Jesus Is A Better Temple (John 2:12-24) Series

Let's begin this morning, by simply rereading last week's passage, starting at John 2:1:

(2:1) And on the third day, a wedding, there w as in Cana in Galilee,

and the mother of Jesus was there.

(2) Now, Jesus was also invited, with his disciples, to the wedding,

(3) and when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus says to him,

"Wine we don't have,"

(4) and Jesus says to her,

"What to me, and to you?

My hour has not yet come."

(5) His mother says to the servants,

"Whatever he may say to you, do [it]."

(6) Now, six stone water jars were there,

in accordance with the cleansing/purification of the Judeans being set,

each one holding 18 to 27 gallons.

(7) Jesus says to them,

"Fill the water jars with water,"

and they filled them up to the brim,

(8) and he says to them,

"Draw some out,

and bring [it] to the head steward."

Now, they brought [it].

(9) Now, when the head steward tasted the water,

wine having become,

and he didn't know from where it is-- now, the servants knew-- the ones having drawn the water--

the head steward calls the bridegroom,

and he says to him,

"Every man first the good wine sets out,

and whenever they are drunk, the inferior.

You have kept the good wine until now."

(11) This, [the] beginning/first of the signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee,

and he revealed his glory,

and his disciples gave allegiance to him.

The main point of John 2:1-11 is that Jesus has come offering a greater grace than what came before-- a grace in place of the grace found in Judaism (John 1:16-17). And if/when you see what Jesus offers, with eyes of faith, and understand what it reveals about Jesus, you will give your allegiance to Jesus. Truly, Jesus is God. Truly, Jesus is the one we should come to, and abide with, and follow.

Our story continues this week, in verse 12:

(12) After this, he went down to Capernaum-- he, and his mother, and the brothers, and his disciples--

and there they abided not many days,

(13) and near, the Passover of the Judeans was,

and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,

(14) and he found in the temple the ones selling oxen and sheep and doves,

and the money changers seated,

(15) and making a whip from cords, all he drove them from the temple,

both the sheep and the oxen,

and of the money changers he scattered the coins,

and the tables he overturned,

(16) and to the ones selling doves, he said,

"Take away these things from here.

Don't make the house of my Father a house of [the] marketplace."

When we read these verses, we are going to be tempted to accidentally read the Synoptic gospels (M, M, L) into this story. There, Jesus drives out the merchants because they have made the temple a den of thieves. There, Jesus' complaint is that the merchants are ripping people off somehow.

But we are reading the gospel of John. Why does Jesus drive out the animals from the temple? Here, Jesus probably alludes to Zechariah 14:20-21:

(20) On that day it shall be written on the bells of the horse:

"Holy/dedicated to Yahweh,"

and the cooking pots in the house of Yahweh shall be as the sprinkling bowls before the altar,

(21) and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holy to Yahweh of Armies,

and all the ones sacrificing shall come,

and they shall take from them,

and they shall cook in them,

and there shall not be a trader any longer in the house of Yahweh of Armies on that day.

Zechariah prophecies that the day is coming when all of Jerusalem will be holy/dedicated to Yahweh. Everything will be clean throughout the entire land; there will no longer be levels, or degrees, of holiness. And if everything is clean, and holy, and acceptable to Yahweh, then there is no more need for merchants in the temple. They can't offer you anything you don't already have, and need.

So on that day, when you come to the temple as a family to worship Yahweh, and have a meal in Yahweh's presence (Lev. 7:15ff; Ezek. 46:21-24), you can use your own utensils, and bowls. You can bring your own food. You don't have to purchase anything.

On that day, what will make your worship acceptable, is that it comes from a clean and obedient heart-- a heart committed/holy to Yahweh (Zechariah 13:1-2, 9).

What, then, will be the role of merchants and traders? There will be no need for them.

Now, Jesus is not quoting Zechariah 14 here, exactly. And I don't think we are supposed to read John 2 as a total fulfillment of Zechariah 13-14. I think it's more like Jesus is echoing parts of Zechariah's language, to make a point. And what is that point?