John 2:13-25

Relax, Read and Reflect
Prayer- Lord, Open our hearts and open our minds and help us learn. Go-Fight-Win. Amen.
¹³When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵So 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. ¹⁶To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

¹⁷His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."^a]'>

¹⁸Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"

¹⁹Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."

²⁰The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" ²¹But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²²After 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.

²³Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.^b]'> ²⁴But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. ²⁵He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

The story of cleansing the temple is told in all four gospels, (compare to Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-48,) and that is unusual. Most put this story at the end of Jesus' ministry, but John has it very early.

Sometimes we look at the story of the temple cleansing as one where Jesus looses his temper. It is easy to do this in the other gospels because of the strain of Holy Week, we can see where Jesus knowing that he will suffer may make him tense. John puts the story early, so why be tense? Jesus did not get mad and throw a fit, but as my cheat notes say "he showed the energy of righteousness against religious leaders to whom religion had become a business." This actually makes good logic to me. Jesus was the Son of God; the Temple was the House of God; it is now a market. Jesus understood he needed to clean it up.

We also need to look at verse 19. "Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days." What is being foreshadowed here? I believe he is talking about himself and his resurrection.

After passover he still can not trust the people. They see the signs and miracles, but their faith is in the signs and miracles, not the person. Two lessons are booming here. I will put them both in the questions.

Questions:

1. Have we, the church, made God into a business?

2. Is Christ our temple?

3. Do we place our faith in the signs and miracles? Or do we place our faith in the risen Lord?

Prayer- Dear Lord, help us keep your house holy. Help us remember that it is all about your love and grace, not the color of the carpet or how cheap we can get the yard signs for. Give us the strength to place our whole faith in You! Go-Fight-Win. Amen.