During war, generals talk about unintended, incidental casualties (collateral damage) and families console themselves with the idea that their loved one sacrificed themselves for a greater good.
People are sacrificed, even to this very day, for a greater good. But, I thought that Jesus overturned the tables at the temple of sacrifice? I thought he had freed the sheep and the cattle, driving them away from their sentence of death. Is not Jesus the last great high priest who, as the book of Hebrews describes, “Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself” (Hebrews 7:27).
I thought that Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all. I thought that sacrifices had come to an end? When needless sacrifices burn us to ashes, we remember, as the disciples did, that Jesus promised, “I will raise it up.”
But, children are still slaughtered in our public schools, and we witness the public sacrifice on our televisions. It is all done so that incredibly disturbed people may make a statement to the world in a bloody piece of performance art. It is a human sacrifice for a cause.
Not as traumatic, but still troubling, children are constantly at the whim of powerful adults who make decisions that directly impact children’s lives, but have nothing to do with the actual welfare of the children. Their lives are sacrificed so that powerful adults might look good and strong in a high stakes game of “popularity contest.”
Even today children are sacrificed in war zones, on the altars of violence and starvation, in an attempt to demoralize and break the enemy. They are sacrificed in a battle of power, over which their little hands and little voices have no control.
John 2:15-16 says that Jesus, “Making a whip of cords…drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here!’’
Jesus drove all the sacrificial sheep, cattle, and doves out of the temple so that they might be free to live…to live their lives…lives that are gifts from God. If Jesus cared this much for sheep and cattle, why does the world still allow children to be sacrificed?
I thought that Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all. I thought that sacrifices had come to an end? When needless sacrifices burn us to ashes, we remember, as the disciples did, that Jesus promised, “I will raise it up.”
I learned a long time ago in school that the Jewish temple is long gone. I had learned that it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. I also learned that the temples of human sacrifice in the Americas had also become a part of distant history. As a child, I had learned that sacrifice was a thing of the past.
Yet, bodies still lay in our city streets. Young bodies and women’s bodies are snatched away when we are not looking and traded as goods to be bought for the satisfaction of others.
Beautiful bodies, created carefully by God’s own hand, are used to sell cars, dish soap, and gum rather than reflect the love of God. Why is it OK to sacrifice the infinite worth of God’s beautiful creation to sell a piece of gum; something that costs less than a dollar? Are we not more precious than that?
I thought that Jesus had spilled the money changer’s baskets? I thought that the tables had been overturned? I thought that Jesus had cleared out the temple of sacrifice and placed himself on the altar?
I thought that Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all. I thought that sacrifices had come to an end? When needless sacrifices burn us to ashes, we remember, as the disciples did, that Jesus promised, “I will raise it up.”
One day in Jerusalem, Jesus stepped into the temple and cut off the power. It was as if he had taken a huge set of clippers, walked up to the huge multi-cables that feed power to a football stadium, and cut the cables that power the lights and television equipment. Mary Hinkle Shore, modern day biblical scholar and theologian, points out that Jesus’ action of setting free the animals intended for sacrifices and spilling the coins of the money changers (money that was required to make transactions in the temple) was the equivalent of cutting the power to a stadium.
Jesus cut the power of the temple for a reason. It was going to be gone soon, destroyed by the Romans, and the sacrifices intended to bring life back into a world of death, sacrifices that set humans right with God once again, were going to be taken care of by someone else.
Jesus, himself, was going to walk up to the altar of the cross, be nailed to it, and give up his life as the final sacrifice to bring life. Jesus carried all the sins…all of the brokenness of our world…onto the cross and put them to death alongside him. Jesus’ death was the last sacrifice. His death was the final sacrifice to make things right in the world. No other sacrifices would be needed. His body is the last temple. No other temples will need to be constructed.
And, if that is true, which it is, that means that temples of sacrifice are no longer what the world needs to make things right. Even though the world insists otherwise, we do not need more bloodshed to create peace. We do not need more bloodshed to make our political points. What our world desperately does need is a temple that carries new life with it. What the world desperately needs is to hear Jesus’ words, “I will raise it up.”
What if we had a temple that brought healing rather than harm? “I will raise it up.”
What if we had a temple that brought people together rather than driving them apart? “I will raise it up.”
What if we had a temple that could love and create new life out of death? “I will raise it up.”
What if our new temple was not built with stone and mortar, but could walk around and live with us? What if we could see our temple and feel its touch? What if our temple of new life could never be destroyed?
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," Jesus declares.
Jesus is our temple. Jesus is the temple of God that walks with us, talks with us, heals us, forgives us, and brings us new life.
Jesus is your temple of new life. Jesus is the one who can take the tragic sacrifices of our world and make something of worth out of them. He is the one who can transform a sacrifice of sin and hate into something made of love. He is the one who can transform a heart of sin and hate into something made of love.
What if your worst pain could be transformed into something worthwhile?
What if your worst sin could be forgiven and your past made into a story that could heal others rather than hurt?
What if God’s temple cared about you. What if God’s temple would never consider sacrificing you for any cause? What if God’s temple set you free to live your life as God always desired for you? What if Jesus was the last sacrifice?
We have a temple that can be rebuilt in three days. We have a temple that cares. We have a temple that raises us out of sin and death.
We have a temple, Jesus Christ, who never looks at us and says, “Here’s a lost cause, why don’t we sacrifice it.”
Rather, Jesus looks at our rubble and says, “What fine building material! What can I make with that now?” Jesus is our temple. Jesus is the one who promises, “I will raise it up.”
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