See Jesus

John 2:12–25 ESV

12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. 13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Intro:

How can they not see what I see?! How many of you have thought that, maybe even in the past week? At the MET Gala a certain politician showed up at a party that cost 35K for entrance wearing a dress emblazoned with the phrase “Tax the Rich” designed by someone else who owes over 100k in back taxes.

In our passage tonight/this morning, we come across a situation like that that makes us want to just shake our heads. 

But one thing we have to remember when reading the gospels, especially John, is that we know the rest of the story.

So based on that, we should ask ourselves, “why did John include this interaction, this story, this sermon, this sign?”.

John’s giving us these little vignettes of Jesus’ earthly ministry in order that we, who know the rest of the story, might believe for the first time, or increase in faith.

That’s the case with John 2 as well, so take your Bibles and open them up to John 2 where we’ll begin in verse 12.

Body:

John 2:12–17 ESV

12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. 13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 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. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

V. 12 “and they stayed there for a few days.”

Capernaum was the home-base for Jesus

“Jesus Town”

V. 13 “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”

All males 12 and older were required to be present in Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover.

Deut 16:16 “16 “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.”

John records three Passover feasts during the span of Jesus’ public ministry (2:13; 6:4; 11:55)

The other gospels only record the one when Jesus was crucified

The Passover was a significant event in the Jewish calendar each year.

It was a memorial feast, instituted by God in Exodus 12 to be celebrated each year as a reminder of the Lord’s gracious deliverance of His people from slavery in Egypt.

Exodus 12:14 “14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”

Josiah was commended in 2 Chronicles 35 for his faithfulness in observing the Passover as part of his reforms.

2 Chronicles 35:18 “18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”

V. 14 “In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.”

Illustrate: Have you ever tried to find cheap gas near an airport?

These were merchants who were either selling animals to be sacrificed or changing out foreign money for the half-shekel temple tax/offering that was required of the worshippers.

The traditional location for such booths would have been the Mount of Olives situated directly across from the Temple Mount.

Now it was in the Court of the Gentiles

Leon Morris: “for any Gentile who came up to the temple to worship (Cornelius?) it meant that prayer had to be offered in the middle of a cattle yard and money market.”

V. 15 “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.”

This is not a scene we often think of when we think about Jesus.

The whip may have been used by Him to drive out the merchants as well as the animals they were selling.

The tables were “overturned” which would have been a violent scene

The money was poured out on the ground 

Jesus was angry.

Ephesians 4:26 “26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,”

VV. 16-17 “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.’”

The temple was to be a place of worship, a place of devotion, a place of prayer

Mark 11:16–17 “16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.””

Isaiah 56:7 “7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.””

I checked, and there are no Precious Moment reenactments of Jesus cleansing the temple. This isn’t the traditional view of Jesus that we have when we think about Him. Rather, this is a powerful, angry, zealous, authoritative Jesus who was sending notice to people that He was there to shake things up.

P1: A Sign Provided: Beware of Missing Jesus’ Passion (vv. 12-17

Illustrate: Imagine someone doing this on our patio between the 9 and 11 services some Sunday. 

Jesus knew this would create a stir,

he knew it would draw the attention of the Jewish leaders,

he knew it would put him at odds with them,

he knew it would spell the beginning of the end,

he knew it would mark him and his disciples as rebels,

he knew it would be met with a response,

but he did anyways further pulling back some of the veil on his true identity as the Divine Son of God.

Psalm 69:9 ESV

9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

This is Jesus revealing his zeal for the pure worship of his Father.

But the Jews missed the point.

He was zealous in a way they should have been zealous!

In fact, when they come to confront Him you’ll notice

there’s no contrition,

there’s no introspection,

there’s no shame,

there’s no one pulling the group aside saying, “What if He’s right?”.

Y’all, while none of us have the authority that JESUS does, we can follow the example of His zeal for God’s name.

Mt. Sinai and the golden Calf (Ex 32:10)

Phineas and the Canaanite Woman (Numbers 25)

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:39-40)

Matthias (witnessed a Jew offering a sacrifice on a pagan altar and killed him in the act)

What is the modern day equivalent for us?

False teachers

Flippant worship

Distracted worship

Dismissive worship

Critical hearts

I’m not saying you need to get the whip of cords out for your friend, but a direct conversation might be in order.

END P1

Jesus had now made quite the statement.

No longer was he in the background of John’s baptism or performing miracles at a family wedding.

He had now established a power and authority that sent shockwaves through the Jewish Community.

Who was this man?

Why did he refer to the Temple as His Father’s house?

What authority did he possess to be doing such things? 

That’s exactly what happens.

John 2:18 ESV

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

Sidebar on signs: John is intentional with his choice of words to describe Jesus miracles. There are a few words that were commonly used to describe these events. Dynameis is the Greek word for powerful or might works (dynamite). Terata is the Greek word for miracles or wonders. John really doesn’t use either of these, at least not apart from the final term semeia. Semeia is the Greek word for signs. 

They’re concerned about the decorum of the temple proceedings and probably a little embarrassed that this outsider did what they should have done themselves, so they ask Him to defend His authority to do these things.

Ironically, they completely missed the fact that the cleansing of the temple was the sign they wanted.

They’re concerned with the temple, but Jesus redirects their focus.

His authority isn’t about the brick and mortar dwelling place of God that was mere feet away from this conversation.

His authority was rooted in His identity as the temple.

John 2:19–21 ESV

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The sign the Jews demanded would be given them when they would take Jesus and crucify Him

The sign the Jews demanded would be the empty tomb that they couldn’t explain

The sign they demanded would be the greatest validation of Jesus’ identity as God that would come during His time on earth. 

John 2:20–22 ESV

20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 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.

