Sermon for 3/7/21 15 Minutes

John 2:13-22

This morning I'll be reading John chapter 2 verses 13 through 22.

And I'll be reading from the King James Version Bible.

John 2:13-22

In John,,, this cleansing of the Temple occurs early in Jesus' ministry. There is disagreement among some scholars as to whether there were actually two separate cleansings of the Temple and we will look at that this morning as we study these verses.

John 2:13–22 (KJV 1900) —

13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise. 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. 18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

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We have just ended our second full week of Lent as we continue our journey to Easter.

And as we begin our third week,,, our focus,,, as it has been all along,,, should be intent on preparing our hearts for Easter.

We need to use this time to help prepare our hearts for the celebration of our risen Savior,,, Jesus Christ!

And even if you didn't start off doing anything for Lent,,, or maybe you have let it slip to the wayside,,, there is still time to improve our attitude as we get closer to Easter.

God is gracious enough that He always takes us when we are ready,,, He never holds anything back,,, like we might be entitled to do,,, if we offered something up for others and it wasn't taken immediately.

Just as He did for the thief on the cross at the time of his death,,, at the last possible moment,,, He will do for you at any time that you come to Him.

So it’s never too late for us to make things right with God,,, but we must make that choice,,, it will never be forced on us.

So let’s look at these verses this morning and see how they will help us in our walk with God this week.

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Verses 13 and 14 say: 13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

Since this was Passover,,, Jesus,,, as all Jews did,,, was going up to the temple so that He could participate just as He always did in whatever was going on at the temple.

When He got there He found conditions that weren't working out the way that they should have been.

Nothing like God intended for it to be.

When we examine our own life,,, at any time of course,,, but especially during the time of Lent,,, how much cleaning do we need to do in our lives to get ourselves ready,,, to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.

Will we need to do something similar to what Jesus does in the next two verses?

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Verses 15 and 16 say: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

During the time that we are living in,,, so many people are quick to point out the fact that it never specifically says that Jesus used this whip on anyone.

I tend to agree,,, but,,, I can also can say that it doesn't say that He didn't use it on anyone either.

I also know that just from being involved with business people almost my whole time while I was working in automotive glass work,,, the people that are probably involved in the selling of animals weren't just going to lay down and take this kind of punishment lightly.

But,,, I was also reminded of the time that Jesus was almost thrown off the cliff by the people,,, and He just walked through the crowd and went His way.

You can read this in Luke 4:29-30.

Maybe it was His attitude that was showing,,, in both accounts,,, I mean,,, He was God,,, and He can get angry,,, even though many today don't see and understand that from the Bible today.

All they want to see is His love because that helps them to continue to live their life without change,,, and that's not the way that His love works.

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Verse 17 says: 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Jesus’ disciples remembered Psalm 69:9,,, which speaks of the fact that the Righteous One would pay a price for His commitment to God’s temple.

Of course we know that this zeal for God,,, would ultimately lead Him to His death.

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Verses 18 through 20 say: 18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

The Jews,,,— either the Jewish authorities or the merchants,,,— demanded some proof for His right to challenge the existing order.

But instead of giving in to their demand,,, Jesus gave them an explanation that they wouldn't understand.

As with His parables in the Synoptics,,, Matthew,,, Mark,,, and Luke,,, one of the purposes of the parables was to puzzle the hearers who opposed Him.

He wanted His followers to think about the saying in order to become aware of its significance.

When He said,,, "destroy this temple",,, He gave it in the form of a command,,, but the understanding was ironic or conditional.

At Jesus’ trial He was accused of saying He could destroy the temple and raise it again in three days (Matt. 26:60–61).

A similar charge was made against Stephen,,, during his trial,,, that he had heard Jesus say these words also,,, found in Acts 6:14.

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Verses 21 and 22 say: 21 But he spake of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

The Jews were focused on things that they thought that they could see and understand.

They thought Jesus was talking about the temple,,, but we know from history,,, and scripture,,, that He was talking about His body.

Also notice that after Jesus was risen from the dead,,, the disciples remembered that He had said this to them.

This should be a reminder to us that when we don't understand something,,, God may reveal it to us in the future,,, if we will just have faith and pay attention.

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That's why that I believe that the words in the Bible are true from beginning to end.

I understand that with the knowledge that we seem to have,,, of science and technology,,, that there are things that seem to be contradictory or wrong,,, but I believe that through faith,,, and time,,, just like this instance with the disciples,,, it will be revealed to us one day,,, if it's something that we need to know.

Through faith in God,,, and through the help of the Holy Spirit,,, many things will be revealed to us that seem to be hidden.

And all of the things that we have questions about today,,, don't change any of the meanings in the Bible,,, but they are just used to cast doubt on God's word as being reliable.

Just like the placement of the cleansing of the temple in these verses that John shows as being at the beginning of His ministry,,, and Mathew,,, Mark,,, and Luke,,, having one at the end of His ministry.

Some scholars try to explain it as being different by saying that John was trying to show one thing while the synoptic writers were going in another direction.

Others try to give other explanations.

I will get deeper into more of those in later sermons or Bible study when we get started back.

I believe our best bet is to pay attention to the way that it has been written for thousands of years and try to learn what we can through our study,,, and through faith,,, believe the rest even when it appears to be wrong,,, because we usually find out,,, that science or history was wrong,,, rather than the Bible.

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So as we begin our third full week of Lent,,, remember these verses so that they can help us to see if we need to do some cleaning in our personal temple,,, in other words,,, if we need to clean ourselves up.

We always want to be ready for Jesus,,, but during this time of the year,,, we want to be extra vigilant.

So that we can truly be ready to celebrate this Easter morning like we really need to do this year!

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