John 2:13-23
Jesus and his family came to Jerusalem for Passover festival. Jesus stood against any man-made tradition but He obeyed the Law.
The temple area is filled with businesses which helped the temple sacrifices and offerings. It is a place where Gentiles worship the Lord and where Jews get to meet the Gentiles to teach about Jehovah.
The enterprises Jews setup for running the temple services smoothly have now become a hindrance for Gentiles to come to the Temple. Jesus cleansed the temple of all its filth by driving all businesses out.
Jesus cleanses the temple twice, once in this incident and the other towards the end of his ministry, in passion week. He teaches us that, anything in life or ministry which is a hindrance to our worship to God, is to be removed.
Jesus cleansing the temple is one of the prophetic fulfilment of Messianic signs (Psalm 69:9). Jews are witnessing a “sign” of Messiah and yet they are asking a sign to show Jesus’ authority in cleansing the temple.
Like the Jewish people we at times are blind to the things God does in our life. They who knew the scriptures are unable to comprehend its fulfilment in Jesus.
Disciples who are unlearned could comprehend the thing done by Jesus (vs 17). The Jews were unable to understand when Jesus is speaking about his death, burial and resurrection, in saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. But interestingly his disciples understood the statement after the resurrection of Jesus and they believed in Him. It is true of what Paul says in this matter,
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;”
I Corinthians 1:27
The knowledge or the understanding of scriptures is not purely based on a theological training as such but it is God who reveals his Word for the diligent seekers. One has to pray as Psalmist prays, “open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from your Law”.
What does Jesus teach us about the heart a Christian need to have for house of the Lord? How do we respond when such things happen in our times? Do you take time to pray for such things? Are our enterprises in ministry contributing to the furtherance of Gospel or are they overtaking?
Do you believe in the Word of God that Jesus has given us or do we seek something more? Are we becoming skeptical at times like the Jews? What can we learn from disciples?
May the Lord help us to have a zeal for his ministry and use us for the extension of his kingdom.
God bless you 😇
CHRIST FOR GOOGLE GENERATION 