Thoughts on John 2:12-17

Thoughts on John 2:12-17 A. These events took place after the wedding feast in Cana which started the clock on the prophesied Messianic miracle season. JOH 2:11 c/w MIC 7:15 c/w ACT 7:36. 1. The Jews’ passover (v. 13) was a commemorative observance of that critical event which marked Israel’s deliverance from political bondage and oppression in Egypt. 2. God gave Israel forty years of miracles again to lead them out of spiritual bondage to sin, lies and an abolished Mosaic testament and temple service. ACT 3:22-26. B. v. 12 shows us that Jesus had spiritual and natural relatives, even siblings. c/w MAT 12:46-50; MAR 6:3. C. The “...Jews’ passover was at hand...” (v. 13) which implies a near, not a distant future event. MAR 14:42-43 c/w MAT 3:2; MAR 1:15. D. Jesus found in the temple, not prophets (for they had long been unwelcome among temple leadership, MAT 23:31-37), but profits. Religion had become a commercial monster. v. 14. 1. The system of offerings for transgressions was inherently weak because of covetousness. 2. The priesthood which received offerings had been known to not clearly preach against the transgressions which required the offerings and so cultivated a mentality of remittance over repentance. HOS 4:6-8. 3. It would be hoped that when men came to worship God at His house, they would find it a place which shames thieves, not one run by thieves and used by them to plunder the worshippers. JER 7:11 c/w MAT 21:13. 4. It is such wickedness that gives true religion and the name of God a dark character and occasions unbelievers’ blasphemies. ROM 2:21-24; TIT 1:10-11. 5. Thus, faith demands rebuke and separation from such folly. 1TI 6:1-5. E. Jesus had a deliberate, meditated response: He took time to make a scourge, then acted. v. 15. 1. Remember that Jesus was/is harmless (HEB 7:26) and sinless (2CO 5:21) so learn a lesson as to what God considers appropriate in its season. 2. The language, “...he drove THEM all...” implies the inclusion of the money-changers, dove-sellers, oxen-sellers. 3. How sad that we are living in a culture which equates harmless spanking with child abuse. 4. Our Lord’s careful response here reminds us of the importance of measured anger over “knee-jerk” reaction and being easily provoked. JAM 1:19-20; 1CO 13:5. F. Before the Passover feast, there was purging of God’s house. c/w 1CO 5:6-13. 1. This principle also applies to those who would feast on the Scriptures. Sin is an impediment to healthy benefit. JAM 1:21; 1PE 2:1-2. 2. The acknowledging of the truth is AFTER godliness (TIT 1:1) but strong delusion follows love of unrighteousness. 2TH 2:10-12. G. Jesus called the temple, “...my Father’s house...” (v. 16). 1. The people knew this to be the house of God, the God of creation and of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 2. Jesus’s declaration was a tacit declaration that He was the Messiah of promise: Immanuel, i.e., “God with us.” ISA 7:14 c/w MAT 1:23. 3. His enemies put the pieces together in time, since His claim of God being His Father was an equation of Himself with God. JOH 5:17-18. 4. Irony: these robbers of God thought His claim was robbery of God. c/w PHIL 2:6. 5. Jesus Christ was/is everything their own prophets declared of Messiah, including, “...the mighty God, The everlasting Father...” (ISA 9:6). c/w 1TI 3:16. 6. But, again, the voices of the prophets were not welcome or known there. ACT 13:27. H. Jesus’s righteous anger (v. 17) reminded the disciples of PSA 69:9. Some Thoughts on John 2:12-17 11-13-22 Page 1 of 2 1. The 69th psalm has a number of verses which are cited by the apostles as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ, particularly in reference to His rejection and sufferings and the fallout from that to unbelieving Israel. 2. Of those sufferings, Jesus once asked some ambitious disciples, “...Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with...” (MAT 20:22)? 3. Jesus was not going to suffer a few stormy sprinkles or pourings of God's wrath; He was going to be immersed in it for our sakes. 4. David in spirit evidently prophesied of this baptism, “Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me” (PSA 69:1-2). 5. Those who, like Jesus, are consumed with zeal for God's house, will rejoice at this appropriate picture of the church's purchase and recognize that no other figure than immersion properly sets forth the baptism by which one identifies with that church on earth. 6. We ought to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. JUDE 1:3. Some Thoughts on John 2:12-17 11-13-22 Page 2 of 2