The Gospel reading today, the Third Sunday in Lent, is Jesus Cleansing the Temple in John 2.

John 2:13–22 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 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.

Too many people had forgotten the purpose of the Temple. They had lost proper focus and abandoned the mission. In Matthew 21, Jesus gave this reason for His actions:  “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”

If Jesus were to come and make an assessment of your congregation, how do you think it would fare? How much of what is done in the church has little to do with proclaiming God’s Word, announcing forgiveness for Jesus’ sake and sharing the message of Christ with a dying world? All too often we get bogged down in petty disputes and inward focus that detracts from the work we should be doing.

You can’t fool Jesus. The last three verses of John 2 are an optional part of the Gospel reading for today:

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. (John 2:23-25)

“He knew what is in a man.” He still does. He knows what is in a man. He knows what is in a woman. He knows our heart. Jesus knowing us that well can be frightening. Nothing is hidden from him. He knows whether or not your faith in Him is genuine. He knows your wicked thoughts and the dark secrets you try to hide from everyone else. But He also knows what you need. He has provided your greatest need in paying for sin, assuring you of forgiveness and eternal life with Him. And He doesn’t stop there. He stays with you. He encourages you. “Never will I leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). He promises that because he knows what is in you and what you need.

One of the most comforting things in my life is knowing I can pray to Him, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief” and have the certainty that He will give what I ask. He knows me better than anyone else. He knows you, too. That knowledge was a motivation in coming here to be your Savior. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ.