John 2:13-22
13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making 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. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After 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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Every time we study this story in Bible Study, someone will ask, “isn’t this covered by the other Gospels later in Jesus ministry?” And the answer is ‘yes.’ Matthew, Mark and Luke all cover the same story, late in His ministry, but John wants his disciples and us to know up front, that Jesus came here for a far greater purpose than they or we could understand in the beginning. Jesus wasn’t just chasing away the rightful merchants on the temple grounds, but in fact prophesying his own death and resurrection which would replace any need for future sacrifices or a temple. He was God’s son; God in the flesh. No further need for sacrifices. The Jews and the poor disciples, knowing what little they knew at the time, couldn’t begin to understand what Jesus was doing or saying. John writing many years later, knew the good news of Easter and the eventual destruction of temple.
As we approach Easter. I am always drawn to hearing John’s words in Holy Week. I marvel at the courage of Jesus, facing a certain death, alone, deserted by his followers and how they just didn’t get it….until the resurrection. Jesus going to the cross changed everything!
Prayer: Dear God, help us to pay attention to what the scriptures tell us, and trust that
God is always with us, even now. Come Lord Jesus.
—Dave Dynneson