The last account in this chapter, Jesus drives the money lenders from the temple. Jesus loves all mankind. His purpose was to save us from our sin by sacrificing himself. When Jesus saw the people he loved being taken advantage of and the temple being defiled and used for selfish gain and ambition, he became passionate and anger rose in him for the wrongs that were being done to God and the people. He drove the money lenders out of the temple with a whip and this outraged the spiritual leaders of the day. They were making a profit from the money lenders who were taking advantage of the people. The spiritual leaders questioned Jesus and demanded to know what authority he had to act so erratically. Jesus then points to the crucifixion and resurrection by referring to himself as the temple and how it will be rebuilt in 3 days.
As I read this chapter, my mind is drawn to an event that happens in both accounts. In both stories, there is a feast and time of celebration. I don't think this is accidental. Feasts and celebrations draw crowds of people and allow them to visit and catch up on life.
Think about your family Christmas and Thanksgiving feasts. These holidays are times when we catch up with distant cousins and laugh at our strange uncle for taking his teeth out to scare the children. We catch up, we laugh, we enjoy each others company. We talk about what is new and discuss the trials and joys of the year. We visit and catch up and conversations dwell and linger on what is exciting and new. It was not a coincidence that Jesus chose special occasions to display his divine nature.
What better place for people to talk and for conversations to arise about his power and purpose? During a feast, Jesus has an opportunity to encounter people from other cities visiting for the celebration. The miracles he performs and spectacles he displays to cleanse the temple and justify his people are all seen by the masses. This is not the first wedding Jesus had been to or the first time Jesus has seen the temple being defiled and the people being taken advantage of but he chooses this particular moment during this feast for a reason.
Today I celebrate the opportunities we have to show Jesus and his love around the dinner table with friends and family. I celebrate large gatherings and the opportunity we have to show others the love of Christ who may not encounter him any other time. I celebrate intentional moments and seeds planted when we are faithful with the opportunities God provides.
Never underestimate the power of a meal. Never underestimate the change that can occur when you try to be intentional. Celebrate together and use every opportunity to point to Him. Be zealous for the social injustices of this world and always be ready to have an answer that leads people to the cross. Don't live accidentally, love intentionally and always remember to celebrate and feast.
John 2 The Message (MSG)
From Water to Wine
2 1-3 Three
days later there was a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee.
Jesus’ mother was there. Jesus and his disciples were guests also. When
they started running low on wine at the wedding banquet, Jesus’ mother
told him, “They’re just about out of wine.”
4 Jesus said, “Is that any of our business, Mother—yours or mine? This isn’t my time. Don’t push me.”5 She went ahead anyway, telling the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”
6-7 Six stoneware water pots were there, used by the Jews for ritual washings. Each held twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus ordered the servants, “Fill the pots with water.” And they filled them to the brim.
8 “Now fill your pitchers and take them to the host,” Jesus said, and they did.
9-10 When the host tasted the water that had become wine (he didn’t know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew), he called out to the bridegroom, “Everybody I know begins with their finest wines and after the guests have had their fill brings in the cheap stuff. But you’ve saved the best till now!”
11 This act in Cana of Galilee was the first sign Jesus gave, the first glimpse of his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
12 After this he went down to Capernaum along with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and stayed several days.
Tear Down This Temple . . .
13-14 When
the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to
take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. He found the Temple teeming
with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were
also there in full strength.
15-17 Jesus
put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the
Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the
loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. He told the dove merchants,
“Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a
shopping mall!” That’s when his disciples remembered the Scripture,
“Zeal for your house consumes me.”18-19 But the Jews were upset. They asked, “What credentials can you present to justify this?” Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple and in three days I’ll put it back together.”
20-22 They were indignant: “It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said.
23-25 During the time he was in Jerusalem, those days of the Passover Feast, many people noticed the signs he was displaying and, seeing they pointed straight to God, entrusted their lives to him. But Jesus didn’t entrust his life to them. He knew them inside and out, knew how untrustworthy they were. He didn’t need any help in seeing right through them.
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