Honour the Body of Christ
Scripture Reading: John 2: 13 – 22 (NIV)
13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
18The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Message: Honour the Body of Christ
Emotion of Anger channelled the right way
We all get angry at some stage of our lives.
Take a moment to think of a time when you really got angry at something or someone… How did that work out for you?
You see, we often do bad things when we get angry… we say things we later regret, or we behave in a way that causes us to be ashamed of ourselves later.
The medical explanation is that we land up in a fight or flight mode when we get angry.
The part of our brain that is functioning in this mode is not concerned with relationships or behaviour, but rather survival.
Sometimes we get angry or offended when things happen to us and we tend to jump into this brain mode to quick.
It is a life skill to learn to know when you are entering this brain mode and to intentionally steer away from it – to get back in the responsible mode of your brain as quickly as possible.
That is called channelling your anger into the right channels. Jesus was really angry here (He made a whip, called them snakes, wrecked the place), but it was all towards the injustice of what was going on in God’s temple.
Perhaps we could learn from Jesus’ anger in getting angry at the right things in life and channelling our anger in the right channels to have the desired effect of addressing something that is wrong?
Paul said in Ephesians 4: 26 - “In your anger do not sin”.
The sin is not in the anger then but in what you do when you’re angry.
May we learn to channel our anger into the right channels to address the injustice and wrong we get angry about!
Misguided Temple Practices
Jesus was angry at what his Father’s house has become.
It is supposed to be a holy place of worship, but over time it degraded into a despicable place of trade.
Jesus was addressing the misguided practices in the temple through his angry intervention.
It is easy to look back today and identify how their trading in the temple grew to be misguided over time, but the people of the time missed it because they were contempt.
They grew more and more contempt over time, just accepting the practices of the time.
Perhaps we could ask ourselves today what our contempt looks like?
Have we grown so used to “how things is supposed to be done” or “how they were always done” that we miss the true purpose of honouring God in what we do?
Reading this story of Jesus’ anger at misguided practices in the temple, I cannot help wat wondering what He would do if He were to pay us a visit today?!
The Body of Christ – Temple, Church
Jesus’ disciples later recalled what happened on that day – especially what He said to the Jews “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days”.
Jesus was referring to the connection between his body being slain and raised and the temple itself.
This is a profound connection – one that we easily overlook in our daily church practice.
It is especially meaningful for us in this time of Lent to reflect on our connection to the body and suffering of Jesus.
Per definition, from the Gospels and letters from the apostles, the church is the Body of Christ.
Let us also remind ourselves of this today, when we gather as a formal chruch.
We are the Body of Christ – there is a special connection that we need to cherish!
Conclusion
May we learn from Jesus to channel our anger in a way to address the injustice that makes us angry.
May we learn to be angry at the things that really matter.
May we reflect on our religious practices – are really honouring God with the way we practice church?
May we discover the special connection we have with the Body of Christ so that we are shaped to honour God in this time of Lent.
AMEN
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