John | Chapter 2 – Scripture Supply

a. 1:19-2:11 New joy

John 2:1-11

“From emptiness to joy”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 1-5 Is it my time?

III. Vs. 6-11 The joy of transformation

Intro.

The story before us has two parts and great mysteries in both. The first section (verses 1-5) introduces us to the time, location and people present for the miracle and we are brought into a conversation of Mary and Jesus which is puzzling to say the least. Then in the 2^nd section (verses 6-11) we are taken into the miracle it’s self and left with questions as to how this miracle recorded was a sign of Jesus’ manifested glory (verse 11). I’m not saying that turning 120 gallons of water to wine isn’t a neat miracle but let’s be honest this is happening in vineyards all over the world it is just taking a lot longer.

When I start out studying the text each week I do so with a 3 x 5 card to write out my first impressions and on this occasion I simply wrote out a question, “How do these 11 verses manifest Jesus glory so that His disciples believed more in Him?” To further my question is the statement in verse 11 that the miracle was more than just a miracle it was a “sign to manifest His glory”, not merely a miracle John says but a sign! Not every miracle is a sign you see, a sign has a point to it, conveying a truth that would other wise not have been known. Furthering my frustration His disciples got the sign and I hadn’t.

I don’t know about you but I never like to be the odd man out when everyone else gets something and I don’t. You may remember those weird pictures that sold in shopping malls where you have to stare at them for a period of time before you can see the picture hidden in the portrait I hated those things because I never could see the dumb picture. I felt the same when I finished reading this section I must be missing something but unlike those pictures in the mall I was determined to stay here in this section until I saw what those other disciples saw, His manifested glory.

Vs. 1-5 Is it my time?

Vs. 1-2 Being that John wrote his gospel some 75 years after the event took place and that he tells us in 20:31 that “these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name”, I am convinced based upon his statement that every detail in this story is of utmost importance and that John has had 75 years to think about them before he wrote them down. So let’s look at the details John gives us:

Time: He starts out with the time in which the miracle took place being the 3^rd day since Jesus first arrived in Galilee, (1:43) which makes it seven days since John the Baptist was first questioned in 1:19. If we are to follow John’s time table of the event being now the third day that would place this event just three days from when Nathanael became a follower making up the 6^th of Jesus disciples. Again taking in consideration that John had 75 years to think about this do you not find it rather significant that he mentions that this occurred on the “third day”? So what other event took three day’s before the disciples understood the significance of it? Well we are told that on the third day was the resurrection! The prophet Hosea had said something very interesting 100’s of years earlier in 6:2 “After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.” I rather think that John is giving us a clue as to the meaning of this miracle of water to wine as a forerunner to the resurrection, a miracle of transformation that is symbolized in the water being transformed into wine!
Location: Second John tells us two important things about the location of this miracle:
1. That it was at a wedding: Jewish tradition tells us that weddings usually lasted a week and were far more about a celebration then they were about a religious ceremony, in fact Rabbis only had a small part. Since they would last a week they required careful plans as it was seen as a social taboo to run out of wine or food and it was the groom’s responsibility to make sure that didn’t happen. Based upon the master of the feasts comments in verse 9 the fact that they had ran out of wine shows me that Jesus and his disciples arrived late in this seven day celebration and probably were not expected to be coming. This is further brought out as they had ran out of wine and the fact that the groom is visible as he and his bride would only come out near the end of those seven days.
2. The second point is that this took place in a city of Galilee called Cana. As we mentioned before Cana was the larger city at this time when compared to Nazareth but more interesting is its proximity to Nazareth as it was only 3 miles away from where Jesus had been raised a fact I believe has much to do with this story.
People: The final part of the information that John gives us is those who were the primary people involved in the story. We have Jesus who only a short time earlier has began His earthly ministry. His mother Mary who appears to have been at the wedding from the beginning as she seems to be helping out a custom that was common in that culture where if you were helped at a wedding of one of your children then you would serve at theirs. Finally we have these wide eyed brand new six disciples who were invited to a wedding along with Jesus no doubt at Mary’s request. Is it not a wonderful thing to realize that Jesus’ first miracle that was to be a sign of His glory took place at a wedding? He was invited into a social gathering, a celebration of two becoming one and He gladly came. I rather think Jesus enjoyed gathering together with people of all types. In fact in Luke 7:33-34 Jesus said, “John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”

