The following sermon was delivered by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia, on March 14, 1982. The title is Living Stones in a Living Temple, and the scripture reference is John 2, verses 13-22. 

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. I'm reading from the second chapter beginning at the 13th verse. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

And he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away. You shall not make my Father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for thy house will consume me.

The Jews then said to him, What sign have you to show us for doing this? Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, And will you raise it up in three days?

But he spoke of the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. The Gospel of the Lord.

That story always jars me. It always comes with a certain shock. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.

the friend of sinners, the gracious shepherd, the one who goes out of his way to provide for people's needs, be they the healing of their bodies or the provision of wine for their parties. Gentle Jesus who tells his friends and followers, if somebody strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other cheek also. Gentle Jesus went into the temple and made a whip and drove people out.

righteous indignation, burning anger. He overturns the money changers' tables and he literally whips people out of the temple. I don't know how that fits with your picture of the Lord Jesus.

We need to understand a little bit of background here. The problem was not the buying and selling of animals in itself. You see, the Jews were commanded, the very center of their worship was to come and offer sacrifices for sin.

And that required animals, bulls, heifers, sheep, goats, pigeons, turtle doves, according to whatever you could afford. You had to come and offer a sacrifice. And it really began as a service to people to provide the animals that were required in close proximity to the place that they were needed, rather than forcing folks to bring them long distances.

Some of these people were making pilgrimages, just as our folks left yesterday to go and visit the Holy Land, the Holy Sites. They didn't fly across the water in those days, but it was a good deal more difficult to come the distances that were involved. And so rather than having to bring the animals with them, there they were provided.

I mean, think of it. You had enough trouble getting here this morning yourself, right? If you had to bring your bullock along, you might have been even lighter than you were, right?

So that was the background, and in itself there was nothing wrong with the practice. But what began as a service degenerated into something that was an insensitive, materialistic perversion. and indeed a parasite on the very thing that it was trying to serve.

In three ways, really. First of all, the quality of the animals degenerated terribly. The Jews were commanded to offer the very best, a sheep without spot or blemish.

If you couldn't afford that, then a pigeon or a turtle dove. But whatever, the very best. And increasingly they began to substitute animals that were old and sick and diseased and blind and broken down one way or another.

And at the same time, the prices skyrocketed. They had a corner on the market, and you had to take what was available. It's sort of like trying to buy a sandwich on Amtrak, you see.

You get the picture, right? Captive audience, and you get what they have. And then thirdly, instead of remaining outside where there was a place for them, they increasingly encroached upon the temple itself right into the very courtyard.

And the temple was designed by God to be a place of reverence a place of worship a place of holiness a place of quiet. And instead of that all this trafficking in animals making their noises and in the changing of money and in a commercial business. It's interesting.

You go back to the very beginnings of the story of the building of the temple and you find this little commentary. It says, When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built. You get the picture.

We've got to build this building but we're going to even do the construction of it quietly. It's a place of holiness even while it's being built. I hope Bruce Scott remembers that this next year.

And now, instead of protecting the worship, this selling of animals has come right into the heart of the temple. Jesus comes presumably just as a worshiper. And he sees what's going on and he hears the noise and he smells the smells and he is incensed.

And he makes a whip and drives them all out. I want you to notice what he says. It says two things at once.

He says, you will not make my Father's house a place of trade. It's not just that this is the house of God, you see, but this is my Father's house. You can just see the Jews saying, who does he think he is?

It's very clear who he thinks he is. he thinks he's the son of God notice how that runs through the story runs all the way through the gospel you can't miss it if you have eyes to see he's saying I'll not have this twisted perverted corruption of worship going on in my father's house but more than that I think he's also saying I'm not going to allow you to do this to yourself I'm not going to allow you to have your worship, your offering, perverted in this way. I wonder if you've ever thought that as Jesus was driving those money changers out, there was real love in his heart for them.

We see Jesus as being so soft and gentle and sentimental that we can hardly imagine him getting angry. And yet I want to suggest to you that if you really love somebody, If you really love somebody, you're going to be angry at the thing that harms that person. You're going to be angry at the thing that corrupts that person.

And you're going to do what you can to get that out of that person's life. I was involved not too long ago in helping to commit a friend to an alcohol detoxification program. And this person did not want to go.

and became very, very angry at those of us who were urging this program. But you see, if we love that person, then we've got to hate the thing that is destroying that person. Of course, we can't do it by ourselves.

Sooner or later, the will has to get engaged, but we'll do what we can. If you love the sinner, you've got to hate the sin. And Jesus did.

so the Jews react to this by saying what right do you have to do this what sign will you give us to demonstrate your authority and he responds with the familiar comment destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up again obviously they took it to mean this glorious physical building and John says no he did not mean that He meant the temple of his own body. A temple is a place for God's glory to be revealed, to be made manifest. And it's a place preeminently for sinful men and women to come and be reconciled with Holy God.

I want you to see what is at stake in Jesus claiming that his body is the temple. He has the audacity to say that everything that this building stands for, everything that it has meant to our people for centuries, I now usurp. I replace.

