"Keep It Holy"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Built on the Rock, the Church shall stand

Even when steeples are falling.

Crumbled have spires in ev'ry land;

Bells are still chiming and calling,

Calling the young and old to rest,

But above all the souls distressed,

Longing for rest everlasting (LSB 645.1).

So go the words of an old Norwegian hymn which calls to remembrance the fact that the holy Church of Christ shall stand in every land, no matter the risings and fallings of nations and peoples. The call of the Church rings out in every time and place.

In like manner, the Temple of old called the faithful of Israel from every time and place to its courts, that they might offer the sacrifices prescribed by the Law of Moses for the forgiveness of their sins and in thanksgiving for their many blessings. The Temple was a glorious place, engineered to stir up feelings of reverence and wonder at the great and awesome proceedings that took place within, where God deigned to meet with men. No expense was spared in the building of the Temple, even in the rebuild in which Jesus and His disciples worshipped. The teachers of the Law reminded Him, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple.”

Indeed, the Temple was the center of Jewish worship. The synagogues in the towns and villages served as places of learning and prayer, but the real worship of God happened in the Temple. Only there could the sacrifices be offered. Only there could the Passover truly be celebrated. Only there was the Day of Atonement enacted.

And yet, by Jesus' time, the forecourts of the Temple had become a place of trade and exchange – a livestock market. Jesus literally calls it an emporium. Now, why was Jesus so upset? The merchants were breaking no laws. Moses provided that those coming to offer sacrifices could buy the necessary animals and products at or near the Temple. As St. Augustine says, it is lawful to sell what it is lawful to buy. The merchants were simply facilitating the Temple rituals.

However, the livestock auction in the Temple forecourts was but a symptom of the corruption of the Temple rituals by sinful men. Centuries before, the Lord had given the command through Moses: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). The Sabbath was given, as were all the Temple rites, so that man might rest from his labors and receive the mercy and grace of God. As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

The livestock merchants represented a system that had fallen down on itself. What the Lord had instituted in the Temple, and allowed to be supplied by the merchants, was access to His free grace and favor, not a negotiation by which He might be bought off. The sacrifices were instituted on account of the sin of the people and their hardness of heart, that they might be redeemed by the blood of another, in prefigurement of the sacrifice of Christ. But the priests, merchants, and people had turned the whole thing into an indulgence-emporium, wherein they could buy and sell the things of God and get what they wanted for the best price.

And this problem is not unique to the Second Temple period of history. The doves, lambs, and cattle are still being bought and sold in the Church. The Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus as a dove, and was shown to enter the world in this way. He comes of the Father and the Son to deliver the things given by the Father through the Son. He comes to give these gifts freely.

However, there are those who would use the Holy Spirit as a bartering item. He is not given freely, but restricted to the course and scope of your choosing. The Holy Spirit wings His flight not over the whole earth, but over you and your poor little sphere. You would hold Him in your hand, and give him parsimoniously only to those whom you see fit, and only in the manner you see fit. If you do not wish it, you deny the work of the Holy Spirit in this or that matter, and decide for yourself when and where He should appear, as though you could control Him with your money or force.

The Lamb of God is come into the world to bear your sin and be your savior. He offered up Himself for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. His blood shed on the cross for you has made atonement for you and for all people, by the free grace of God and His love for His people.

However, you would use it as a weapon, to exclude and divide. Jesus becomes the mark of the “cool kids”. You are better than your heathen neighbors living in sin. You are holier than “those people”, so you should shake off the dust toward them. You have the special inside scoop, the direct access, the inside track. “They” are just not with it, those wicked people who do not keep the Third commandment and who fail to do God's will here on earth. If people do not think just like you, Jesus must not love them nearly as much as you. Come, pay the price and get your Jesus ticket.

The gifts of God are dispensed and provided by the work of His ministers, whether in the physical or spiritual realm. The oxen are yoked to the mill and the plow, and they work to provide for their masters, and then are taken to slaughter as an offering for guilt. They plow and plant and grind, with the hope of partaking in the fruits of their labors.

However, you would see the workers of God bridled and restrained. You would have the men of God preach not what He wills, but what you will. The message of comfort to the already comfortable. The message of condemnation to the undesirable. The message of preservation for the way you like things. You would yoke the Lord's ministers to the plow, then put bit and blinders to keep them from the fruits of their labor. You are content to see the Lord's servants mistreated and abused for the sake of your comfort. They work in hope of things to come, but you would see them without. They work without power, for only God can grant the fruits of their labor.

In light of this, Jesus comes into the Temple and drives out the livestock-traders and money-changers and scatters their wares. And when the Jews demanded by what authority He did such things, He answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” As St. John records, they thought that He was speaking about the Temple building, but after the Resurrection, the disciples understood that He was speaking of Himself, of His body.

Indeed, it came to pass that the Jews, in seeking to preserve the earthly Temple they so loved, destroyed the temple of Jesus' body. They drove Him out, overturned Him, and sought to defraud Him of His life by trumped-up charges. They would not hallow God's name or let His kingdom come among them. They would not honor the Sabbath day. They would not fear, love, and trust in God above all things. So, for these things, and for all the sins of all mankind, Jesus died.

Christ, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed, not on the holy altar of the Temple, but on the common wood of the cross. He handed Himself over to the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, that He might be cut down, and rise again. He was crucified for you, for your sins, for your salvation. He was sacrificed to appease the wrath of God for you. He offered up Himself so that the Kingdom of God might come to you, that His gracious will be done for you, to you, and among you.

The temple has been destroyed, but it has been raised up again. The Lamb who once was slain now sits on the throne of God for you. He has been consumed with zeal for the house of the Lord, and by His glorious resurrection, He has established His house with doors wide open to you. He has united you to Himself through the blessed flood of regeneration in water and the Word.

You cannot buy or sell Christ or His Gifts. The Church is not a marketplace or an emporium. For the simple fact is: His Gifts are free and given freely and abundantly. You are Christ's because He has made you so. “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5). You are united in the death of Jesus by being drowned and raised through the waters of the font, and therefore you share in His life and salvation by the forgiveness of sins.

God's will is done without your help or prayers, but you pray that it be done by you and among you. You pray that He would break and hinder the assaults of the devil so that you may hallow God's name, keep His commandments, and live under Him in righteousness and blessedness. You pray that His will be done among and through His holy Church, that He would daily and richly forgive your sins and the sins of all believers, that He would strengthen you through His Word and Spirit, and that He would preserve you in the one holy catholic faith.

Though the Temple of flesh be destroyed, you live in hope that, at the coming of our Lord Christ again in His glory, all flesh shall be revealed and all who have fallen asleep shall rise to new life in eternity. You bear in your body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may flow through you. You live because His life has been poured into you, into your heart and into your mouth. Therefore you can rest secure in the knowledge that you will rise again. Though this temple be destroyed, it shall be raised again.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.