All of these facts will give us important clues to unravel the two mysteries first of the conversation between Jesus and His mother and second of the sign of this miracle as it relates to His glory.

Vs. 3-4 Now to the first great mystery, the dialog between Mary and her son Jesus. First we are told that they had run out of wine and as such we know that doing so at a wedding was a major blunder and to do so in a small community was seen as a social disgrace one in which the stigma would continue for the rest of their lives. You see to the Jew’s wine was a symbol of joy and to do so at a wedding was saying that this marriage was not going to be full of joy.

But of further interest to me is the statement of Mary and the response of Jesus to her. Why did Mary make the statement to Jesus? Notice that she made a statement not a request yet clearly Jesus understood it as a request. Several things come to mind, first the fact that there were seven new guests perhaps made Mary feel some what obligated as the increase number had perhaps caused the shortage. But more important to the story I believe is the proximity of Cana with that of Nazareth, three miles. You see since before His birth Mary had been treasuring things in her heart. There had been the incident when Jesus was 12 at the Passover where He had stayed behind unknown to Mary and Joseph and when they came upon him at the temple discussing the truths of God’s word His reply was only that He was “about His Fathers business” (Luke 2:49). And we are only told in the 50^th and 51^st verse that they did not understand the statement and then that Jesus was subject to them. It appears that Mary expected Jesus to help in the situation and personally I believe that she was expecting for far more personal reasons then having invited seven more people then were expected. No she was wanting something that would vindicate her after nearly 30 years of suffering through all the whispers concerning His birth. She had no doubt heard the recent story of the dove lighting upon Him and a voice from heaven saying “This is My beloved Son”, and recalled the promise that was told her by the angel that she was to give birth to the Messiah. And when her pregnancy showed before her marriage to Joseph I’m sure she told what had happened to the ridicule of all, “No it’s neither Joseph’s nor another man’s it’s by way of the Holy Spirit”. Perhaps she thought finally as Jesus was beginning to fulfill His destiny that in so doing it would relieve her personal embarrassment. Can you imaging what it was like for Mary all these years the whispers, the scorn, the ridicule? In John 8:41 in the words of the Pharisees to Jesus we have a bit of understanding as they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father; God.” And I think this is an indication of what people had said of Mary for those 30 years. When she was first told the news of her pregnancy she was a young teenager and in Luke 1:48 she rejoiced saying, “henceforth all generations will call me blessed.” But 30 long years have passed with nothing but treasured memories of a promise she and her now dead husband Joseph had believed; “When does all generations calling me blessed begin because they have been calling me everything but blessed for 30 years.” I suggest to you that based upon Jesus’ words to her here that her statement was more in line with, “Oh show them what I know to be true about you, my son.” The fact that this was at wedding perhaps brought her back to her own betrothal and wedding and how that which ought to have been full of Joy was left empty because of the false speculation and the proceeding 30 years had not lessened the social embarrassment. I rather think she and Joseph tried to tell them at least initially that the child in her womb was not of any man’s inception but of the Holy Spirit. And now finally after 30 years she thought they will see and leave this poor widow alone. Do you see the similarity of the running out of wine with Mary’s own lack of joy at this wedding?

