John 2
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Jesus has just totally disrupted the worship in the temple by dismantling the whole system of offerings and sacrifices that lay at the heart of Jewish religious practice. No wonder they question him, "By what authority do you do these things?" It would be like a stranger coming into our sanctuary on Sunday morning and knocking the candles off the altar and taking the communion elements and pouring them on the floor. Then imagine if he took the full offering plates and tossed them like Frisbee out the door! We'd be a little upset, too.
Jesus had something more important to do than business as usual in the temple. The great sacrifice that would liberate men and women of all ages and times and places would be offered on a bloody hill outside the city walls. In the place of this magnificent marble structure constructed by Herod for forty-six years there would be one body hanging from a cross to take away the sin of the world.
Find a way to make a "reformation" in your spiritual habits at worship. Enhance your understanding of the Word and deepen your prayers with worship and songs. May your heart be more open to the work of the Holy Spirit to make the sacrifice of worship the very best that God has offered and give our best for the Lord in his sanctuary.
We pray for ushers, acolytes, greeters, altar guild, lectors and choir and musicians and worship assistants that we can say, "Surely, the presence of the Lord is in this place." Amen.
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