Jesus' Second Sign Series

Introduction

One of my responsibilities as a pastor is to visit church members when they are in the hospital. I am grateful for the opportunity to visit members so that I can provide some spiritual counsel and comfort to them.

During one of my first visits to a member in the hospital, I heard an announcement over the intercom, “Code Blue on the 2nd floor! Code Blue on the 2nd floor!”

I soon saw two or three hospital staff race past me, presumably on their way to the 2nd floor.

“What in the world is ‘Code Blue’?” I wondered.

I soon learned that “Code Blue” was a signal for a medical emergency, often a cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, that called for immediate medical attention.

Later, I learned that there were several different color codes in hospitals.

Color codes are standardized to convey specific meanings and instructions quickly in emergencies.

So, for example, “Code Blue” is a signal for a cardiac arrest or respiratory failure, “Code Red” is often used to indicate a fire or the presence of smoke within the hospital, “Code Pink” is used for an infant or child abduction, “Code Yellow” signifies a missing patient or resident, and so on.

One of my hospital identity badges had a list of the most common color codes on the reverse side of the badge to help me figure out what the color code signified.

Sometimes, we need help to know what a sign means.

The Apostle John wrote The Gospel According to John. He wrote this book to help people learn about Jesus.

Like a brilliant lawyer, he set down a masterful account of the life of Jesus. Of the thousands of miracles that Jesus did, John carefully selected seven miracles that he called “signs” to show that Jesus was who he claimed to be.

John wrote in John 20:30, “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book.” He selected just seven of Jesus’ signs to incorporate into his Gospel. “But these are written,” said John, “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

Each of the seven signs points to a different truth about Jesus.

Last week, we looked at Jesus’ first sign, which was turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11). The truth that we learned in that sign is that Jesus is the Christ who initiates the new covenant.

Today, we are going to look at Jesus’ second sign, the cleansing of the temple.

Scripture

Let’s read John 2:12-22:

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.

Lesson

The second sign in John 2:12-22 teaches us that Jesus is the new temple.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Jesus Was Devoted to His Father’s Temple (2:12-17)

2. Jesus Was Describing His Own Temple (2:18-22)

I. Jesus Was Devoted to His Father’s Temple (2:12-17)

First, Jesus was devoted to his Father’s temple.

We read in verse 12, “After this he [that is, Jesus] went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.”

The phrase “after this” (or similar words such as “after these things”) is a phrase that connects two narratives. John used it frequently in his Gospel (e.g., 3:22; 5:1, 14; 6:1; 7:1; 11:7, 11; 19:28, 38).

John put it here to transition from the wedding in Cana in Galilee (where he performed his first sign) to Capernaum.