That was our Gospel reading from Sunday, and the funny thing about it was that of all the readings that we've had over the years, this is the one that didn't even need to be read. Not that it's not a good verse, they're all good. But this verse stands alone as the one that I don't even need to read out loud. All I have to do is say 'John 3:16, and you all instantly know where I'm going with it. There were approximately zero people in the pews saying to themselves 'wait, John 3:16? What a great verse, I'd never heard that one before!" Yes yes, we all know John 3:16 really well.
But our level of knowledge of John 3:16 is super interesting given the nature of the original audience. This verse is often trotted out as 'the whole Bible in one verse,' but it wasn't spoken to a vast crowd, nor was it spoken on a mount. It didn't have a ton of witnesses, wasn't spoken from the cross, that sort of thing. Instead, it was spoken in secrecy, at a covert meeting by night, with Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
Isn't that interesting? Isn't it fascinating that we have this situation in which the best known part of the whole Bible was spoken to an incredibly tiny audience? Now, if we consider the words of Jesus as spoken in secret, we have to ask ourselves why that was. If Jesus has something that is so important to hear that we all know it off by heart, then why is it that we see him speaking this essential, core, vital truth in secret?
Well, think about this verse in its context. I know, I know, I hate it when people use 'oh, you took that remark out of context' line to defend themselves, but in this case, context is, in fact, vital. You really do need to consider the context because without it, the rest of this passage really doesn't make sense. For Christ our Lord to meet in secret to dispense this massive wisdom. But it does make sense when you consider what had just happened. This is only the third chapter of John, you know, and in just three chapters, Jesus had become so dangerous that meetings had to be take place in secret. What he had done, of course, was to flip tables, scatter money, and to cleanse the temple from what had gotten in the way between people and God . For there were extra steps, you know, there were extra steps that had crept into the temple, and these steps were placed over and above the word of God himself. God had spoken in his word about taking no pleasure in burnt offerings, and in desiring the sacrifice of a contrite spirit instead of other sacrifices, but the people in the temple at the time decided that the content of someone's heart was less important than ensuring that sacrifices were offered in the appropriate way. They wanted to make sure that you were only bringing the right kind of money, the right kind of sacrifices, that all these things were done well and above board, and that nobody would dare to deviate from what the proper temple protocol was.
Jesus messes up the tables at the temple. That makes him dangerous. Then when they ask him to justify this action, Jesus tells them to destroy 'this temple' and he will build it again in three days. That is, according to Jesus, his body is the temple that the people who are there will destroy, and Jesus will rebuild it in three days. All understood so far.
Your body is a temple too, you know. Your body, as the scriptures say, is a temple of the Holy Spirit. so the question comes to you, as the individual, what is it that is cluttering up your temple? what is it that is working as a barrier between God and you? What is it in your heart of hearts that is blocking the word of God, the Spirit of God from getting through to you? It is this that Jesus goes out of his way to overturn, to get rid of, to dispense with, and it is this that makes him dangerous.
This is why people had to meet him at night, this is why people couldn't ask him these questions in daylight, because his words were too incendiary, and spoke out against everyone. Everyone has something cluttering up their temple, everyone has something that is splintering themselves off from God, so the question is, what is it for you?
Go ahead and ponder it. I'll wait.
But I don't need to wait. I don't need to wait because you don't need to ponder. You don't need to ponder because there's a good chance that you already know. Here's a simple test for you to run, it takes just one minute. Think about the Christian faith, and think about the thing about it that makes you a little uneasy. Think about the part of the Christian faith, even just one part that you'd amend, that you'd drop, that you'd change to suit where you are right now. Think about that.
That's your table, that's your clutter.
If you go to bing and type in 'Christianity is too' you'll find all sorts of tables, and all sorts of clutter. Christianity is too white, too casual, too restrictive, too middle class, too busy, it goes on and on, and it shouldn't be too terribly hard for you to figure out where you slot into this experience. Christianity is too something for you, so you've erected a table in your temple, you've replaced the Gospel with coins, offerings, deals of your own, and you've likely gone a long way towards crowding out the Gospel. So Jesus comes to overturn the tables, he comes to strip out the division between you and God, and he comes to deliver you some truth after doing it.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
There. The most well known verse in the Bible, but it makes so much more sense in the context that it would have first appeared, at night, under the cover of darkness. This verse means so much more because of how it is given, right after Jesus has stripped everything else away that was a barrier to the simplicity of the Gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, because what you were doing wasn't working! All those things that you were doing, deals that you were making, all those extra issues that had come up, those get tossed out, overturned, smashed and driven away. So what's left? Christ, and his Gospel. Christ and the cross. The more you encounter Christ in the Gospels, the more you'll see what it is that he wants to be done with, the more you'll see what it is that he wants to put away, and those are things that either divide you from him, or that you use as a substitute for him. All those things have to go away. They must disappear. They must decrease, and he must increase.
That's what it boils down to. That's what you're going to be left with. Every time you read through the Gospels, you engage in that radical act of Christ cleaning out your temple again. You will find that he will smash all the things you are placing in your temple instead of him, and he will reject them utterly. He will set himself up as the mediator and arbiter of all your life, and of your relationship with God. Your question is not to allow him to do that, for he doesn't ask permission. Your question is what do you do with the temple, and what do you do with him, after he has done it.
Jesus cleansed the temple, people put all the animals and the moneychangers back (presumably). Jesus tore the temple curtain in two, and people put it back up (presumably). Eventually, the temple was destroyed, and the people couldn't worship there ever again. Jesus is trying to tell you something. The sacrifices didn't count for anything. The money didn't count for anything. The division between God and humanity was destroyed through the work of Christ, and shortly after that, the temple was destroyed. Smashed to pieces. Those barriers between God and humanity are gone, thanks to the presence of Christ our Lord, the word made flesh, who took on humanity and dwelt amongst us.
If you fast forward to the very end of the Bible, you will find that the book of Revelation tells us that in the new heaven and the new earth, there will be no Temple, no space set aside for worship, no space holier than any other. God himself will be with them, they shall be his people, and he shall be their God. This time of lent, of penitence, of fasting, of going without, this is the time where you get to ask yourself what it is that divides you from God, and let him remove it. Whatever it is, it must be removed from your temple, and must be replaced by this simple truth.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
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