[Music] there in the temple he found people selling cattle sheep and pigeons and also the money changers sitting at their table [Applause] [Applause] so we made a whip from cords and drove all the animals out of the temple both the sheep and the cattle [Applause] [Applause] he overturned the tables of the moneychangers scattered their coins and the order those who sold digits [Applause] stop making my father's house a marketplace for the the next few weeks the next six weeks between now and Easter we are going to be involved in a sermon series looking at the events of Holy Week and we're going to be the title of this series is the week that changed the world and in particular today we're going to look at Jesus cleansing the temple what you begin to see here and the video that you didn't get to see it's Jesus releasing the Lambs that are there going through the tables where the table of the money changers are and turning those tables over and going to where the pigeons are sold and releasing those as best he can this is a very significant story in the life of the Gospels in that all four Gospels give us a picture of this event Jesus coming to the temple and creating disruption in the Gospel of John is interesting that John puts this at the beginning of Jesus's ministry as he is beginning to step out after his baptism this is the place that he goes first in Matthew Mark and Luke it comes later in the story at the beginning of Holy Week for us the Passover week in Jerusalem but all four Gospels mentioned this and each one follows the the Palm Sunday procession now I think it's helpful to put in context the scene that we looked at briefly it's Passover time in Jerusalem Passover time at the temple and at the time of Jesus we think based on historical records about 40,000 people lived in Jerusalem yet at the time of Passover and the other two festivals that took place in Jerusalem when all pilgrims were supposed to come home and to make sacrifices or to be a part of a high holy worship it would swell to two hundred and fifty thousand now coincidentally the population as of last year of Dunwoody is twenty eight thousand twenty thousand living in Jerusalem two hundred and fifty thousand people have come to Dunwiddie and they're all trying to come to our church some of you think that happens every week based on the traffic on Mount Vernon Road think about the disruption that takes place think about the impact on the services and goods that are provided in this small geographic area some of us are familiar with with Mardi Gras and what goes on in the French Quarter pretty much what you could envision going on in downtown Dunwoody in Jerusalem 250,000 people have come and in over the seven days of Passover the first and the last days being days of rest non work in five days there would have been sacrifices continuously going on of bulls for those who could afford them for lambs for those that could afford them and then for those who were poor there would be pigeons or doves that would be available for sacrifice EP Sanders who is a former member of the Divinity School staff at Duke University says based on the research that he has done through Jewish historians that they would approximate 30,000 lambs would have been sacrificed during Passover at the temple 30,000 Lambs it would have been quite a spectacle it is not that they're just lambs they're unblemished Lambs all have been inspected by the priests and have been deemed acceptable for the sacrifice now one of the other things that's interesting for those of us that have I had an opportunity to go to Jerusalem or those of you who have seen pictures of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem there's that historic picture that looks over from the Mount of Olives across the Kidron Valley to the Temple Mount and you can see the Dome of the rock that is their nail imagine that scene in the valley that was between the Mount of Olives the Garden of Gethsemane and the Temple Mount is the Kidron Valley and by name it is the valley of blood 30,000 lambs have been sacrificed to God in a very appropriate way but you can imagine what that would mean it's also interesting to note that the day before this Palm Sunday Jesus has just written from Bethpage that paja up on the Mount of Olives and he has ridden through the Kidron Valley to enter the golden gate into the city of Jerusalem he has traveled through the valley of blood and he has come to that place it's also interesting to note that later in this week as we look at Holy Week that Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane which is where in the Kidron Valley the valley of blood and remember the story as Jesus is praying what does his sweat become like drops of blood so all of this is very dramatic is being staged in a way that prepares us for us as Christians what it means to experience the Easter Sunday and the other thing that's really important I think to remember is that the thirty thousand lands that are sacrificed the final lamb is sacrificed at three o'clock on Friday afternoon by the priest and as he is doing the sacrifice he holds up the lamb and he says what it is finished the final lamb history tells us it's at that time on that Friday that Jesus says it is finished my work here is done now help us to remember also the context with this what is Passover why is it that Passover is even taking place do you remember that this is not a rhetorical question you may respond why are we celebrating Passover the the exodus out of Egypt and remember what happened they've been the play they've been trying to go you know let my people go let my people go let my people go Pharaoh says no and so we finally get to this Passover event where Jesus