John 2:13-25
13 The Jewish Passover was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there. 15 After making a whip out of cords, he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” 17 And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal for your house will consume me. 18 So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.” 20 Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made. 23 While he was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. 24 Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all 25 and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.
For the Adults:
Our Father can produce such character in me only to the degree that I submit to His Spirit and seek to be more like His Son. For our fallen culture to seek Jesus, it needs to see Jesus in us. More today than yesterday, and more tomorrow than today.
Dr Jim Denison
The story of Jesus' cleansing of the temple took place at Passover.
According to the Mosaic Law, all Jews were to come to Jerusalem for three festivals each year.
John's Gospel includes mentions of at least three Passovers (Chapter 2,6, and 11).
Jesus was at a wedding in Cana, in Galilee, then headed to Capernaum, before returning to Jerusalem for the Passover.
Passover is a celebration of God delivering the Jewish people from Egypt. In remembrance of the Passover lambs sacrificed on the first Passover, lambs were sacrificed in Jerusalem each Passover.
This wasn't Jesus' first Passover in Jerusalem, by any means. He had doubtless been many times from childhood. But this is the first time he has come to Passover during his public ministry.
Jews came to the Temple from all over Israel, indeed from all over the known world. It was a time where Jerusalem would be packed. And because of travel most of them couldn't bring animals with them to sacrifice.
Passover was also the time that people paid the annual temple tax. So their money had to be exchanged, and it was in-season, so the rates were higher.
Jesus was offended, not because everyone needed to buy sacrificial animals, sheep, goats, dove, etc... but that God's house had been turned into something that looked like a flea market, far from its main function as a house of prayer.
And HE did something about it. He got rid of everything that didn’t belong there. He cleaned out the temple. And HE wants to do the same to us. Get rid of everything that does not belong.
We do not enjoy Jesus cleansing us, as we like to hold on to a few things that we enjoy. He wants to strip away all that doesn’t belong, so that there is nothing left of us. But we will never be able to be the person He wants us to be if we do not submit and seek to be more like Him.
For the Children:
What needs to be cleansed from my life?
Am I looking more like Jesus everyday?
Do people see Jesus in me?
Meditate:
Read John 2:13-25
Pray:
Heavenly Father, show me what needs to be removed from my life. Help me remove all that needs to go, until there is nothing left of me. I want people to see You in me.
In Jesus name, Amen.
About the author:
Jose Aguilar Jr. is an Associate Pastor at FBC Weslaco and has served in this capacity for the last 12 years. He and his wife Blanca have served faithfully at FBC Weslaco since 2001. They are the proud grandparents of Lilyana Faythe and Trinidad Esperanza Aguilar.