If all we had was Mary’s statement we would not have any answers but we have in Jesus’ response what she meant by her statement. Now much has been made about Jesus use of the word “Woman” here but what the Greek tells us is that this is no sign of disrespect only a statement that her maternal authority no longer existed over Him. His response was not rude or disrespectful, though it may sound that way to us. If I was to say to my wife or mother “woman,” I’d be in trouble but Jesus uses a common title of respect, in fact Jesus will use the same word while on the cross to her as He gives her care over to the apostle John (19:26). Jesus’ reply serves as the interpretation of Mary’s statement concerning the wine as He says two things:

“What does your concern have to do with Me?” Literally Jesus says, “What is it to us”. The use of the word women in conjunction with this suggest respect but also correction.
“My hour has not yet come.” And finally we have in these words the reason for Jesus’ reply the hour of His death burial and resurrection which would forever prove who He was that hour won’t come until the 17^th chapter.

So by this statement we know both what was the heart of Mary’s statement and at the heart of Jesus’. “Woman… Mary…mother, I know what you have gone through, I know what embarrassment you have gone through in your life because of my birth but now is not the time when they will know who I am.” He is saying, “You don’t understand”. Clearly by His actions He is not saying that He isn’t going to do anything only that what He is going to do will not accomplish the alleviation of her embarrassment. All of Jesus miracles did not change people’s minds concerning Him did they? In Matt. 12:24 they accused Him saying, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.” Ah but in John 12:32 He said, “If I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” That is what He is saying to His mother. I can understand her frustration she wanted vindication, she wanted acceptance from those around her, we all want that don’t we? We would just like to look a little better, like our reputations to be seen better, we are tired of being misunderstood! But listen up dear friend now is not the time, there is coming a time in which everything will get cleared up and His side of the story will be all anybody knows and it will last forever but it’s not now. So don’t try to settle accounts and give your side of the story it will only make things worse as no one will believe you anyway.

Vs. 5 She seems to be satisfied with his response, and says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you to do.” To Mary’s credit she responded with a submissive heart, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Mary heard in Jesus’ words the “Not yet” for the answer but yet she still made preparations for the immediate need. Jesus had told her that what He did now wouldn’t solve her problem and wouldn’t clear up all of the misunderstandings but she knew her son so she prepared to meet the practical instead of her emotional need.

Did you realize that they are the last recorded words of Mary in the Bible and she is directing people to do what He said instead of acting as a mediator or liaison? This is the only time Mary is ever seen interceding on behalf of Jesus and when she does she simply tells them to do whatever He says; now I think that is good advice for us all don’t you?

Vs. 6-11 The joy of transformation

Vs. 6-9 We now come to the 2^nd part of the story the changing of the water to fine wine. These water jugs totaled around 120 gallons and were used for purification. And verse 11 tells us that this miracle was a “sign…that manifested His glory” but the question remains is how did it do so? This water was used for purification, Jewish sanctification. In the Mitzvot there are over 31 chapters dedicated to ceremonial purification by water, certain times of the day, certain ways the water had to run off the arms. The Jews were obsessed with purification for by it they were “set apart” sanctified to their proper purpose. Do you see what Jesus does by turning this water of purification into wine? What Jesus is demonstrating is that we are set apart, sanctified by His miraculous work of transformation not human self effort and that is why it is joyous not a labor. Combine that now with Mary’s statement of request and Jesus’ seeming denial as she wanted what we all want, to be understood to be accepted to be “set apart”. She who had been told she was to be set apart for a holy purpose to be the incubator for the divine instead of being called blessed for 30 years had been ridiculed and doubted. Do you now see the fullness of the miracle? That which sets us apart is His work of which He said His hour had not yet come and it is He that completes us and because of that purification, sanctification is Joyous.

Look at this miracle again and the striking thing about this miracle is the use of the ordinary and common place to do the extraordinary:

Six jars used for purification
Servants who were there to tend to the needs of the celebration

And with this simple scene Jesus quietly, discreetly manifests His glory through what He accomplished in others. “Fill the jars with water” and in their exuberance we are told they filled them to the brim, mind you that’s no small task and they didn’t do so half way. Then Jesus said, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” There was no prayer, no theatrics or pleading on His part why He didn’t even touch or taste the water and even more amazing to me is that neither He nor those servants tested the results they just take it to the master of the wedding. And when the master of the wedding declared it as the best wine. Now I kind of think those servants just smiled as they knew where the wine had come from yet didn’t say a word and when spoken too it appears the bridegroom was a bit puzzled. I think it is good for us to see some application here for our own lives concerning allowing Him to transform others through us.

