3rd Sunday in Lent
March 19, 2006
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
Text: I Corinthians 1:18-21
“O come let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2). Dear brothers and sisters in Christ;
There are many pictures and images that portray the life and actions of Jesus. Consider the Good Shepherd by our baptismal font and the many beautiful scenes in our stained glass windows. One event in Jesus’ life that is not so often pictured, however, is His cleansing of the temple. The picture of Jesus with whip in hand is not all that common. The picture of Jesus forcefully throwing over the money tables and scattering their content is quite rare.
It was a scene of high emotion and physical confrontation. Jesus was passionate and angry! Today’s gentle bulletin cover scene of the temple doesn’t really capture the aggressive actions of Jesus in the temple. In zeal He threw His weight around in an attempt to clean up that house of worship.
Perhaps the reason this event is not so widely highlighted is because it is a bit offensive. It may seem a tad unwise to picture “Jesus lover of my soul” as “Jesus swinger of the whip”. It may seem ill-advised to depict the prince of peace as the whip swinging disturber of the peace in the temple precincts.
It’s not that the men in the temple are presented as dishonest or robbing people. Rather, they were robbing the temple of its intended purpose! It was all very practical to have sacrificial animals and temple coins available right in the temple courts? It was convenient. It was profitable. It was pragmatic and worked quite well. Both people and priests were pleased with this system of worship.
No one seemed to mind; except Jesus! He minded so much He had a whip in his hand. “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” Picture Him, striding about breathing deeply and angrily. There was a literal stampede as he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen.
His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”…But he was speaking about the temple of His body.
They demanded a miraculous sign to prove He had a right to cleanse the temple. They demanded a miraculous sign to prove that God should be worshipped as He said. Such a demand for a sign is exactly what St. Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians, For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Dear Christians, when confronted with the demand for a sign of God’s action in Christ, both Jesus and Paul pointed to the cross of Christ. Destroy this temple, Jesus said. You know what He meant! We preach Christ crucified, Paul wrote. That is speaking as plainly as possible.
The Greek verb for “crucified” is a perfect participle. It is a verb tense that denotes action which has occurred whose effects are ongoing. In other words, God does not want us to think of Jesus apart from His crucifixion. It is not an act we can ever outgrow or go beyond. Jesus continues to live as the crucified one, even in His risen glorified state. That is why the risen Christ showed the marks of His crucifixion to doubting Thomas (John 20:24-29). That is why the triumphant Christ in the book of Revelation is still praised as “the Lamb who was slain” (Rev. 5:6/5:12/15:8).
Jesus’ resurrection does not take our eyes off His crucifixion. Jesus’ resurrection rather fixes our eyes on His sacrificial death with forgiving, life-giving light. That is why St. Paul says, We preach Christ crucified. That is why He wrote to this same Church, “I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified (I Cor. 2:2).
By the cross God outsmarted all human wisdom and overpowered all human power. In so doing, He did not consult us. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth (Is. 55:8, 9). To the world the word of the cross is foolishness. Therefore, in the world’s eyes, you need to wise up. In the world’s eyes, the heart of what you believe is simply nonsense.
The word of the cross! The cross as a means of execution was first used by the Persians and later by Alexander the Great. This cruel form of capital punishment continued to be used in the Roman Empire for centuries until it was finally halted by Constantine the Great.
The word of the cross! The Greek word for cross is an upright stake. The condemned person carried the cross-beam to the place where this stake was erected. At the site, the doomed person was forced to the ground and secured to the cross beam with ropes or with spikes. The beam, with the body fastened to it was then hoisted into place and fastened to the vertical stake. It was such a cross-beam to which Jesus was nailed and then lifted up to die.
The word of the cross! The physical and mental suffering caused by this form of capital punishment is unimaginable. It was regarded as the most terrible means of execution. It was slow and shameful and painful and ugly. No matter how severe the crime, it was considered inappropriate as a method for executing a Roman citizen.
The word of the cross is foolishness! The Greek word for foolish used here is the word for moronic. It means, moronic, unwise, senseless or stupid. The word of the cross is moronic. To those opposed to all forms of capital punishment the folly of crucifixion is self-evident. But even for those who agree with Scripture’s witness that the state has the power to take the life of those who take human life, this particular method of capital punishment is foolish in its gruesomeness. It is cruel and unusual punishment.