our Jesus where God says you know put blood on your door seal I'm going to send a plague and sure enough the plate comes through and all who have the seal of God upon their step upon their doorframe are saved and it's at that point that Farah says fine go but go right now so the people gather up what they can and they take with them what we call unleavened bread unused it bread in that it's not going to rise it's not going to be light and fluffy it's going to be hard it's going to be thin and that's what they take with them so from that point on the Jewish tradition is to remember God providing freedom we have been slaves we are now free and so the tradition has been that the Seder meal remembers through history that event when God acted on behalf of the Israelites and provided them with the freedom that God has given to all of us it's interesting to note also that the Seder meal is the last meal that Jesus does with his disciples it is a Seder gathering that the Last Supper takes place and they remember as others would have remembered God's presence in God's setting free it also is something that we remember this whole sense of remembering there are four questions that are asked at a Seder meal and the first one is why is this night special above above all other nights and then the liturgy goes through the process of the question saying why are we double dipping in the bowls is because we have been set free we dip into the salt water which reminds us of our tears and it goes on in all the questions that are asked that way but it reminds us again of the freedom that God has given to us but it must be done in the Seder with unleavened bread because we remember how quickly we had to leave Egypt now when I grew up in Roanoke Virginia my junior and senior high school years I was there I had a number of friends that when the high school became personal friends where I had an opportunity to experience the Seder in their homes a purification experience must take place before the Seder can be done the house has to be cleaned and it has to be cleaned of anything that is leavened it has to be cleaned you can't mix things it has to be cleaned and there is a tradition in a lot of Jewish homes now and some of you may have grown up in a Jewish home or you may have experienced it where one of the games that is played is that the grandmother will hide yeast around the house and the children have brooms and they go through the house sweeping in the celebration that takes place when they have found the yeast when they have found the leaven and they're able to make it clean a number of the families that I used to go visit to would actually have two kitchens in their house there would be the regular everyday kitchen that they would use and there would be the day the kitchen that they would only use for the Seder meal you cannot mix the two it has to be clean it has to be kosher now one of the things that we have picked up in the in the the Christian tradition and they would have done too is that prior to the Seder you fix everything you can to get rid of the yeast that you have and so we have what we call Shrove Tuesday in the Jewish tradition which is usually what to eat pancakes that's right we get rid of all the leavened flour we create pancakes we also have this party mardi gras where we're able to get rid of the leaven you can't mix it you have separate dishes for Seder that you don't use any time except for the Seder you have a different preparation process now in this particular story that we've seen today there are actually three sections that I think are important to us the first one is Jesus encounters the money changers and the sellers of doves on the Temple Mount now people are going you know the thing is interesting is I wonder what it is that Jesus is actually upset about because at this point in time the people are doing what they're supposed to be doing they are doing what God has asked them to do in providing the sacrifices to him to continue their relationship the money changers are doing what they're supposed to do they are supposed to take the money from the world and create it with what we call temple currency it would be like going to the Vatican for instance and people from all the over the world come in there but the only money that you could use that the Vatican would be Vatican money because of the the economics this country to itself and so for that reason we do that but yet the money changers that are there are doing what they're supposed to be doing so why is it that Jesus is upset the people are doing what they're supposed to be doing the priests are doing what they're supposed to be doing the money changers are doing what they're supposed to be doing why is Jesus unhappy any ideas it's in God's house one of the things that has been discovered by Jewish historians also is that this is a new thing for the temple that prior to Caiaphas becoming the chief priest it is understood that the sellers of the Lambs and the bulls and the doves pigeons that are to be sacrificed or originally took place on the Mount of Olives and that's where you went to buy what you needed to do the sacrifice obviously if you were coming from far away you wouldn't bring those things with you in most instances because they would have to be approved they would have to be usable in the temple and Caiaphas has decided that one of the ways that he can line his pockets is to do it within the temple so the marketplace that isn't there now is something that benefits the priest in a way that is not right and so what the focus has done is changed how they look at things is the how has become more important than the why we are doing this the money changers are charging probably