On whose authority was He doing these things to the house of God? His own, because it was His Father’s house. The shell that they were so concerned with was nothing compared to the reality of the presence of God standing and speaking to them in that moment.

P2: A Sign Demanded // Beware of Missing Jesus’s Presence (vv. 18-22)

This isn’t a “I hate religion but love Jesus” thing. This is simply a reminder to remember what all of this is ultimately about.

Bible Study, church on the weekend, your small group, all of it should serve to make you love Jesus more.

!!! These temple officials were staring the incarnate God in the face and rebuking Him for causing such a disruption on the grounds of the temple where people were trying to worship God. !!!

We can come to church because we like the worship.

We can come to church because we feel obligated.

We can come to church to appease our wife.

We can come to church because we have to serve.

We can come to church because we always have.

Carson: It was important that worship of God in its precincts be pure (2:13-17); it is even more important to recognize that the temple itself pointed forward to a better and final meeting-point between God and human beings (cf. 1:51; 4:21-24). Jesus cleansed the temple; under this typological reading of the Old Testament, he also replaced it, fulfilling its purposes.

Y’all, anything we do at church that is not

for Jesus or

does not drive us toward Jesus or

does not stir our affections for Jesus or

does not equip us to better serve Jesus

has missed the forest for the trees.

The tragedy in this scene is that the temple was always meant to point people to JESUS.

It was meant to be the dwelling place of the glory of God

It was meant to be the place where sacrifices were offered to appease the wrath of God

It was meant to remind the people of God’s holiness and their separation from Him

It was meant to be the place where men came to meet with God

But now Jesus is here.

He is the dwelling place of the glory of God

He is the place where the ultimate sacrifice would be offered to appease the wrath of God

He is the embodiment of God’s holiness and the bridge to overcome our separation from Him

He is the place where God came to meet with men

We don’t have the temple, but we do run the risk of being so caught up with the bride of Christ that we miss the Bridegroom amidst all the fanfare. 

Revelation 21:22 ESV

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

END P2

These Jews wanted a sign to prove Jesus’ authority.

He had caused quite the scene on the Temple Mount, interrupting worship and causing a commotion that was doubtless attracting quite the crowd of spectators.

The thing is, they had missed that the cleansing of the Temple was the sign.

Jesus would go on to do many other signs throughout His ministry, and many people would see the signs, but miss them just as well.

John describes such a group in the rest of our passage.

John 2:23 ESV

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

Remember from earlier, that a sign is a miracle performed for the purpose of revealing something deeper, a truth that was accessible only with the eyes of faith.

In verse 23 here it says that may “saw” the signs Jesus did and believed in Him.

This is a word in the Greek that can mean seeing as in perceiving or understanding 

John 14:19 “19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.”

Acts 17:22 “22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.”

But, this word can also mean seeing as in spectating or simply observing, witnessing

Mark 5:15 “15 And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.”

John 20:14 “14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.”

Based on context, it’s safe to assume that John had in mind this second meaning rather than the first. These crowds were following Jesus, not because they perceived or understood that He was the Messiah, but because they were entertained. 

John 6:2 “2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.”

John 6:24–26 “24 So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”

This is what was happening back in chapter 2 as well. What seemed so promising, is quickly revealed to be a smoke-screen.

John 2:24–25 ESV

24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

The object of their faith wasn’t Jesus but Jesus’ power.

It wasn’t that they believed the He was the Son of God, the Savior of the World, but that He was unique, powerful, and it would be worth the investment of their time to stick around Him to see what other benefits He might provide

Sometimes this can be the seedbed of faith for people, but it was not to be with this crowd.

John says that Jesus, in His divine omniscience, knew that this faith was not genuine, and so He did not entrust Himself to them. 

Jesus had performed signs, the Jews had demanded signs, these people had witnessed signs, but they had missed the deeper meaning because they did not have eyes to truly see.

P3: A Sign Misinterpreted: Beware of Missing Jesus’s Point (vv. 23-25)

How many of our churches are filled with people not seeking Jesus but seeking to be entertained by Jesus?

The whole health, wealth, and prosperity movement, the Word of Faith movement, is built upon the question, “what can Jesus do for me?”

He can save you from your sins and eternal damnation.

He can deliver you from the kingdom of darkness.

He can be the propitiation for your sins.

He can remove your guilt.

He can transfer your debt to Himself and credit you with His righteousness.

He can overcome death so that you too will overcome death.

He can ascend to the Father where He intercedes for you.

He can prepare a place for you.

He will come back to take you to be with Him where He is.

He can leave you the Holy Spirit to be with you until then.

Many would eventually witness the greatest of Jesus’ signs, His death and resurrection, but they would still remain spectators, not understanding the significance of what they were seeing.

Many today have heard of these things, and yet, they hang around the church as spiritual voyeurs wanting to benefit from proximity to Jesus without ever actually trusting Jesus. 

The greatest benefit anyone can receive from Jesus is salvation. And this benefit doesn’t promise health, wealth, or prosperity here.

Your life may remain a life of difficulty, a life of health-trials, strained marriages, prodigal children, financial hardship, persecution, and eventually death.

But Jesus’ point here in John 2 is still His point for us today, and it has nothing to do with any of that.

The point of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection was to open the door for us who would truly trust in Him to be forgiven of our sins so that we will one day live forever with Him without those health-trials, strained marriages, prodigal children, financial hardships, persecution, or death.

But we don’t come to Him looking for those realities now. We come to Him trusting that those realities are yet future.

So are you hanging around Jesus because you believe these things? Or are you hanging around Jesus and the church waiting to be entertained?

Jesus isn’t preparing a place for His fans. He’s preparing a place for His followers.

Conclusion:

Do you see Jesus? What may be so plain and simple to you is only that way because God has been gracious and kind to open your eyes to the truth.