Jesus began this miracle with what was on hand, six water pots and willing servants. He used what He had on hand and who he had on hand. Now I like that, these fellows were just serving at the wedding and Jesus uses them as a blessing, He could of done it all by Himself but He wanted them to share in the work so they could share in the blessing. Remember as well that there were six new disciples there with Him just like those six water pots, what a great lesson this was for them.
Next we take note that these fellows had to act in obedience. They didn’t ask why, they didn’t make alternate suggestions they simple did what they were told. Could it be that we don’t see more fruitful service more miraculous things in our life because we fail to simple do as Mary had said “Do whatever He says!”
These guy’s filled these water pots up to the brim. Now this tells me that they did so with great expectations and with anticipation not feet dragging. Clearly they had the attitude of “we get too” instead of “we got too”. At a 120 gallons this was no small task and they didn’t do it half way but to the brim. Oh to God would do “whatever He asks” to the brim with gusto!
There was an element of trust as Jesus told them to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. Can you imagine how angry the master of the feast would have been if they had brought him water to taste instead of wine? Jesus did His best and they need to trust in Him for the results!

Vs. 11 The significance of this miracle is recorded in the 11th verse as we are told “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.” Three things come to mind at John’s comments about this miracle:

First John does not say that this was beginning of miracles Jesus did but rather he says, “signs”. Not every miracle is a sign but this miracle was meant to be a sign it had a point to it, to convey a truth that would other wise not have been known.
Second this sign was a picture of cooperation between the human and the divine, as men drew water but Jesus turned water to wine. This sign is about what God can do through those who obey His word and trust in His work, and may I just say that it will always be unexpected and produce Joy! When ever Jesus is allowed to touch the human life no matter how empty and void of joy His presence will take our parched lives and fill them to the brim with the Joy of His presence.
Finally this sign was to manifest His glory we are told and fixate upon the fact that there were six stone water pots that were empty and that Jesus brought with Him that day six men who had been empty before He came into their lives only a few days earlier but now they were filled to the brim with Joy. That is what manifests His glory is Him in you as He is full of grace and truth and clearly His disciples believed Him. Jesus first miracle was not one that everybody recognized or even new happened yet all tasted of its truths. Yet Jesus always offers the best with the promise of better yet to come! New life in Jesus is always going to produce joy, glorify Jesus and deepen our trust of Him.

If you compare the first miracle of Moses with that of Jesus you will see that they both involved water Moses turned it into blood (death) and Jesus turned it into wine “Joy” and there you have a great comparison of their ministries as the law kills but grace and truth came from Jesus.

Hey saints don’t you also like the fact that this took place at a wedding? Many people today feel that there is no joy in their marriage the romance has become well, watered down, the relationship is empty. Ah but when Jesus enters the marriage man He will turn your watered down relationship into the finest wine of Joy. Oh if we would only allow Him to fill us to the brim with the water of His word He will transform our lives to the wine of His joy.

b. 2:12-4:54 New hope

John 2:12-25

“Remembering the Word”

I. Intro.

II. Vs. 12-16 Cleaning up religion

III. Vs. 17-25 Setting the temple in hearts

Intro.

