May 24, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Pointing to God

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Opening Prayer

You are God and You are in absolute control. Thank You for that knowledge which centers me in the ups and downs of life.

Read John 2:12-25

[12] After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. [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.” [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. [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.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

“Jesus cares about his temples and comes with whip in hand if necessary. He cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem and he comes again and again to our lives to cleanse us, if we are not glorifying him” (R. Kent Hughes).

This event is recorded in all four Gospels, but only in John is it placed so early. Did he cleanse the Temple twice, once at the beginning of his ministry and again during the week before his crucifixion? That is possible, but I find it more convincing to consider that in John’s Gospel Jesus travels to and from Jerusalem all the time, whereas in the other Gospels, it appears that he doesn’t visit Jerusalem at all in his adult life. The fourth Gospel also has a lot to say about the Temple, the center of Jewish religious life.

What Jesus did was shocking and the Jewish leaders demanded an explanation. The Temple originally built by Solomon had been destroyed by the Babylonians and then rebuilt by Zerubbabel in the sixth century BC. Herod’s renovations, begun around 19 BC, were just about complete. Jesus’ “sign” (19) sounded blasphemous to his hearers, and it would have been, had it not been true. At his trial, his words were twisted to “I will destroy this temple” (Mark 14:58; Matt. 26:61).

Again, the Jewish leaders were looking at the Lewis’ beam, not what it illuminated. Jesus’ actions point to a Temple that foreshadows his own body. (Can you imagine what must have passed through Jesus’ mind at the Passover festival, knowing that its whole meaning was shortly going to be fulfilled in the sacrifice of his own body?) The church today is not immune to abuses of this kind. People admire the beauty of a building (even the disciples did this; Matt. 24:1) without following the finger that points to the God it was built to worship. The Temple also prefigures the body of the church (1 Cor. 3:16,17). And we, as members of Christ’s body, are to be “signs,” pointing to Jesus himself by our actions and our words.

Apply

What is the place for business and money-making in the life of the Christian? What place does it have in yours?

Closing prayer

Father, after reading this passage I am wondering what sort of signpost I am. My prayer is for sincerity in word and deed, that I may point clearly to You.

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