Signs:God's Son Has Come!


In John 2:13-33, Jesus does things we don't expect him to do!  He makes a whip of cords, and apparently uses it to drive animals out of the temple courts.  He turns over the tables of moneychangers and cries out that they have made his Father's house a marketplace!

I can't think of another story of Jesus in which he does something like this!  As his followers observe him, they remember Psalm 69:9, in which the writer speaks of a consuming zeal for God's house.

The Jewish leaders were upset at what Jesus did.  They confronted him with the question, "Who gave you the authority to do this?  What miraculous sign will you give?" 

Jesus responded by saying, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will build it again!"  Nobody understood what he meant at the time, but later, after Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples would know what he meant.

This is Jesus' first public act in the gospel of John.  It's almost violently passionate.  But it reflects Jesus' revulsion of corruption in the religious system at the time.  He was grieved at activity that was taking people away from God.  It also shows what his mission was.  He didn't come to destroy Judaism.  He came to cleanse and fulfill it.

What does Jesus find revolting in the "temple" of God's church today?  Materialism?  Racism?  Politics?  What would he want to drive out from us?

The only way we can find that out is to open ourselves to him and let him show us what needs to go!  Then we let him cleanse and transform us. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

God's Dynamite: The Battle Within

Image
"It was on fire when I lay down on it."  Robert Fulghum wrote about reading this statement in a small town newspaper.   Smoke was billowing from a second story window.  The Fire Department arrived, broke down the front door, ran up a set of stairs, and pulled a man off a burning bed.  Later, when they asked him how he got in that predicament, he said, "It was on fire when I lay down on it." Why on earth did he do that?  We don't know, but his story reveals a human truth.  We often do self-destructive things.  We testify, "People told me not to do it, but I did it anyway."  "I knew it was wrong, but I did it." The apostle Paul wrote about our human propensity to sin and self-destructive behavior in Romans 7:14-25.  Verse 15 sums up his point, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do and what I hate I do."   He describes an intense inner battle.  On one side is the "flesh," his
Read more

God's Dynamite: More than Conquerors

Image
One person goes through a terrible experience and emerges from it stronger, more mature, and more loving.  Another goes through a similar experience and emerges from it weaker, less mature, and bitter.   What's the difference? I think it has to do with what's in the person's heart.  It has to do with his or her faith and perspective of life.   In Romans 8:35-39, the apostle Paul asked, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?''  Is there any person or place or experience that can remove us from Christ's loving presence?  Trouble? Hardship? Danger?  Sword? Paul could answer this question because he experienced all the above and more.  He said, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."  We conquer all these things through Christ's love for us. To be sure, we can have times when Christ's love seems far away from us. In the depths of suffering in times like these, we can won
Read more

God's Dynamite: Resurrection Transformation

Image
Easter is about more than you going to heaven.  That's part of it, but not near all!  It's about your death and resurrection. In Romans 6, Paul was answering opponents.  Those opponents said that if salvation is by God's grace through faith, then you have no motivation for righteous living and good works.  Why not sin more to get more grace? Paul answered by using the image of baptism.  He said when the pastor plunged you under water, he symbolized your death in Christ.  Through faith you died on the cross with Jesus.  Your old self was a slave to sin and rebellion against God.   Paul said when the pastor raised you up from the water, he symbolized your resurrection in Christ.  Not just in the future but in the present.  In faith, you identify with Jesus' death and his resurrection.  You're raised to a new life, free from slavery to sin. So Easter is about more than personal salvation.  It's about transformation: dying to an old life and ris
Read more