John 2:13-25
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore 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.
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, song, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, March 3, comes from John chapter two, verses 13 through 25. The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who are selling oxen, and sheep, and pigeons, and the money changers sitting there, and making a whip of cords he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away, do not make my father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered what was written, zeal for your house will consume me. So the Jews said to him, What sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. The Jews then said, it has taken us 46 years to build this temple, and you will raise it up in three days. But he was speaking about the Temple of his body. When therefore 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. Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name, when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part, did not interest himself to them. Because he knew all people, and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man, Here ends the reading. So Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover, as a faithful member of the people of God, Jesus followed all the rules and obligations that he was supposed to. So he goes to the city, and he goes into the temple. Now, we don't know exactly which part of the temple the oxen and sheep and pigeons and money changers would have been there. It doesn't say what particular courtyard or where it was. But what it does say is that there were oxen, sheep, pigeons, and money changers sitting there. Now, I'm willing to bet that they were not sitting there quietly. I would expect that the oxen and the sheep were making some noise move, man, the pigeons weren't exactly quiet. And you know, people who are selling stuff, they don't wait for clients to come to them. They just don't, they don't sit there quietly. And I just hope someone arrives. They reach out, they say, Hey, come over here, I've got the best oxygen. I want, you would imagine all of that happening in your church. Someone shouting, hey, my oxen are perfect for the sacrifice. Come on over by my pigeons over here. You can see why Jesus might be upset. He makes a whip of cards, and he drives them out of the temple. Now many people see Jesus doing this as an example of righteous anger. And we'll then point to it and say, well, we can also have righteous anger. But there's a big difference between Jesus's righteous anger and ours. Jesus is righteous, anger is righteous and ours is filled with sin. Right? Jesus can be angry and righteous, human beings, cannot. We, we always have sin. And so whenever we get angry, we cannot do it with the purity and the perfection that Jesus does. Our sin takes over and we do things that we're not, not supposed to when we hurt people in ways we shouldn't. And well, sometimes we love that anger too. So let's not not take that as the example. Perhaps we should take the example of offering up the space of worship as just for worship, and not for selling things. Of course, the Jews are not very happy about this. You know, maybe they got sponsorships for the best spots. Like the cattle guy. The oxen guy says, Can you put me right next to the door? I've got the booth right over there. That is a number one I'll pay you extra. Who knows? But what we do now is they got mad. What sign do you show us for doing these things? Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple. and in three days, I will raise it up. Now they think he's talking about the building. He's not. He is talking about his body. And it says, When therefore he was raised from the dead, the disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scriptures and the words that Jesus had spoken. Jesus tells them destroy my body, which the Pharisees and leaders will do. And I will raise it up in three days. And that's what we see happen. Jesus dies on a cross and rises after three days. And he provides for us that sign that shows that salvation belongs to our God. This final passage is interesting, it says, Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. So Jesus did not entrust himself to their care, did not open up what was going on, he did not give himself over to them, because he knows that people are filled with sin. He didn't need to have anybody say what's in other people's hearts, because, well, he's got and he knows all things. And God and man, he also knows what's in the heart of man. And so, this shows that Jesus is not like normal people who had when they develop a great big following, they get caught up in it, and then sometimes they let the crowds lead them in the direction that they want to go. No. Jesus followed the mission of his father. He did not entrust himself to anyone. He just kept on the straight and narrow course that God had sent him on. That's all we have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai