October 10 Zealous

John 2:12-17 After this Jesus went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
 
IF you read through Luke with us, you may recall that Jesus cleansed the temple on Passover Week, just days before his crucifixion. Here John records the event as Jesus begins his ministry. Is this one of those contradictions skeptics note?
   There is strong literary and historical evidence that Jesus cleansed the temple twice. John’s account is carefully dated, and the accounts have different elements. In John, Jesus comes unknown with his disciples, and his actions cause the disciples to recall Psalms 69:9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. In the Synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke are so named because they give a similar account from the same general point of view.) Jesus comes in his triumphal glory as the Messiah. He justifies his actions then by quoting Jeremiah 7:11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord. (The prophet Jeremiah, too, twice cursed the temple.)
   As the miracle of water to wine, we can see the temple’s cleansing as a sign of the gospel. Ceremonial washing will become living water. Blood of sacrifice will become wine of celebration. The temple will be our souls cleansed with Christ.
   Then know this: Jesus’ zeal for the temple, then, is his zeal for your soul! He made a whip of cords to cleanse the crime from the temple courts. He will be whipped and nailed to cleanse the sin form our souls. God’s zeal through the gospel has, indeed, accomplished the purification of God’s holy temple. 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. Further, God’s zeal for a new heaven and earth will result in the eternal living temple in the Father and Son: Revelation 21:22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 
 
Prayer: Psalms 84:1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. Amen.