Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH.
Thank you for
being with me today.
The Gospel
reading for the 3rd Sunday of Lent is John 2:13-25. For most of this
year we will read from the Gospel of Mark, but the lectionary supplements from
John’s Gospel. There is much in John that is not found in Matthew, Mark, and
Luke.
John 2:13-25 I
will be reading from the ESV.
The Reading:
John 2:13-25
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and
Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were
selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15
And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep
and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned
their tables.
16 And he told those who sold the
pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of
trade." 17 His disciples remembered that it was written,
"Zeal for your house will consume me."
18 So the Jews said to him,
"What sign do you show us for doing these things?" 19
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise
it up." 20 The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six
years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" 21
But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore
he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. 23
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name
when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part
did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and
needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Comments
Whenever I read
this, I always have to ponder v. 15 which says that Jesus made a whip and then
he drove out the money changers and those who were buying and selling in the
temple. It seems so foreign to Jesus’ character. We often think of Him as
gentle, mild, patient and kind. And He was all those things, and more. The Old
Testament often depicts God as a warrior who fights for His people. Much the
same is going on in this reading. King Jesus stands in His Father’s temple and
sees people not being allowed to pray, worship being disrupted, and the holy
being treated with contempt, so He acts, not out of blind anger but out of love
for His Father and His people.
There is a lot in
the news these days about violence. I don’t believe that violence was part of
God’s plan from the beginning. He has, however, over the millennia used
violence as the appropriate response to human sin and wickedness. One of the
things that is important, however, in God’s use of violence is that it is
motivated by love: love for holiness, love for His people, love of the Gospel.
It is not random and mindless, but it is performed for His purpose … and His
purpose is always rooted in love.
One of the other
aspects of this reading that we should pay close attention to is the sign that
Jesus offered the Jews. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up.” John is clear, no one understood that Jesus was talking about His body,
but after the resurrection His disciples remembered that He said this.
Isn’t it amazing
how sometimes we understand things in retrospect? In the midst of them we don’t
see the significance of the events of our lives, but later we begin to see how
God was with us, how He blessed us, how He used something to shape us, and the
like. This is true of good things and painful things in our lives. God uses
them to help us grow in our trust in and knowledge of Him. I think this is also
why it is important for us to do what we are doing right now – listening to God’s
Word. God’s Spirit works through the Word, and He shapes our understanding and
perceptions of life and helps us trust that God uses all things to our good.
Meditate on this
today: Jesus came so that the temple of His body might be torn down and raised
up. He did this to restore us so that we could enter God’s presence and worship
Him. How is He using the events of your life to draw you into more mature faith
and deeper worship?
Prayers
Let’s pray the
collect for the 3rd Sunday of Lent from the Lutheran Service Book’s
Altar Book.
O God, whose
glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from
Your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to
embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of Your Word; through Jesus
Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Memory Verse:
Joel 2:13 - Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents
over disaster. (Joel 2:13 ESV)
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
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favor? If you got something out of this devotional time, would you like and/or
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others.
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God bless you!
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