In chapter 2 John began with a miracle of transformation (changing water into wine) now he shows Jesus at work in cleansing the temple. Hey come to think of it isn’t that the way Jesus always works in people converting them from emptiness to joy before cleansing them? I’ve got to say that the first few months with Jesus must have been very stretching to say the least as these six men spent time with Him; they had seen the miracle at Cana and no doubt began to see things that they had longed to see in their religion, tenderness, miraculous power, and an innate ability to make you feel as if you were the only person in the world that mattered. I think that their trust in Him as the Messiah was growing moment by moment and those words of Andrew and Philip “We have found Him” were becoming a greater reality but something was going to happen in this passage that was going to challenge their growing belief as Jesus was about to respond in ways that shocked them and perhaps caused them to wonder just who He was. John tells us three things as it relates to the story of cleansing the temple:

Vs. 12-13 Where Jesus was
Vs. 14-16 What Jesus did
Vs. 17-25 The response to what Jesus did

Vs. 12-16 Cleaning up religion

Vs. 12-13 In verse 12 and 13, John reduces a week’s time into two verses telling us where Jesus was at immediately after the miracle at the wedding (which was a sign of His glory) as He went to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples; and there they stayed for a few days and then that He and His disciples left and went up to Jerusalem. The grammar here leaves no room for any other interpretation other than that Mary had other children, something which is further supported in other passages. Apparently Jesus loving correction of Mary in verse 4 didn’t deter her from submitting or following Jesus.

Hey Christian as I look at Mary’s response I see a great example for you and I. How So? Well there are times when the Lord has to correct us where we have an expectation of Him that can’t be met and He says no. But unlike Mary we tend to pout and walk away from our Lord because He has not met our expectations. I encourage you to be a little more like the mother of Jesus who continued to obediently follow her Son even when He didn’t do what she wanted Him to do? In fact it appears based on verse 12 that she drew nearer to Him instead of distancing herself.

Then he went up to Jerusalem as the feast of the Passover of the Jews was at hand as each head of household was required to attend three annual feasts a year Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. The reason John mentions that this was the “Passover of the Jews” was because at the time John wrote this the temple would have been destroyed and thus the commotion that Jesus found that day 75 years earlier no longer existed a interesting point in light of Jesus words in verse 19 “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”.

Vs. 14-16 So having not stayed many days, Jesus and His disciples take leave to go up for the Passover the first of His public ministry, a trip that it appears He will make each of the following years. Passover was linked with another feast that happened right around the same time called the “Feast of unleavened bread”. It was during this time that the Jews would search their households and rid themselves of any yeast which was a symbol of sin. In a city and a nation where they observed this feast of Passover with a clean house, a house swept clean of yeast of sin and hypocrisy Jesus came into the house of God filled with sin and all seemed to be oblivious about the temple being filled with the yeast of religion and consumerism?

I firmly believe that Jesus had been to the temple many times in His life yet never before had He taken such action, so why the difference now? Well this time He goes up as the prophesied Messiah and according to the prophecy of Malachi in 3:1-3 “the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, ….And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.” It is interesting to note that the word for temple in verse 14 is different then the word He used in verse 19 where. You see here in verse 14 the word speaks of the outer court or the court of the gentiles and in verse 19 when Jesus used it of Himself He used the word that speaks of the Holy of Holies. In front of the temple were four courtyards each separated by four doors that restricted access first was called “the court of the Gentiles”, which was available to everyone next was “the court of the Israelites” where Gentiles were barred under penalty of death. The third courtyard was “the court of men” where only Jewish males were allowed access and finally connected to the temple itself was “the court of priests”, where only priests were allowed admittance. So where was it that Jesus found those folks doing business? Well it was in the place where all were suppose to be welcome that is where the priests set up shop. They were keeping people away from God so they could make money by selling “temple approved” oxen, sheep and doves and exchanging at higher rates money and had turned the court of the gentiles into a flee market where a portion of the profits were kick backs to the priests. As Jesus cleansed the temple He didn’t destroy the property as seen in the fact that He didn’t release the birds.

