Last time we met we saw Jesus at the Cana wedding, today we find him at the temple in John 2:13-22.
13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore 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.
In many ways I understand what Jesus did here, you know?
Imagine if you went to place and you knew what it was supposed to be, and then found out it was being used in a way that was so far from what it was supposed to be. Wouldn’t that hurt your heart and therefore make you angry?
It’s like the sorrow I felt when a church I knew in Kitchener was turned into a mosque. And I know a building is just a building, but when it’s been used as a place of worship and now it’s a place where people don’t learn to truly love the Lord… it hurts my heart.
I can picture him coming in, prepared to worship God with his disciples. To teach as well. Jesus arrives and he’s greeted by a bedlam of sales and trades and critters messing up the place. God’s house, used by people, in a manner that it was SO not intended. The priests and Levites should not have allowed God’s house to be used is such a manner.
Jesus took that hurt though and did something about it. He did it without hurting anyone. But he made his point clear. THIS IS GOD’S HOUSE! Treat it like such!
He made a whip of cords and drove the animals out. The people would have run as well. The tables and coins he spilled over, and told the pigeon sellers to GET OUT! God’s house should not be used as a house of trade.
This made an impression upon the disciples eh? For we read: His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.
The Jews demanded to know what right Jesus had to do this when they asked “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”
Jesus’ response was that he would show them his authority when he rose from the dead. The Jews didn’t understand what he meant, not knowing he was talking about his own body, they just saw the immediacy of the temple in front of them. But his disciples remembered it. When Jesus rose from the dead the disciples believed it and all the words Jesus had spoken.
You can see the pieces starting to fit together eh? Jesus speaks, the disciples remember and then it all clicks into place. Clarity is given.
It’s like when I read the bible, knowing certain things, and then reading other parts and then suddenly a deep clarity comes and I believe the Lord and his word all the more.
Do you ever have that? Having a deepened understanding come when you see more of God and his actions and his heart? It’s just an amazing thing to have your faith deepened.
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