A Ruckus at the Temple (John 2:13-24)

A Ruckus at the Temple (John 2:13-24)

We see a much different picture of events this week then we did from last week, this week Christ is at Passover.  Every devout male Jew over the age of 12 would make the trip Jerusalem for  the celebrate, remember that God had delivered them out of Egypt and created a Nation.  This was also the time where there was the  offering of life through the blood sacrifices as commanded by God (Exodus  23:14-17).  This was to be a time of celebration and worshiping of God, but the high priest had turned it into a business and were taking advantage of those who had come to worship.  Barclay has pointed out that when Crassus captured Jerusalem and raided the temple treasury in 54 B.C. he made off with almost ten million dollars without anywhere near exhausting the treasury.  The money they made was not part of God’s plan. 

We see Christ enter into the picture and He becomes enraged over what He sees, he begins to cleanse the temple.  “In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; and he saw money changers behind their counters.  Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and oxen, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.  Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Don’t turn my Father’s house into a marketplace!”(John 2:14-16)”  Here comes Christ and he sees money changers taking advantage of the poor, and instead of scared worship going on people are buying and selling.  The Temple where prayer and worship is to be going on, but instead has been turned into a market place.  He takes matters into His own hands and shows great authority over the people.

A Sign is Demanded (John 2:18-22)

The religious leaders demanded that Christ show them a sign that He was truly the Son of God. Christ responded by saying “destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  Not understanding what He meant, that His body was the temple they responded by saying how can you do that when it took 43 years to build this temple.   Remember I told you last week, Christ came to change everything.  Here He was talking about His crucifixion and then the resurrection three days later.  His crucifixion allowed there to be no more need for a blood sacrifice, and His resurrection allowed the freeing of Gods sprite to come and to live in us.  Through the Cross and the resurrection are bodies have now become the Temple which holds the Holy Spirit.

” ¹² You may say, “I am allowed to do anything.” But I reply, “Not everything is good for you.” And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. ¹³ You say, “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.” This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them. But our bodies were not made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. ¹⁴ And God will raise our bodies from the dead by his marvelous power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. ¹⁵ Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which belongs to Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ And don’t you know that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.”^* ¹⁷ But the person who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

¹⁸ Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. ¹⁹ Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ²⁰ for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body” (1^st  Corinthians 6:12-20)

Knowing this, means we have a great responsibility as followers of Christ, to take care of His temple.  I don’t mean we all have to go and buy the newest and greatest exercise DVD out and get into great shape.  We have to make sure that we are not going out and sinning against God, that we are not putting filth in our head, instead we need to make sure we are feeding our souls with the word of God so we can go out and live it.  Christ tells us in Matthew 6:18-24 “¹⁹ “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be.

²² “Your eye is a lamp for your body. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. ²³ But an evil eye shuts out the light and plunges you into darkness. If the light you think you have is really darkness, how deep that darkness will be!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”