Of further interest is that once a year, every Jewish male had to go to the temple and pay a half-shekel tax at the Passover season. The tax could not be paid in Roman or Greek coin but had to be paid in a special temple coin, so it was necessary to change the Roman or Greek coins that were the normal currency into this special temple tax. That is why they had money-changers available for the people the problem wasn’t in having them there but rather that they were extorting the people in the exchange, so that half of the money went into pockets of the money changers. That is what Jesus found as He walked into the temple that day the extortion of those seeking to worship God, so He made a whip out of the cords that held the animals together and drove these extortioners out of the temple. He made his point saying, “Stop making God’s house the place for the worship of God and cleansing of the heart of men into a flee market!” (verse 16) That is what the Greek word house of merchandise means it is where we get our word, “emporium” which means a place of trade a commercial center where people are concerned about making a fast buck. In Isa 42:6-7 the Lord spoke of the purpose of Jewish nation when He said, “I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the prison, Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.” And instead of doing so they were keeping the very people that God wanted to be let in and doing so to make money. So where did they get the idea to do this? Well the idea was to make sure that the heart of the person sacrificing was offering their best not their cast offs but the problem was that the religious leaders were taking advantage of this to extort the people fleecing the flock instead of feeding the flock.

Hey Christian it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the fact that what was started as a convenience in ministry towards the people ended up as a business and that which was to be a place where the Jews would meet with gentiles to share their faith ended up becoming a marketplace that kept them out. Listen up folks because a lot of times the Church has done the same thing with its activities. Jesus came into the temple and saw that the people were being ripped off and robbed form the opportunity to be enriched by the presence of God, He found religion made easy, Judaism had been reduced to a faith of convenience all for a price of course. It was safe, predictable and acceptable and all it cost was the loss of money but that is not what God had in mind it was to cost us our lives not just our wallets. They had reduced it to picking pockets while Jesus was into harvesting hearts! So he made a cord out of rope and drove those that were a hindrance out of the temple.

Notice the differences between Jesus at the wedding feast and here. At the wedding feast He came when they lacked joy to supply it ah but here the situation was different as the temple was full of things that were ripping people off from the presence of God so we seen Him clearing the temple. Oh dear saints we need to be careful as Jesus’ Church has been guilty of the very same thing at times and as individuals we can get into this consumer mentality can’t we? Some times folks Jesus has to come in and clean house in order for us to experience more joy doesn’t He? We often get the picture here that Jesus was out of control in some sort of blind rage but when we read that He said to those who sold doves “Take these things away” we get the picture that He was very much in control.

Vs. 17-25 Setting the temple in hearts

Vs. 17-25 The condition of the temple was an indication of the spiritual health of the nation and as such we get a picture of Judaism at that time as a dull and un relating to the people ruled by men who were only out after their own gain. Jesus’ zeal was not only manifested by His concern for the temple but also by His willingness to give up His own life and as such Jesus was more concerned for what the temple showed Him about the hearts of people then a cluttered courtyard.

I often wonder why no one stopped Him as He was trampling on their livelihood and in my opinion it is that Jesus was no wimpy fellow He was big enough that no body wanted to step in and stop Him. He is claiming ownership of the temple as clearly the disciples remembered the verse in Psalm 69:9 as a Messianic claim. The Jews wanted to know what sign did He have to do what He was doing a clear indication that what they were doing was wrong and they didn’t question that, they didn’t say “What are you doing” instead they asked “What authority do you have to do what you are doing?” It is this that prompts Jesus to respond with the destruction of His earthly body and its resurrection to which they could only think of the building but John looked back to this event 75 years earlier and then His resurrection and clearly understood what Jesus was saying. In Mark’s gospel in 14:56-58 we are told these words of Jesus are the ones that they will use against Him at His trial.

Recorded for us is three lessons that those new disciples’ learned as they watched Jesus that day.