But in Scripture God turns the meaning of this phrase inside out. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. The message of the cross in Scripture no longer refers to just any crucifixion, but specifically to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The scandalous center of God’s revelation is that the Messiah, the liberator of sinful man, died as a criminal. The key to understanding God is the bloody death of this one man, His holy Son. This lowest stage of humiliation for Christ was also His highest act of obedience (Phil 2:8).
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… Beloved, do you see what it means that you do not view the crucifixion of Christ as foolishness? Do you understand the personal eternal significance there is in your faith that Christ crucified is God’s wisdom and God’s power and God’s love for you? Such faith is totally a gift of God.
You know the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20) and the depth of their meaning. You know that whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point is guilty of all of them (James 2:10). You know that you do not fear and love and trust in God above all things. Not all believe that God has expressed His will so clearly. Not all believe that they utterly fail to keep God’s holy will. But you do! By God’s grace you also see what God has done to redeem you through the sacrifice of His Son.
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the debater of this age? All over the place and even on our inside! The world and our sinful natures will always find alternatives to Christ crucified! Human cleverness, deep thinking philosophers, endless debaters are present in every society. We are prone to be impressed by eloquence and intellectual speculation. Each generation tends to make much of its own wisdom and boast in its own accomplishments. We are good at marching to our own drummer, spinning things in our own favor, coming up with our own truthiness.
Fellow-Redeemed, we can never dress the cross up to make it attractive to the world. God surprises the world by rejecting its values and power and elevating what it despises. For consider your calling brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus…
We do not come into God’s presence in this house of worship to boast. Rather, Christ crucified and risen comes into our presence to bring us the fruits of His cross. Baptized into His death, you now proclaim His death whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup. Jesus is still as zealous this morning for the right use of God’s house as He was in the temple.
Do not make my Father’s house a market! Do not make my Father’s house a house of entertainment or of experimentation. Don’t market worship like a business. Don’t look for signs of my presence in success or statistics. Do look for my presence where I have promised to be for you.
Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and weakness of God is stronger than men.
Do you see what it means that you do not view the cross of Christ as foolishness? Do you see what it means that you see the cross as God’s wisdom and power? He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
O come let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. AMEN.
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting
Text: I Corinthians 1:18-21
“O come let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2). Dear brothers and sisters in Christ;
There are many pictures and images that portray the life and actions of Jesus. Consider the Good Shepherd by our baptismal font and the many beautiful scenes in our stained glass windows. One event in Jesus’ life that is not so often pictured, however, is His cleansing of the temple. The picture of Jesus with whip in hand is not all that common. The picture of Jesus forcefully throwing over the money tables and scattering their content is quite rare.
It was a scene of high emotion and physical confrontation. Jesus was passionate and angry! Today’s gentle bulletin cover scene of the temple doesn’t really capture the aggressive actions of Jesus in the temple. In zeal He threw His weight around in an attempt to clean up that house of worship.
Perhaps the reason this event is not so widely highlighted is because it is a bit offensive. It may seem a tad unwise to picture “Jesus lover of my soul” as “Jesus swinger of the whip”. It may seem ill-advised to depict the prince of peace as the whip swinging disturber of the peace in the temple precincts.
It’s not that the men in the temple are presented as dishonest or robbing people. Rather, they were robbing the temple of its intended purpose! It was all very practical to have sacrificial animals and temple coins available right in the temple courts? It was convenient. It was profitable. It was pragmatic and worked quite well. Both people and priests were pleased with this system of worship.
No one seemed to mind; except Jesus! He minded so much He had a whip in his hand. “Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” Picture Him, striding about breathing deeply and angrily. There was a literal stampede as he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen.
His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”…But he was speaking about the temple of His body.
They demanded a miraculous sign to prove He had a right to cleanse the temple. They demanded a miraculous sign to prove that God should be worshipped as He said. Such a demand for a sign is exactly what St. Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians, For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Dear Christians, when confronted with the demand for a sign of God’s action in Christ, both Jesus and Paul pointed to the cross of Christ. Destroy this temple, Jesus said. You know what He meant! We preach Christ crucified, Paul wrote. That is speaking as plainly as possible.
