Woo wee, this is some DEEP stuff this morning. Here we are back in John chapter 2 verses 12-25. This is the story of how Jesus cleared the temple. Let’s go back in our minds to the wedding feast where Jesus turned the water into good wine. They are just leaving this wedding. They (Jesus and his disciples) stayed in Capernaum a few days according to scripture. Now the Jews were trying to get ready for Passover. You may ask as I have many times, what exactly is this passover we are always hearing about in the bible. Let’s take a closer look and figure this thing out! Sometimes I wish I could just call my dad and ask him…..but I know what he would say, Well look it up!
Ok hang with me here, I might not get all of this right! =) Apparently the Passover was a time to commerate the time in the bible way back in Exodus when the Isrealites were free from Egypt. Now…..the only reason I know anything about this, is because I have watched Prince Of Egypt!! =) Don’t laugh, you know you watched it too! This was a time when the Jews were under Pharohs commands, and he wasn’t all that sweet to them. If you remember the song that we used to sing in youth groups: “Pharoh, Pharoa, OH baby let my people go….hu…..ya ya ya ya…….I said A Pharoh Pharoh, Oh baby let me people go…….” You know the song if you sang it! But that’s exactly what Moses was trying to do, FREE God’s people from being Pharohs slaves to God’s servants. And if you remember the story, you know that this was no easy task for God or Moses. Well, it was easy for God, but what I’m trying to say is that Pharoh was a very stubborn man and it took God allowing all kinds of bad things to happen before Pharoh finally got it. (But this is a whole different study!!!) Ok back to John……..
So the Jews were getting ready for their big event, Passover. (I think it could be related to how much time, money and effort we spend on getting ready for Christmas)Well, in Jesus walks to the court temples where he finds men selling sheep, cattle, doves and people sitting at tables exchanging money (verse 14) But this is where I had to stop and look something up, read this verse 16: “To those who sold doves he said, Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” I was like, WAIT A MINUTE, why does this say he only said this to those who were selling doves??? And then I did some looking up, here’s what I found. Apparently those that were selling cattle and sheep were selling on the outer courts of the market, and they were doing this so that people could buy as a required sacrafice. And the people exchanging money, well they were kinda like a bank, exchanging coins that came from other places so that people could buy what they needed. BUT those people selling doves, now they were in the wrong!
Jesus got mad! Well, the Jews weren’t buying this outburst from him and they demanded a sign for him to prove himself worthy to have this authority over them. Jesus tells them (verse19) “Destroy this teimple, and I will raise it again in three days.” I can imagine a huge outburst of laughter and mockery from the crowds after he said that. They were like, “It’s taken us 46 years to build this temple!” But, here’s the amazing part of this! Jesus wasn’t actually speaking to these people, once again this was a message for his disciples. John writes in vers 21-22 this: “But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples reacalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”
I have to stop right there and really allow that part to sink in. I am just in awe of Christ as he allowed so much mockery and disbelief to take place all around him. Could Jesus had knocked that temple down and then rebuilt it? YES. But he chose to allow a siutation to turn into a promise for the disciples at a later time. They were so important to Christ that he was willing to take the bullet in more ways than one just so that they could have his words to hold on to in the end. That’s my Lord. And then I think of all the promises that I know Christ has made to me. Does he always step out and fulfill those promises the second I come across them. No…………in fact I would say more than not, he always waits to show me his promises, and it’s always in the 11th hour! Just like with the disciples.
Oh my sweet friends, Christ is alive! He is working! He IS fulfilling his promises to us. No, it is not always in the way we’d like them to be, but HE always has the whole picture in mind, we only have the moment in mind. I think about a siutation that I’m in right now, where I could totally see Christ step out and fulfill promises he has made to me, if He choses. But if He does not, I know that I can walk on in faith knowing that whatever the reason he chose not to, it’s always for my own good.
Good stuff this morning. I could sit here forever and just go on and on. I just love to stick my nose in this stuff and see what God has to say to me through something that happened forever ago! But this day and those girly’s await me. I did get a lot done yesterday! At least the house is clean!! But the laundry is not all done, so I’d better go get started on it! I pray that you have been blessed by God’s words this morning, God’s sweet promises to us! Have a blessed day!
