Does the Old Testament Matter to Christians? | John 2:13-22 with Sarah Stenson

Scripture First

A dramatic scene unfolds at the temple where Jesus is driving out livestock with a whip and flipping over the bankers’ tables, spilling money everywhere.

Kiri and Mason ask Sarah Stenson what’s happening here and why is Jesus reacting with such a physical disturbance? She explains the context of Passover: a festival where God commanded His people to offer a sacrifice, but—over time—the priests taught that sacrifices were the best form of worship (over obeying other aspects of the Law like the 10 Commandments).

That’s idolatry!

This diverted the conversation into a discussion about how Christians should view the Old Testament and whether it has bearing on our lives today or not.

Finally, we discuss how preachers can approach this text: wherever God’s Word is preached and the sacraments administered, there Jesus will be. We no longer are beholden to the temple. We have the preaching of the forgiveness of sins through Christ.

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GOSPEL

John 2:13-22

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

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