You want to see the glory of God? Look into my face. You want to be reconciled with holy God?

Then come to me. the temple that building is a has been usurp is probably not the right word really I come to fulfill what that anticipated it's as if that was the architect's model and now the reality is here the scale is all wrong of course but that's the model now the reality is here myself and we don't need that building anymore. It's an incredible statement.

An incredible statement. Do you want to see what all of Judaism was about? What all of the sages and priests and prophets and mighty men and women of faith in the Old Testament were looking forward to?

Look at Jesus. I come to fulfill all of that. I, myself, In this physical body, I am where it's at.

That's what he's saying. In so doing, he's laying claim to a strain of prophecy that runs through Scripture that most Christians are not very much familiar with. But I want to look at a couple of passages with you.

I think it might be helpful to follow along in your Bibles there in the pews. Would you look with me first at Isaiah chapter 28? When you really see this, it will change things forever for you.

Isaiah 28. The context is God pronouncing judgment on His people Israel for their unfaithfulness. Instead of remaining true to Him, what they've been doing is making covenants with occult powers.

With powers of darkness. They didn't deny God outright, but in essence what they're saying is, we know that there are malevolent powers out there seeking to do us in. And in addition to worshipping God, we'll offer sacrifices to them.

We'll worship them, and we'll thereby ward off the evil. And so starting with verse 15, the Lord speaks and he says, Because you have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, it will not come to us.

For we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter. Because you have said this, therefore I say this. Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone.

A tested stone. A precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. And he who believes will not be in haste.

Or that's probably better translated, he who believes will not be put to shame. You've made a covenant with death. I'm going to do something quite different.

I'm going to lay a stone among my people. And I want you to notice what he says about that stone. First of all, it's a foundation stone.

Things will be built upon it. I'm doing this, says God. You did not do this.

You had no pardon, and as a matter of fact, you provoked me to do it by utterly blowing it. I'm going to lay a stone, and it's going to be a foundation stone. What will endure is going to be built on the stone that I lay down.

I mentioned Bruce Scott's name a minute ago. Bruce has a little saying that the most important part of any building is the foundation. You have a problem in the foundation and it will follow you to the roof.

God says, I'm laying a stone and it's a foundation stone and things will be built upon it. Secondly, it's a tested stone. It's one that will carry the weight.

When things are built on it, it's not going to crumble. The stone that I lay will endure. Thirdly, it's a precious stone.

We don't usually think of that, that a foundation stone would also be of great value. But God says, the stone that I lay down is of infinite value. And I'm doing this myself.

Pay attention to it. And finally, it's a sure stone. It's not going to be dislodged.

It's going to take the test of time. When the wind comes, when the waves beat upon it, it will be in place, secure. And he who trusts, not in some kind of a covenant with death, but he who trusts in what I'm doing, he who puts his trust in the stone that I lay down, will not be put to shame.

Turn to the left, to the book of Psalms. Psalm 118. One of the most favorite psalms of the Jews, and in fact it's one of the most favorite psalms of the apostles.

It's quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, Ephesians, and 1 Peter. And the particular passage that I'm interested in is part of the Hallel, a group of psalms that were and still are today sung and chanted at every celebration of the Passover. and every celebration of tabernacles.

I'm looking at verse 22. Psalm 118, verse 22. The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.

God says, I'm laying a stone and it's going to be a precious stone. It's going to be a cornerstone. It's going to be a foundation stone.

But builders, those who are called to build, ignore it. they build elsewhere. What does that do to my purposes?

Not one blessed thing. The building that I'm building is going to go right ahead. I'm going to build it, whether they build on it or whether they ignore it.

I don't know if you've ever had the privilege of celebrating a Jewish Passover with a Jewish family, but I had that privilege last year. You may remember that Passover came right at Easter time last year. And we read the Hillel, we read that particular passage and I turned to my host who was married to a Christian lady but he was a Jewish man and I said what do you suppose that passage means?

Who do you think might be designated as the stone which the builders rejected that has become the head of the corner? And he kind of gave me a sort of a worried look and I said I think you know who that is don't you? and he said yeah I think I know who that is and I said well if you're prepared to build your life on that one who so many have rejected but who in God's purposes has become the chief cornerstone then why don't you meet me at the Lord's table on Easter morning well he did and that man is Jerry Walgan and he gave his life to Christ and he began to build on the chief cornerstone.

One more passage I want to look at back in Isaiah again. Chapter 8. Starting with verse 13.

The Lord of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary, and a stone of offense, and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And many shall stumble thereon. They shall fall and be broken. They shall be snared and taken.

Who is this stone going to be? This stone is the Lord Himself. He says, I'm laying the stone, and yet He becomes the stone.

And what a strange juxtaposition of ideas. He says, I, that stone, I will become at one and the same time a sanctuary, a temple, a place where people will come to meet me, to worship me, to know me. I will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense.

A stumbling stone. Do you see what he's saying? This stone that God is laying down will either be the stone on which we build our lives or it will be a stone over which we stumble.

