Several
years ago, Ned gave a good Palm Sunday Sermon about Jesus’s casting out the
money changers and His critique of making God’s house a robber’s den. Ned rightly pointed out that all this money
changing and selling of animals took place in the Court of the Gentiles, and
this was the reason that Jesus was so angry.
I want to elaborate on this truth this morning, and for this, we have to
start in the Old Testament.
When the Israelites came out of
Egypt, God gave Moses very specific, detailed plans for setting up a worship
space. It was the Tabernacle. It was to be set up in the very center of the
camp, and all the tents of the people were to be set up around it in a very
specific order. We see these
instructions in Exodus 25-31. The
Tabernacle had 3 main parts: an outer
court, the Tent of Meeting, and the Holy of Holies within the Tent of
Meeting. No one could enter the Tent of
Meeting except for the priests. No one
could enter the Holy of Holies except the High Priest once a year, but the
outer court was open to all worshippers of Yahweh with certain conditions. You had to be repentant and ritually
pure. If you were a male, you had to be
circumcised. Women were allowed in the outer court. Even foreigners were allowed in the outer
court to worship if they had been baptized and circumcised. Everyone worshipped together. The outer court was where you brought your
sacrifices and offerings. There were a
few exceptions of people who were permanently excluded from worship in the
outer court, however, even if they were sincerely repentant and wanted to
worship. They had to have others offer
their gifts for them. We find this list
of people in Deuteronomy 23:1-8. And yet, there are exceptions
to this. Ruth was a Moabite. She lived among the Israelites and married an
Israelite man. She probably worshipped
in the tabernacle with him. By the time
Solomon was born, David and Bathsheba were legitimately married. Their firstborn died just a few days after
his birth, but even so, Solomon might still be considered illegitimate by some. But he not only worshipped in the temple, he
oversaw the building of the temple! This
shows that God sometimes changes the rules.
Our Isaiah passage shows us that it
was God’s plan to open up worship. In
this oracle, Yahweh says, “Let not the foreigner who has joined Himself to the
Lord say, ‘Yahweh will surely separate me from His people.’” Here God shows breaks down the barrier of
nationality and ethnicity altogether. It
doesn’t matter which nation you are from, what your ethnicity is as long as you
have placed your trust in Yahweh. Yahweh goes on to say, “To the eunuchs who
keep My sabbaths and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, to them
I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than
that of sons and daughter. I will give
them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.” Oh, what wonderful promises! God welcomes them into God’s eternal
family. We see this with the Ethiopian
eunuch in Acts 8. No follower of Yahweh
is to be excluded from fellowship and worship.
God ends this oracle promising that God will continue to gather together
not just the dispersed of Israel, but others with them.
Yet, by the time we get to Herod’s
temple, instead of being one people worshipping together, there was far more
separation than during the time of the Tabernacle. Now there is a court of Gentiles surrounded
by walls, and they could go no further.
Then there was the court of women, but only Jewish women. It was also surrounded by walls, and they
could go no further. Then there was the
court of Jewish men—no Gentile converts allowed! And then there was the priests’ court, the
temple itself and the Holy of Holies. The
outer was the closest Gentiles could get.
They couldn’t see their sacrifices being offered. They couldn’t even give their own tithes as
the money boxes were located in the court of women. They couldn’t fully participate in
worship. With all the ruckus taking
place in the court of Gentiles, there was no quiet, reverent place to pray. Jesus
rides into Jerusalem, takes a look around in the temple on Sunday evening. While others are impressed with the size,
scope, architecture and beauty of the Temple, Jesus isn’t impressed, and has
some plans for the next day.
On what we call Holy Monday, Jesus
returns to the temple, tosses the tables and drives out the animals and traders
from the court of the Gentiles. Then Jesus
spends most of HIs week preaching and teaching in the court of the Gentiles
near the entrance to the court of women.
Here anyone could stop and listen to Him if they wanted. His message was and is for everyone. By His presence, Jesus shows that He is not a
fan of walls that divide people who love God and want to serve God. Holiness and purity still matter; there is
still “worship” that is unacceptable to God.
But how one is born does not in any way exclude any one from worship or
from being able to be part of God’s family.
God’s dream that all the Lord’s people
would be united together in prayer as one people was not being realized, but
Jesus came to make that happen. When He
died, the veil of the Temple was torn in two.
Not only did that expose the sham worship the high priests had been
offering for centuries, because there was no Ark of the Covenant present, but
now, not only were the priests no longer separated from the presence of God,
but God was showing that no one need be separated from His presence any
longer. It took awhile for the early
church to realize this. The leaders in
Jerusalem had to hear from Peter about his experience with Cornelius and Paul
and Barnabas about their travels before they determined that, yes, the Gentiles
are welcomed into the family of God with few restrictions—those being don’t eat
meat which has been sacrificed to idols, don’t eat blood or animals that have
been strangled, and from sexual immorality.
Even Paul will talk about whether or not it’s okay to eat meat
sacrificed to idols later on. His
comments have to do with company and with intent as to whether or not it’s
right or wrong. When James, leader of
the Church in Jerusalem, makes his pronouncement that the Gentiles should be
welcomed into the family of faith, he quotes another Old Testament prophet,
Amos 9:11-12, another oracle of Yahweh, who said, “In that day, I will raise up
the fallen tabernacle of David, and wall up its breaches. I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it
as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the
Gentiles who are called by My name.” God
isn’t talking about a literal rebuilding of the temple, and the Jerusalem
council knew this. In his first letter,
Peter writes, “You also, as living stones, are being built up into a spiritual
house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.”
Jesus came so that God’s plan for all of
God’s people to worship together as equals, as one family, as one holy temple
could come to pass. Paul tells us in our
Colossians passage what that should look like.
We need to be compassionate and kind to one another. We need to be humble and gentle and patient
with one another. We need to bear with one
another and to forgive one another, and let the peace of Christ rule in our
hearts. Our worship should include
sharing God’s Word with one another, letting it live in and through us. We should use God’s word to encourage one
another in songs and glorify God in all ways.
God wants His temple to be a house of prayer for all people. Sadly, like the people in the past, we
continue to be divided. Denominations
keep multiplying by the day. Most
churches remain largely segregated. How do
we live in unity? I’m not convinced that
we all have to become Catholic or Orthodox and get rid of our distinctive
Christian traditions and practices. We
serve a big God. I think the different
ways we worship add to the richness of what it means to be Christian. I don’t think any of us have perfect
theology. I think we need to learn from
one another, appreciate one another, and acknowledge that despite these
differences, we are still one in Christ.
I think we need to rejoice with other congregations and mourn with
them. I think we need to work together
in shared ministry to reach our community and world for the Kingdom of
God. I don’t think every congregation is
for every person, but I believe that there is a place in the capital C Church
for every person. I believe as the Creed
says, in “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” But all this doesn’t let individual
congregations off the hook. It doesn’t
let us off the hook. We need to examine
ourselves and ask--Whom are we excluding?
Is it intentional or unintentional?
Are there ways we can be more welcoming to those whom God might want to
join us? Are we harboring racism,
sexism, classicism? Are there walls
keeping people out that need to be torn down?
How is our relationship with our sister congregations? Is there more we could do to partner with one
another? Are we jealous of the
congregations that are growing? Do we
notice and mourn the congregations that have closed?
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