Vs. 17 The first impression was immediate as they were reminded 69^th psalm verse 9 “zeal for Your house has eaten me up”. Jesus’ actions that day must have startled them they hadn’t been with for more than a few weeks and had not seen this side of Him as yet. They had been amazed by His words and by His actions but this was something that they hadn’t expected. When we were told in verse 11 that after the transformation of water to wine that they “believed in Him” as He had manifested His glory in that miracle it suggests to us that their trust and surrender towards Him deepened and I can’t help but wonder what they were feeling as He made that whip of cords and knocked over those extortioners that day? I can’t show you in the text but I rather think that they may have been a bit embarrassed as I think I would have been in their shoes. The things that Jesus did were right but the activity in the temple that day had been going on for 100’s of years and even though it wasn’t right it was common place and had become accepted. I suggest to you that more than tables were being overturned and animals being driven out of the temple that day as clearly verse 18 suggests when the Jews ask Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” By Jesus’ actions He was overturning the accepted and driving out the common place wasn’t He? Hey, saints don’t think this is all that removed from what He will do to our experience as we get into that mode of, “But this is the way we have always done it!” Apparently even at this time this psalm was regarded as a Messianic psalm as it describes the suffering and the agony of the One who was to be the Messiah and with that a greater realization that with God there is no compromise with sin he doesn’t ignore it, wink at it and say aren’t they cute, no He deals with it abruptly turning things over driving things out. So here the disciples come face to face with one of the great paradoxes in Christianity the love of God with the holiness of God or if you will how He loves us right the way we are but love’s us to much to leave us the way we are!
Vs. 18-22 The second impression left these disciples is in verses 18-22 and is a delayed reaction. The Jews came up to him and asked, “What sign have you to show us since you do these things?” Jesus made no attempt to correct their misunderstanding concerning His words about His body being the temple He knew what lay in the heart of people and their said nothing. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Greek word for temple is the one that they would use for the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the covenant was behind the curtain. What this suggests is that Jesus is making a reference to Himself some even think that He pointed at Himself upon saying it as in verse 21 John give us his commentary. Here they ask for a sign and Jesus had just demonstrated the sign of Malachi 3:1-3 coming into His temple and purifying the sons of Levi. The real temple was not the building; it was his own body, and bodies are the true temples of God not wood or stone buildings! When Solomon dedicated the temple he acknowledged the fact that “Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” (2 Chronicles 6:18). Paul said it this way in 1 Cor. 6:19 “do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” So the disciples learned that the Lord of the temple cares about the inward clutter, confusion and immorality of His creation and He will have to over turn and drive out those things before He can make His home there.
Vs. 23-25 The third and final thing the disciples learned is in verse 23-25. Apparently while there at the Passover Jesus performed miracles that are not given in any of the gospel records as Nicodemus alludes to in 3:1 by saying “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” So it is these signs that verse 23 speaks of. Jesus always tied His miracles to His message and for the most part people were ready to believe based upon the miracles but when He delivered the message they would not want any part of Him. There are many today just like these who profess to believe in His name upon seeing the signs which he does yet there is no change, no reality to their Christian life as they go on living just the way they were until finally they go back into the world in which they claim to have come out of. I find it interesting that we in the ministry put a lot of emphasis upon a person’s commitment but very little upon Jesus commitment towards people. You see you will be able to see if He was committed towards them in the way in which they are committed to Him.

As Jesus stood amidst the overturned tables, coins rolling animals running, they came to Him and asked “What sign” not “Why did you do this” as they knew the why they only question the authority to do so. Asking for a sign to authenticate a sign and Jesus replies (and I rather think pointed at Himself) “Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up”. Oh how picturesque is this all Jesus drove out the riffraff and said “I am the temple it’s in Me that it has its true fulfillment.” In all of this what those disciples remembered was that Jesus is the real thing, He is just who He claimed to be irregardless of how others saw Him or expected from Him. Oh to be sure they no longer saw Him as safe He will come in over turn lives and drive out the clutter to inhabit people, He knows what is in man. The practices of the temple is what concerns Him and He will not compromise with that or look the other way as you are far to precious to Him, so why not invite Him to come into your temple?