You will either discover this to be the most important stone in all the world, the place where you meet and get to know God, or else you'll trip over it and you'll be crushed by it. you can't avoid this stone you can put it off for a while but sooner or later you will either build upon this stone or you will trip over it and Jesus says I am that stone I am that sanctuary I am that temple and you'll either come to know God in Jesus or you will certainly stumble over him I want to look at one other passage Testament. Peter, in his first letter, picks up all three of those verses and weaves them together in a fascinating little exhortation.

1 Peter chapter 2, starting with verse 4. He says, Come to Him, to Jesus. Come to Him, to that living stone, rejected by men, but in God's sight, chosen and precious.

And like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame. To you, therefore, who believe, He is precious.

But for those who do not believe, the very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner and the stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall. I wonder if you see the sweep of what's being said. Jesus comes and says, I Myself replace, I fulfill and I usurp and I displace this physical building.

I myself am the temple. And yet, I'm not the temple completed in its entirety. I'm the temple, to mix metaphors, in embryo.

Because this temple is a living temple. And He invites you and me to come and be part of that living temple. Living stones in a living temple.

Built upon Him. Filled with His Spirit. Made like Him.

I don't know if you ever thought of yourself in that way. I don't know if you ever thought of yourself, what is the church? It's not this building.

It's this building. And I want to draw that to two conclusions this morning. First of all, when you really see that, you begin to understand that God calls us to a mutual support system.

Have you ever seen a stone kind of hung out in midair? Of course not. It's got other stones supporting it.

It's got other stones on either side of it and still others above it. And that's what God calls us to do, to support each other. And has it ever occurred to you that that stone has absolutely no say whatever in which of the other stones it will associate with.

The builder puts it in place. And you and I have not an iota of choice as to which of the members of the body of Christ we'll be committed to. God has placed you in the midst of a body.

He's placed you in the midst of a temple. He's given you living stones on either side, beneath and above. And He says, I call you.

to be of mutual support to each other. He calls you to be committed to me, whether you like it or not. He calls me to be committed to you, whether I like it or not.

And that's the place, He says, where my glory will dwell. As you begin to understand that you are to be not dead stones, living stones supporting each other. that's the place.

Not in a building made with hands. In the midst of my people. That's the place that my glory will be seen.

You do understand what I'm saying. Every now and then, for 20 years I've been hearing a rumor, it kind of wafts through evangelical circles every now and then, that the Jews are about to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. It's absolute nonsense.

There is no plan to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. I've got to tell you, if they ever try, it would be the biggest holy war that the world has ever seen. But if they ever did, it would be the greatest apostasy that the world has ever seen.

God has absolutely no interest whatever in another physical building in Jerusalem. The temple that He's interested in is you and me. Built together, supporting each other.

That's the place that He makes His glory known. And that's what ought to happen as people come into our midst. Maybe they've never seen it before, but they come into our midst and they say, what in the world is that?

There's something more here than the sum of the parts. The life of God is here in the midst of His people because He's calling us to be that sort of temple in which He can make Himself known. Do you understand what that means?

That means if you see something in somebody else that really turns you off, God calls you to pray for that person. And to make up the deficit. Not to become critical, not to dump on that person.

If you see something in me that you consider to be a real fault, and undoubtedly you will, God calls you to pray for me. He never allows us to have an insight into somebody else's faults or weaknesses. in order that we might be critical of them, in order that we might destroy, but in order that we might build up.

So a mutual support system. And as we begin to move into that kind of relationship with each other, the glory of God is made manifest in our midst. And secondly, I just want to meditate for a moment.

If corruption in the physical temple could bring the Lord Jesus Christ to anger enough to make a whip to drive people out, then what do you suppose is His attitude toward sin in our lives? If we are the temple of God, how do you think He would view relationships with members of the opposite sex totally out of His will. Or the handling of money in our businesses that is absolutely offensive to Almighty God.

Or whatever it might be. We need to see the loving anger of Christ toward the thing that destroys His temple. And we need to be willing.

We need to be eager to ask Him to come in and drive it out. that His glory might be seen, that we might know His presence. You know, sin put Jesus to death on a cross.

And sin will put Him to death in our lives. Or, He'll put sin to death. One or the other.

That's what Lent is about. We need to be praying that, asking that all the time, but in a special way, that's what Lent is about. That we would dare, that we would have the courage to pray as David prayed, search me, O God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts. See whether there be any wicked way within me. Why?

So that I can grovel in it and feel guilty? Not at all. So that You can cleanse the temple.

So that You can drive it out of my life that I might be a vehicle, fit for the Spirit of God to move and bless others and myself in the balance. Would you just bow your head with me and allow God to focus that thought in whatever way would be particularly appropriate to each one of us. Lord Jesus Christ thank you for loving me enough to be angry over compromise in my life over sin and failure and sloppiness and putting myself above You.

Lord Jesus, I would ask You to come into the temple of my life and drive out whatever is not holy, whatever is not true. and to come into the temple of our fellowship and cleanse it that Your glory might be revealed and that the world for which You died might see You in our midst and be drawn to You for Your great name's sake. Amen.

Amen.