagine that you pay an outrageously high price for that Bible. Imagine that the profits from this venture line the pockets of the pastor. Now you understand Jesus' anger. Lesson number one from this passage is that Jesus defends the holiness of the Father. And he calls for us to do the same.

The second reason this prediction of Jesus that he would resurrect in three days matters is that it fits one of the most important patterns of the Bible: promise and fulfillment. Again and again scripture gives us a prediction from God that scripture later documents as coming true. The implication for us is clear. If the promises of God have come true in the past, they will very likely continue to keep coming true in the future. John documents that Jesus' disciples eventually understand the incident at the temple as a promise fulfilled. After he cleans house (literally) they recall the words of Psalm 69, first written some thousand years before, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” King David wrote this Psalm. He set it in the voice of the messianic king addressing the Lord God Almighty. Now Jesus has acted it out. He has acted the part of the messianic king protecting the house of God.

Months later Jesus would act out the rebuilding of the “temple” far more dramatically. He would die and three days later he would rise from the dead. To the eyes of unbelievers this proves nothing. The Cotton Patch Gospel depicts the disciples holding on for dear life as their boat gets tossed by a storm. Jesus walks across the water toward them, but they do not recognize him. “Ah swear,” one of them says in the southern dialect the show uses, “that has got to be the biggest duck ah have evuh seen!” Far too often the eyes of unbelievers cannot see Jesus resurrected. They duck the truth about him. Often people, when pressed, admit they do not believe Jesus came back from the dead. Maybe a few of these folks even sit among us here this morning. Do you believe in Jesus resurrected—or do you think Jesus, though a great man, never came back from the dead?

This is the most important question ever asked of us: Do we believe in Jesus crucified and resurrected? John tells us that later, “after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that (Jesus) had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” Do you believe?
Jesus rebuilt his temple, his body, on the third day after his crucifixion. In order to participate in the kingdom life he offers us we must believe this claim. Do you believe? Forty years ago Jefferson Starship sang, “If only you believed in miracles, so would I.” The song referred to falling in love, to finding the miracle of a relationship based on mutual faith (and faith is the word used in the song). But as difficult as it can be to trust in the love of another human being, at least in that case we can see and touch him or her. Do you believe in Jesus, crucified and resurrected? We cannot see him in his human body. We can see his body the church. We can see the good works of the church and ascribe them to the power of Jesus' Holy Spirit. But we must take his own existence on faith. Do you believe?

I visited with an elderly gentleman earlier this week. He has, as he puts it, gotten stuck in a nursing home. He does not mean that somebody stuck him there like a piece of junk stuck on a shelf. His family loves him and visits him regularly. No, he means that his body has deteriorated so badly he will never leave the home. His feet have essentially died. They have no circulation. The nurses tenderly change dressings on them several times a day to prevent infection from the nasty fluids that ooze out of them. He cannot stand, much less walk. He used to drive a motorized cart, buzzing everywhere so adeptly he actually took other people's dogs for walks for the fun of it. Now he lays on his back in his bed, staring out the window. He rarely watches television. I asked him what he thinks about all that time. He gave me a long look. I felt as though he was deciding whether to tell me the truth. Finally he said, “Mostly, I think about how I can't wait to get out of this stupid body and see Jesus.”

Jesus died but rebuilt his human body in three days. Can you believe this? This older gentleman has had a hard but happy life. He grew up on a dairy farm near Big Rapids. Dairy farming is among the hardest of all ways of life. His wife died many years ago. They never had children. But his career as a mechanic at Ferris State University brought him into contact with thousands of students, faculty and staff. Drawn by his dry sense of humor and humility they made him into a kind of cult figure on campus. He became so well known that they had to hold his retirement party in the auditorium. His nieces and nephews do indeed come to visit him, and every once in a while so do Ferris State people. He used to have an apartment at the Village at Bay Ridge. Those of you who attended services there up to a year and a half ago will remember him as the man who greeted you at the door.

As Dick's body has fallen apart he has moved from his apartment, to an assisted yet somewhat independent living situation, to a nursing home here in Traverse City that will accept his insurance. It is not one of the nicer places in town. Yet Dick retains a spark of cheerfulness. He does not want to zone out in front of the boob tube or even to take all the medication his doctors prescribe. He accepts that pain and heartache go with the territory of life. He enjoys teasing the nurses and aides. And he meditates on the life he believes he soon will experience in the presence of his risen savior, Jesus Christ. He believes.

If he can, we can. I know that Dick would resist being made the “hero” of a sermon. In fact, I do not wish to portray him as a hero. He has his dark side. We all do. But that is part of the point, too. I find tremendous encouragement in the idea that Jesus lives in the hearts and minds of real people in real life. When I listen to a preacher I do not always respond as well to the “just-so illustration”. I find more hope in the real struggles of real people who persevere in the faith. People like Dick. People whose faith stays with them through all that life throws at them.

Jesus predicted his own death. He predicted his resurrection. I believe that both happened just as he predicted. For this reason I, along with Dick, can believe—against all odds—in the life Jesus also predicted. He predicted that we would know his peace in this life, fraught as it may be with pain and discouragement. And he predicted our own resurrections, too, into eternal life with him. I believe in this. I do not know why. I do know how. I believe because God's Holy Spirit has gifted me with faith. The Spirit can do the same for you. Believe in the resurrected Jesus.

Earlier I called this the most important question anybody will ever ask you. Now I repeat it: do you believe in the resurrected Jesus? Take honest account of your heart. If you cannot answer yes without hesitation, assume your answer is no, and get to work on changing that. Pray for faith. It is a matter of life and death.