During war, generals talk about unintended, incidental casualties (collateral damage) and families console themselves with the idea that their loved ones sacrificed themselves for a greater good. People are still sacrificed for a greater good.
I thought that Jesus overturned the tables at the temple of sacrifice? I thought that sacrifice had come to an end?
Children and their innocent lives of school and play are sacrificed regularly at the altar of adult concerns and priorities. Children are moved on from friends, passed over in their concerns, and much worse yet, even slaughtered in their schools; all so that adults might make the moves “that are best;” that adults might publicly display that their positions are "right;" that adult concerns might be preserved; and so that incredibly disturbed people may make a statement to the world in a bloody piece of performance art.
I thought that Jesus drove all the sacrificial sheep and cattle out of the temple, that they might be free to live…to live their lives…lives that are a gift from God? Why are children still sacrificed? I thought that sacrifice had come to an end?
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 have also become a part of distant history.
I had learned that sacrifice was a thing of the past, yet, bodies still lie in our city streets, bodies still lie on the sides of rural roads, and bodies are still traded as goods to be bought for the satisfaction of others.
I thought that Jesus had spilled the coins of the money changers? I thought that their tables had been overturned? I thought that Jesus had cleared out the temple of sacrifice and placed himself on the altar?
One day in ancient 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 Beaver Stadium, and cut the power that powers the lights and television equipment that allows Penn State to perform of the field.
Mary Hinkle Shone, 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 no longer needed.
The sacrifices intended to appease God for both atonement and celebration were no longer needed.
Jesus, himself, walks up to the altar of the cross, is nailed to it, and gives up his life as the final sacrifice to appease God. Jesus carries all the sins…all of the brokenness of our world…onto the cross and brings them all to death.
Jesus' death was the last sacrifice.
Jesus' death was the final sacrifice to make things right in the world. No other sacrifices would be needed. His body was to be the last temple. No other temples would need to be constructed.
Temples of sacrifice are not what the world needs to make things right. We do not need more bloodshed to create peace. We do not need more bloodshed to make our points known to the world. What our world desperately does need is a temple of new life.
What if we had a temple that brought healing rather than harm?
What if we had a temple that brought people together rather than driving them apart?
What if we had a temple that could love and create new life out of death?
What 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 not be destroyed?
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," Jesus declares.
Jesus is our new 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 not a temple that seeks constant sacrifices to set things straight, rather, he is a temple of new life that is always making things new.
Jesus is your temple of new life.
Jesus is the one who can take the terrible sacrifices of our world and make something of them...something of worth…something of love.
What if your worst pain could be transformed into something redeeming and worthwhile? What if your worst sin could be forgiven and your past made into a story that could heal rather than hurt? What if God’s temple cared about you, and set you free to live your life as God always wanted?
His website brings in thousands of people each day. Each day people come with their struggles of addiction to drugs and alcohol and find hope and new life in the inspiring and challenging articles that he provides.
Who would have thought, five years ago, that such hope and new life would be possible? While the church that the former pastor served was being destroyed by his own lies and alcohol consumption, and while his wife resolved that she could no longer support him, who would have thought that such destruction and rubble could lead to something redeeming just a handful of years later?
But, we have a temple that can be rebuilt in three days. We have a temple that cares for the sinner and can raise from the dead. We have a temple, Jesus Christ, who never looks at us and says, “Here’s a lost cause.” Rather, Jesus looks at our rubble and says, "What fine building material!"
Jesus is our temple, a temple that loves us to the end.
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