Destroying the Temple
It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”
But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”
“All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
“What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?” But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.
Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like. (John 2:13–23)
All the gospel writers describe how Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple. Only John puts the incident at the beginning of his Gospel, rather than just before Jesus’ crucifixion. John chose to arrange the story of Jesus’ life in a thematic rather than a chronological order, a common choice among ancient Jewish authors.
Jesus told his critics that the only sign they would get would be his death, burial and resurrection. Whether his critics purposely misunderstood his words about the “temple” of his body or simply chose to misinterpret them is difficult to say. But after his crucifixion, the religious leaders were concerned about getting guards for his tomb to prevent mischief. Oddly enough, his disciples didn’t understand that’s what Jesus meant until after his resurrection.
Jesus’ words serve as a warning about how easy it can be to misunderstand Jesus. Such misunderstanding can come from being distracted by other issues in our lives that we miss the blessing that he has for us. Jesus may have already given us the answer to what is so troubling us now, if only we chose to hear him.
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