Trinity 10

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft Jer 8:4–12; 1 Cor 12:1–11; Lk 19:41–48; Ps 92; antiphon: v. 4   –     8/9/26

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today we read, And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. Christ’s primary indictment in the second half of the Gospel reading applies to those who misuse God’s house for financial gain. We will get to them in a minute. The secondary indictment in Jesus’ words can be understood from the context of the passage He cites, It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers. Just before this verse Isaiah has been writing about how God will provide a place and blessing among His people in His kingdom to the foreigner, i.e., the Gentile, and the eunuch. But then in the verses following God calls upon the beasts of the field to come devour the unfaithful people, the guards who slumber at their posts and love to drink wine to drunkenness every day. Who are the guards of Israel? Her priests, and her scribes or teachers, and her principal men. Who was responsible for confirming the faithfulness of the house of God so that the righteous fathers and sons Israel, the righteous Gentiles, and the righteous eunuchs could come to receive the gifts of the Lord? Those same priests, scribes, and principal men. But it is they who have allowed the robbers to come into the temple and have themselves profited in the theft of their countryman’s livelihood.

But what is this robbery that Jesus finds? Who are these sellers whom Jesus drove out of the temple? The worship in the temple required particular animals of set ages and perfect complexions. Every Israelite was supposed to bring his own animals, have them checked for purity by the priests, and offer them at the altar. For the poor who had no livestock of their own different sacrifices of doves were possible. God had no issue with herdsman selling their livestock outside of the temple if they did so at fair prices, which He makes clear repeatedly in Moses’ books and Proverbs. The men here whom Jesus calls robbers are the servants of rich landowners, very likely priests, who evidently are gouging their poor customers, and worse, doing it in the temple itself. In the temple, God means for the people to come for repentance, for prayer, and to receive His gift of cleansing, that is, forgiveness. The sacrifices are necessary to cover the sins of the people, but also to show them that only through the shedding of blood comes the forgiveness of sins. It is all to prepare them to recognize the Messiah, the Christ, when He comes to die for their sins. Turning a place of worship into a hideout for robbers shows us how far Israel has departed from the Lord. For these sellers, for the priests, scribes, and principal men of Israel the temple is no longer where God sanctifies His people, but it is where these men make their great wealth off of God’s people, and especially off of the Gentiles.

What does the statement ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’ mean for you? It means that this church is not a social gathering or community center, though as a church we should socialize and actually get to know each other so that we can pray for each other and it is where the community should gather. It means that this church is not a business, the church is not here to make money for itself, to be profitable financially, though she is meant to support the pastor and gather the gifts of Christians so that she may help the poor. It means that this church is not a pet project for some of you to control, though all of you should contribute to her upkeep. It means that this church is where God desires all of you to be to pray together and encourage one another. It means that this church is where God desires all of you to come to confess your sins and receive His forgiveness. It means that this church is where God desires to give all of you His body and blood in the bread and wine. The church is in the business of calling sinners to repentance, bringing forgiveness to the contrite, and strengthening the downtrodden. The church is where God brings heaven down to earth. Those were also the purposes of the temple which the priests, scribes, principal men, and even the commoners forgot. Do not forget like they did, nor neglect gathering in the church as often as you can, approaching the altar in reverence.

What about the opening of the Gospel? Jesus cries out over the city because the patriarchs and the prophets had long spoken to the people of Israel about the way of peace, about the visitation of the Messiah, the Christ. But this people had rejected these words, were denying their Savior, and so judgment was going to come upon the city. Yes, many of the priests, the scribes, and the principal men were responsible for misleading the people in every age, because they were the ones to whom God had entrusted the teaching and guiding of the nation. But the people themselves also bear their own guilt for listening to the false prophets and unfaithful rulers rather than the Word of God from Moses and the true prophets. Had they listened to the warnings of Moses and the prophets rather than their rulers, then they would have followed the way of peace. Had the rulers taught and themselves believed the warnings of Moses and the prophets, then they would have been leading the people along the way of peace. But now the things that make for peace are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