The Greek verb for “crucified” is a perfect participle. It is a verb tense that denotes action which has occurred whose effects are ongoing. In other words, God does not want us to think of Jesus apart from His crucifixion. It is not an act we can ever outgrow or go beyond. Jesus continues to live as the crucified one, even in His risen glorified state. That is why the risen Christ showed the marks of His crucifixion to doubting Thomas (John 20:24-29). That is why the triumphant Christ in the book of Revelation is still praised as “the Lamb who was slain” (Rev. 5:6/5:12/15:8).
Jesus’ resurrection does not take our eyes off His crucifixion. Jesus’ resurrection rather fixes our eyes on His sacrificial death with forgiving, life-giving light. That is why St. Paul says, We preach Christ crucified. That is why He wrote to this same Church, “I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified (I Cor. 2:2).
By the cross God outsmarted all human wisdom and overpowered all human power. In so doing, He did not consult us. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth (Is. 55:8, 9). To the world the word of the cross is foolishness. Therefore, in the world’s eyes, you need to wise up. In the world’s eyes, the heart of what you believe is simply nonsense.
The word of the cross! The cross as a means of execution was first used by the Persians and later by Alexander the Great. This cruel form of capital punishment continued to be used in the Roman Empire for centuries until it was finally halted by Constantine the Great.
The word of the cross! The Greek word for cross is an upright stake. The condemned person carried the cross-beam to the place where this stake was erected. At the site, the doomed person was forced to the ground and secured to the cross beam with ropes or with spikes. The beam, with the body fastened to it was then hoisted into place and fastened to the vertical stake. It was such a cross-beam to which Jesus was nailed and then lifted up to die.
The word of the cross! The physical and mental suffering caused by this form of capital punishment is unimaginable. It was regarded as the most terrible means of execution. It was slow and shameful and painful and ugly. No matter how severe the crime, it was considered inappropriate as a method for executing a Roman citizen.
The word of the cross is foolishness! The Greek word for foolish used here is the word for moronic. It means, moronic, unwise, senseless or stupid. The word of the cross is moronic. To those opposed to all forms of capital punishment the folly of crucifixion is self-evident. But even for those who agree with Scripture’s witness that the state has the power to take the life of those who take human life, this particular method of capital punishment is foolish in its gruesomeness. It is cruel and unusual punishment.
But in Scripture God turns the meaning of this phrase inside out. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. The message of the cross in Scripture no longer refers to just any crucifixion, but specifically to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The scandalous center of God’s revelation is that the Messiah, the liberator of sinful man, died as a criminal. The key to understanding God is the bloody death of this one man, His holy Son. This lowest stage of humiliation for Christ was also His highest act of obedience (Phil 2:8).
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are being destroyed, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… Beloved, do you see what it means that you do not view the crucifixion of Christ as foolishness? Do you understand the personal eternal significance there is in your faith that Christ crucified is God’s wisdom and God’s power and God’s love for you? Such faith is totally a gift of God.
You know the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20) and the depth of their meaning. You know that whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point is guilty of all of them (James 2:10). You know that you do not fear and love and trust in God above all things. Not all believe that God has expressed His will so clearly. Not all believe that they utterly fail to keep God’s holy will. But you do! By God’s grace you also see what God has done to redeem you through the sacrifice of His Son.
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the debater of this age? All over the place and even on our inside! The world and our sinful natures will always find alternatives to Christ crucified! Human cleverness, deep thinking philosophers, endless debaters are present in every society. We are prone to be impressed by eloquence and intellectual speculation. Each generation tends to make much of its own wisdom and boast in its own accomplishments. We are good at marching to our own drummer, spinning things in our own favor, coming up with our own truthiness.
Fellow-Redeemed, we can never dress the cross up to make it attractive to the world. God surprises the world by rejecting its values and power and elevating what it despises. For consider your calling brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus…
We do not come into God’s presence in this house of worship to boast. Rather, Christ crucified and risen comes into our presence to bring us the fruits of His cross. Baptized into His death, you now proclaim His death whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup. Jesus is still as zealous this morning for the right use of God’s house as He was in the temple.
Do not make my Father’s house a market! Do not make my Father’s house a house of entertainment or of experimentation. Don’t market worship like a business. Don’t look for signs of my presence in success or statistics. Do look for my presence where I have promised to be for you.
Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and weakness of God is stronger than men.
Do you see what it means that you do not view the cross of Christ as foolishness? Do you see what it means that you see the cross as God’s wisdom and power? He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
O come let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. AMEN.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
3/23/2006