more it is said that for the doves it would have taken two days wages for an individual to purchase what they would need for the sacrifice and these are folks that had very very little money you only bought a dove if you couldn't afford a lamb so Jesus is asking people to take a deeper look within themselves the reason for the temple being here is to do what we are doing that's what is important and Jesus is asking the people to understand the reason for their sacrifice the reason to continue the establishment with the covenant that God has given to them and it's also about prayer in the relationship that they have with God you hear Jesus quoting two prophets as he comes to this point the first one is Isaiah my house will be called a house of prayer remember why this place is here this is where God's presence can be found and then the second one is Jeremiah but you've made it a hideout of crooks now what he means by this is not in Jesus in quoting this is that the money changers are crooks they probably have been charging more than would be normal but they're not crooks that's not what he's talking about with the den of robbers as in some other translations he's talking about the place that people who cheat people and still from people go to all be together because birds of a feather do flock together and in the day and the robbers den was a place that robbers could hang out and know that they would be safe and so Jesus reminds them don't make this a place that those who are not doing what God has asked us to do to feel comfortable the action has become meaningless they're going through the motions is what Jesus is fearful of we're going through the motions unless we do what unless we remember what it is that God has asked us to do then the second part of this is the blind in the lame are being healed and the children are proclaiming remember on the day before what have the people been doing is a Palm Sunday parade it's a palm expression it's an entry into the Jerusalem and the children are singing Hosanna to the son of David so this is a carryover - that the party is continuing the parade is continuing as Jesus has come to the temple there are a lot of folks who think that this is a representation again of that Jesus has come for all people all those who have been marginalized by society those who are lame those who are blind children who were only to be seen and not heard it also reminds us what Jesus says about the children let them come to me don't hinder them don't stop them let them come to me and then finally the third piece of this is the encounter with the chief priests and the legal experts the Pharisees they're not very happy and probably Caiaphas is most unhappy again is his market that we think's been set up here the market that was on the Mount of Olives is still in existence but remember the days when we used to go to ball games at Fulton County Stadium the people that the vendors outside would be selling you know bottles of water and peanuts and they tell you what buy it here because what it's more expensive in the ballpark only get to the gate and they say sorry you can't bring that in and that's what's happened here people that have traditionally gone to the Mount of Olives to buy their sacrificial lamb or the dove or the bowl or whatever it is they're going to do is now showing up in the temple and they say guess what you can't bring that in here it's not authorized so what you have just spent money on to make your sacrifice to God can't be used unless you use one of ours and oh by the way it's more expensive than the one you bought outside the other thing that's upsetting folks here is that as the children are shouting Hosanna Hosanna to Jesus he's not telling them no it's blasphemous Jesus is in their estimation as the priest is creating a difficult situation is that he is claiming to be God in their presence and it's this beginning of this week that moves us closer and closer to the cross Jesus cleans what we call the yeast out of the temple and not because he wants to make it hard for the people that are making the sacrifice again they're doing what they're supposed to do but because he realizes that it seems like everyone has forgotten what coming to the temple is all about all things come from God we make our offering to remember to whom everything the one that everything comes from and we renew our evident as we come what Jesus wants is not just for us to make an appearance in faith what he wants is for us to embrace his spirituality and to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ so as you go through this Lenten season as we move closer and closer to Easter what is it that you need to sweep out of your life what are those things that are leavened in your life that you need to let go of there are any of you fasters any of you do fasting any of you give anything up for Lent that's fasting it's fasting from the things that we know are the leaven in our lives whatever those things are that you have given up and hopefully you didn't give something up flippantly I'll just give something up because it's easy hopefully you gave something up the sacrificial and we praise God that God is with us as we walk this walk so take the broom and sweep out your life get rid of the leaven this day and forevermore amen Oh God we do thank you that you have called us to be your faithful followers that you have allowed us to be attentive to your word during this Lenten season we ask that you help us to be faithful to your call upon our lives and that you continue to guide us and direct us and all that we do provide your love for us that we might provide it to others through your son this day and forevermore Jesus the Christ amen we do