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THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT March 3, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto OUR OPENING HYMNN: 850 “God of Grace and God of Glory” Lutheran Service Book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUioKmx_vvA The Invocation Page 184 Confession and Absolution Page 184-185 THE LITANY P: O Lord. C: have mercy. P: O Christ. C: have mercy. P: O Lord. C: have mercy. P: O Christ. C: hear us. P: God the Father in heaven. C: have mercy. P: God the Son, Redeemer of the world. C: have mercy. P: God the Holy Spirit. C: have mercy. P: Be gracious to us. C: Spare us good Lord. P: Be gracious to us. C: Help us, good Lord. P: In the time of our tribulation; in the time of our prosperity; in the hour of death; and in the day of judgment: C: Help us good Lord. P: We poor sinners implore You C: To hear us, O Lord. P: To rule and govern Your Holy Christian Church; to preserve all Pastors and missionaries of Your Church in the true knowledge and understanding of Your Word, and to sustain and protect them; to guard, defend, and save persecuted Christians throughout the world, and here at home; to beat down satan under our feet; to send labourers into Your harvest; and to accompany Your Word with Your grace and Spirit; C: We implore You to hear us, good Lord. P: To raise those who fall and strengthen those who stand; and to comfort and help the weak-hearted and the distressed: C: We implore You to hear us, good Lord. Amen. The Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy) Lord Have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord Have mercy upon us. Collect Prayer: O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from Your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of Your Word; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible Readings: Old Testament Reading Exodus 20: 1-20 Psalm 19 (antiphon v.8) Epistle Reading 1st Corinthians 1: 18-31 Gospel Reading John 2: 13-25 THE NICENE CREED P. 191 HYMN OF THE DAY: 823 “May God Bestow on Us His Grace” By Martin Luther https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnhQJ8m3B3o THE SERMON – “Take these things away! Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade!” Jesus gives a clear, stern warning as He whips the greedy merchants from the temple courtyard. This was the first, outer court of the complex. It was meant to be a place of quiet reflection, penitence, and prayer. Yet in our Gospel account, the area had been turned into a marketplace; a cheap bazaar. Worshippers were forced to run a gauntlet of salesmen offering animals and money exchange rates just to get inside the inner-courts of the temple. How sad. How wrong. Is this why Jesus displayed righteous anger? Why he overturned the merchant’s tables? Why did Jesus take these actions? In a word: location. But Jesus wasn’t simply upset that the activity was taking place inside the boundaries of the temple. Taking it outside wouldn’t have made it anymore God-pleasing, or righteous. It wasn’t just the physical location that Christ was angry about. The real reason Christ let loose, and did what He did, was because of the location and prominence that commerce had taken in the lives and hearts of people who dared to call themselves faithful. Remember, all that livestock and money – the commercial activity – was conducted for the sake of making proper sacrifices in the temple. As far as the merchants were concerned, it was done in service to God. But there’s the problem. God, who knows the heart, knew full-well, who and what, was truly first with the people in that marketplace. The buying and bartering, the haggling and exchange of money, had taken up the central place. Their focus and attention were not on the Creator of all things, but on outward creations. What exactly was Jesus driving out in His righteous anger? It was the idolatrous place, the position all that stuff had taken in the hearts and minds of those who called themselves God’s people. The Word of the Lord had been replaced by a false ‘buy and sell’ theology of salvation. The true temple, Christ, had appeared to find His people obsessed with corrupt and empty spiritual dealings. It was this great and deadly distraction, the people’s disregard for the truly Holy, that drove Jesus to loving anger. What our Gospel lesson is really about is the First Commandment issue of God having Lordship, and occupying first place in our lives. It’s about the position and prominence that God has in our hearts, minds and souls. That’s why this Gospel text is used during the penitential season of Lent. It’s given for us so we can take a good, honest look at ourselves, and our lives. We may not want to admit it, but we’re often not very different than these temple traders. How many times do believers behave more like a customer than a Christian? How often have we treated God as if He’s the store manager, and you want to make a request, or lodge a complaint? How often have we held up the ledger book of our ‘good works’ and accomplishments to God as a receipt . . . a way of trying to cut a deal, and make an exchange for something you want or desire? We hold up our good deeds and complain: “God, I’ve been a loyal, well-paying customer all these years, and this is how you repay me? This is how you treat me? If we still think we’re spiritually squeaky-clean, let us look into the mirror of our lives. How often have we failed to fear, love, and trust in God above all things? Brothers & sisters, before our righteous and holy God, we’re all guilty. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” But fear not. God has brought us Good News of great joy. We have been redeemed! True redemption, in and through Christ. You see, in real redemption something is exchanged for something else. To redeem something means to buy it back. Retailers redeem coupons; they buy back the coupon for the agreed-on price. So it is with us, and our salvation. But here’s the crucial thing: we have NOTHING to offer in exchange for our forgiveness. As Jesus said, “What can a man offer in exchange for his life?” (Matthew 16:26) Nothing. We were bankrupt, dead in our sins as the Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:1. Then Jesus came. And as the Apostle Paul again explains in our lesson from 1st Corinthians today, “because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to stop people from trying to ‘buy’ their way into God’s good graces. This is exactly why our Lord proclaims His Law to us. This is why God tells us the truth about our sinfulness, and human nature. And precisely why Christ cleared out the temple – so He could teach and proclaim the Gospel. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” Jesus said. This is the foretelling of the resurrection. When the true temple, Christ, gave up His life on the cross, God the Father raised Him from the dead three days later. It is in His resurrection that believers have the sure and certain hope that our sins are forgiven. As the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts, we know Jesus has moved into us, and we are now temples of God. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" The God-man who took action to cleanse His temple made of stone, has promised that He will purify His living temples, us. Just as He brought His temple back from the dead, so He will also come one day to raise all our temples back to life. On that day, He will give eternal life in both body and soul to all who believe in Him. That’s Gospel truth! God speaks the cutting words of His Law, that can sting like the cords Jesus swung at the merchants, not to punish us, or rub our faces in our failures, but to overturn the sinful marketplace that is our heart. He enters into the old Adam’s flea market, the broken human nature, not with a mere whip of cords, but with the razor-sharp sword of His Law to drive us to the Gospel. He overturns and kills, precisely so He can resurrect and make alive again and anew. And it is this baptismal resurrection truth of the Gospel that’s proclaimed to you today. It is the truth of your redemption that’s freely held out to you in Christ’s Word and Sacraments. You have been purchased and bought back from the bonds of sin, death, and damnation with the lifeblood of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit works faith in us using God’s Word found in the Bible, and His Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Within His true Church we’re offered these priceless means of grace. May this full Law-Gospel truth fill and lighten your hearts. May it be witnessed in all you say and do. May your life be a living proclamation of thanksgiving of what Christ has done for you, and in exchange for you. In His all-redeeming name, Amen. PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT Page 194 THE LORD’S PRAYER Page 196 AGNUS DEI (Lamb of God) Page 962 Post-Communion Collect (Right-hand column) Page 201 CLOSING HYMN: 895 “Now Thank We All Our God” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eXcRepj6RM