A NEW AND LIVING WAY
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Opening Prayer
Father in Heaven, thank you that my security is sure; all that I could ever need is met in Jesus.
Read JOHN 2:13–25
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Jesus Clears the Temple Courts
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”[a]
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After 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.
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.[b] 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.’1 Before you read God’s Word today, talk to him about what his coming means to you.
Solomon’s Temple—the pride and joy of the Jewish people—was rebuilt by Zerubbabel (becoming the Second Temple) after the exiles returned to the land, but many Jews felt that this temple lacked the ‘former glory’ of Solomon’s Temple.2 Herod the Great had embarked on an ambitious building project, not only to renovate but also to expand the temple. This work, which had been going on for 46 years (v. 20), was still not over.
The temple (and, before it, the tabernacle) had always been central in Judaism. There, God’s people gathered to praise, plead, and be purified from sin. There, God’s presence was manifested in a special way in its innermost sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. Temple worship had become corrupt and insular, however. Greedy religious leaders had turned the temple into a ‘market’ (v. 16) and the traders’ occupation of ‘the temple courts’ (v. 14) hindered gentiles from worshipping God. Temple reform was certainly necessary, but Jesus came for more than reform. Even before the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, it was rendered spiritually obsolete and was replaced by Jesus, in whom ‘all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.’3
Jesus replaced this temple made of stones with himself (v. 21)—a body instead of a building, a person instead of a place, with the focus on relationship rather than rituals. All the functions of the temple now devolve to Jesus. Anyone wanting to praise God, seek forgiveness, obtain ‘mercy, and … grace to help us in our time of need’4—or simply enjoy God’s presence—need look no longer to the temple, with its rituals and priestly mediators. In Jesus, all people are invited to enjoy confident access to the Father through this ‘new and living way opened for us through … his body.’5
Apply
‘You are the way; thro’ you alone / can we the Father find; / in you, O Christ, has God revealed / his heart and will and mind.’6
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for the sacrifice you made for me on the cross. Thank you for your constant presence with me each day and for offering me assurance, comfort, and forgiveness. Thank you that no prayer I offer you goes unheard or unanswered.
1 John 1:14, The Message 2 Hag 2:3 3 Col 2:9 4 Heb 4:16 5 Heb 10:19, 20 6 ‘Thou art the way’, GW Doane
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