Cleansing the Temple
TRANSLATION
(13) When the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. (14) In the temple precincts he found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons as well as the moneychangers sitting there. (15) He fashioned a whip out of cords and drove everyone from the temple courts along with the sheep and cattle. He scattered the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. (16) To those who sold pigeons he said, “Take these things away! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of commerce.” (17) His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
(18) The Jews therefore said to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do these things?” (19) Jesus responded to them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” (20) The Jews then said, “This temple took forty-six years to build. Will you really raise it up in three days?” (21) But he was speaking about the temple of his body. (22) When he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
(23) Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was doing and believed in his name. (24) But Jesus did not entrust himself to them because he knew all men (25) and needed no one to bear witness about mankind, for he himself knew what was in each person.
OBSERVATIONS
Already, by the middle of John’s second chapter, Jesus had become engaged in the conflict that would eventually lead to his execution. The many repetitions in this segment included “Passover” (vss. 13 & 23), “Jews” (vs. 13, 18, & 20), “temple” (vss. 14, 15, 19, 20, & 21), “selling/sold pigeons” (vss. 14 & 16), “money-changers” (vss. 14 & 15), “house,” a synonym for “temple” (three times in vss. 16 & 17), “his disciples remembered” (vss. 17 & 22), “sign(s)” (vss. 18 & 23), “believed” (vss. 22 & 23), and “man” (twice in vs. 25).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus cleansed the temple, his Father’s house of prayer, of crass commercialism. (13-17)
II. Jesus gave the Jews the sign they had requested but could not understand. (18-22)
III. While many believed in him because of the signs, Jesus did not entrust himself to them. (23-25)
IDEA STATEMENT
By cleansing the temple and responding enigmatically to their request for a sign of his authority, Jesus started down the path that would ultimately lead to his death.
APPLICATION
At the heart of this passage stood the juxtaposition of Israel’s temple, the house of prayer which the Jews had polluted by their crass commercialism, and the temple of Jesus’ body which would be “destroyed” by his death on the cross and “raised up” three days later in his triumphant resurrection. The cryptic way in which Jesus described these events would not be understood by the disciples until after he had conquered death. His camouflaging the truth in such enigmatic terms perfectly illustrated what John meant when he wrote, “But Jesus did not entrust himself to them.” Those who believed in him simply because of the signs he had performed had not yet reached the point of genuine, saving faith.
When we seek to probe the difference between shallow faith and genuine trust, we do well to heed the warnings which James gave in the second chapter of his epistle. There he spoke of demons who believe superficially and shudder as opposed to those with genuine faith whose lives are transformed in accordance with that trust. The words in John 2:24, “Jesus did not entrust himself to them,” show us precisely what we must do, namely, “entrust ourselves to him.” When we do that, without holding back, he will entrust himself to us and transform everything about us.