What does Jesus mean by the time of your visitation? The word for ‘visitation’ in Greek is ἐπισκοπή, from which we get the English words Episcopal and, through some strange wanderings which I don’t know, Bishop. In the early church and for a long time after the work of the bishop was to oversee the churches of his local region by ordaining and installing new pastors and by visiting each parish. When not serving in his own congregation he would go, listen to the pastor preach and speak to the locals so that he could check the quality of the doctrine and practice. If a pastor was lazy or unfaithful, he would admonish him and perhaps remove him. If the people were rude or unfaithful, he would reprimand them. If the pastor was ill, the bishop would preach and administer the sacraments for him. The bishop always hopes that in his visitation he will find a faithful pastor who preaches the truth and a meek people who desire God’s Word and Sacraments with reverence. The bishop, like the pastor, was to be an image of Christ to the people. When Jesus invokes ‘visitation’ here, He speaks of His coming to His people, an event that the prophets had foretold. Earlier, this meant that Jesus came to ordain and install the twelve apostles as the first bishops, but in this moment to check on the state of the old priesthood and the chosen people. Thus we read, When [Jesus] drew near and saw the city, he wept over it. Why? because the priests teach false doctrine and steal from the people, and the people practice idolatry worshipping the temple rather than God. This would be like me embezzling from the church while neglecting preaching and teaching, and all of you claiming you were guaranteed heaven simply because your names are on our church rolls while neglecting to gather every Sunday it is possible and ignoring the Sacraments.

The primary purpose of the visitation, though, is that God the Father has sent Jesus to fulfill all the words of the prophets, to save His people from their sins. The prophets had spoken of the salvation of the people of Israel, and of the Gentile nations, that God would send the Great High Priest, the Suffering Servant as Isaiah calls Him, to bear the sins of all and save them through His own death. The prophets had also warned the people that they must remain faithful lest when God sends Him He find them unfaithful and destroy them. But the teachers and the hearers twisted the purpose of the visitation by their sin and unbelief so that when the great Bishop arrived, they did not know Him. When He showed them that He had come to purify their hearts and also bring all nations into the house of God, the Church, they denied they needed purification and were scandalized at thought of Gentiles receiving the gifts of God. As Jeremiah writes, How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.

What does all this mean for you? It means that you should learn from the example of the unfaithful priests, scribes, and principal men of Jerusalem, and indeed from all the unfaithful Israelites. Do not neglect the reading of God’s Word. Do not neglect the church, neither in its maintenance physical or financial nor in the divine service. Do not neglect the study of God’s Word for in that Word is your life. Do not neglect private confession and absolution. Do not approach the Lord’s Supper with pride but in humble reverence, it is a heavenly gift. Do not neglect the Lord’s Supper, for that is His gift of forgiveness, life, and salvation for you. Do not impose worldly ideas and pagan practices on the church. Do not attribute ill intent to one another or to your pastor. Do not neglect your neighbor, but speak to each other, don’t run out of church as quickly as you can. You will spend eternity with one another so you should know each other. If you don’t heed these warnings, then you will be acting no better than Jerusalem over whom Jesus wept.

Where you have failed in any of these, repent, strive to do better. God your Father, for the sake of the death and resurrection of Jesus His Son forgives you all of your sins. Jesus came to visit mankind that He might save us. What does St. John write? For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned (3:16–18a). Jesus did not wish to find Jerusalem unfaithful, but to shower her people with joy and salvation. Nor does Jesus wish to condemn you. He is faithful and just to forgive you all your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. When you fall down, is it not God Who lifts you up? The priests, the scribes, and the principal men forgot Who God is and what He had said. You remember God’s Word, believe His promises to you, and live in joy that you, though once unfaithful, though of a foreign race, God has made His people, has purified and made faithful, that God has given you His Spirit that you may live in faith toward Christ and love toward one another all your days. Amen.

Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen