John 2:12-25

Jesus goes from Cana to Capernaum, staying there briefly. The next scene to which John follows Jesus is Jerusalem during the time of the Jewish Passover.

 

A couple of events are significant during Jesus' visit to Jerusalem. First John describes Jesus' response when He finds merchants in the temple courts. Jesus is outraged! True, the people described are performing a sort of service for the worshipers by exchanging their money so that they can buy sacrifices and by selling sacrifices to those whose travel would have been encumbered by physically bringing sheep, cows, or doves. But despite the useful nature of the merchants' work, Jesus is appalled! John tells us that Jesus drove the animals all out with a whip – and He made the whip Himself, just so that He could drive them out! He scattered the money changers' money and flipped their tables! He commanded - with quite a bit of passion, I'm sure – those selling doves to gather them up and get out! He scolded them, "How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" Seeing all this, his disciples remembered that the Scriptures speak of the Messiah as zealous for God's house.

 

Since today's churches do not serve the function of the Jewish temple (they are not "the" place where people meet with God), it is debatable whether today's church-based bookstores and coffee shops are wrong. As a Christian, my primary concern should be to examine my own heart. I ought to make sure that my focus is God rather than convenience in worship. My sinfulness is exhibited when I become frustrated with those who misspell words in powerpoints designed to help me sing songs of praise, when I refuse to sing with others because I do not like the style of music, when I focus on the fumbling attempts of communion-plate passers rather than on the truth of the gospel declared in communion. Worship is not about my convenience; it is about recognizing God's glory, my sinfulness, and His redeeming love. Worship is about learning to recognize these truths in every aspect of life so that I depend absolutely on God, not men. But this is not the main point of the passage.

 

The main point here, from John's view, is that Jesus is fulfilling His messianic role: "Zeal for Your house will consume me!" – the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Word in flesh, is living this zeal out before the disciples' eyes. Those who read this should also recognize the truth: Jesus is the Messiah! Here is another reason to believe! Look at His zeal for God's house! And the response? I should follow Him!

 

This activity in the temple raised some eyebrows (as it might in a church today). The religious leaders, appropriately, confronted Jesus. No authority figure seeing this kind of violent activity should just let it happen. Now I'm not sure that their methodology was correct, but here it is: they ask Jesus to prove His right to act this way by giving them a sign – probably asking for a miracle.

 

And Jesus is up to the task. He tells them the sign they should look for: "Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days."

 

It is entirely understandable that the Jews thought Jesus was actually talking about the temple. After all, they were standing in its courts. So their incredulity makes sense; how could Jesus possibly rebuild – on His own and in three days – a temple that had taken 46 years to erect? In fact, John indicates that the disciples did not understand Jesus at the time. But John has seen the truth of Jesus' resurrection. What? Did he say resurrection? Yes, resurrection. At this point in the gospel, John is already letting us know that we should anticipate a resurrection story. John is already claiming that this man, Jesus Christ, has risen from the dead! And he makes the claim now so that the reader can understand that Jesus was not talking about the Jews' temple, but about His own body. The disciples themselves had a hard time believing Jesus when He said He could raise a destroyed temple in three days... but John tells us here that, after His resurrection, they remembered Jesus' claim and believed Him! This is a claim that everyone who reads John's testimony in this gospel will have to confront: Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus' sign of authority is His resurrection from the dead! I believe!

 

John concludes this section by noting two choices. The first choice was made by many of those who saw Jesus' signs while He was in Jerusalem, and they trusted in Him. But the second choice is made by Jesus, who refused to entrust Himself to the people because He knew the hearts of men. I don't know whether Jesus took precautions in His sleeping arrangements, or if He avoided certain situations, or how He behaved that caused John to say that He did not entrust Himself to the people. But this statement of guardedness is significant in light of what Jesus has just claimed; Jesus will demonstrate His authority to cleanse the temple by letting men destroy His body and then rising from the dead... but not yet. Jesus does not entrust Himself to men yet, for His time has not yet come.