John 2: 19
“Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’”
The setting for this verse is this: Jesus and the Jews are standing in the courtyard of the Temple. Jesus has just finished clearing out all of the merchants and money traders who had taken to doing business that should have been done outside of the Temple inside of the Temple courts. The Jews demand a “sign” that would “prove” Jesus had the authority to do what he had done. Jesus responds with the words in today’s verse, “Destroy this temple…” John explains in verse 21 what Jesus meant, but the question remains:
Q: Why did Jesus choose to be so obscure in what he said?
I’m kind of building off of my response from yesterday, but I think they were already looking to condemn Him. Just probably at a lesser degree than crucifying Him.
He knew their thoughts and they were self-centered and greedy; probably not seeking God.
When they asked for a sign, they expected He would fail…because they would fail if asked that exact same question.
His response pointed to the real temple, not their money making temple.
Sorry, my response is a little scattered this morning. Have a great day y’all.
You have a great day also Robster.
Jesus is not a preforming monkey who will dance to the tune being played by men.
The real question here is who gave them the authority to pervert the House of God for personal gain?
It’s possible these men were angry enough to want to kill Jesus who could read their hearts and was demonstrating this power..
Possibly Jesus was refusing to enter into conversation regarding His authority with men who would reject anything He said. Instead He chose to tell them the the truth regarding what they would see in the future.
Had to look up the word “obscure” ,..to conceal or hide is what I get from the Websters Dictionary,..
Jesus certainly wasn’t hiding anything, He left the temple in shambles,..tables strewn, money all over the place,..people just staring at what just took place,..in shock and then a bit of disbelief,..then there is the anger because someone has to clean things up and get things back in order for business as usual.
No one there knew who He was,..yet,.. other than the ones that had followed Him,..I believe it was a type of an analogy,..He just got done cleaning the temple so to stay on track He used the temple referring to His body,..but they had no clue as to what we know to be what He was referring to,..most people are more on the physical side than spiritual,..if they can see it then that’s the way it is,..if they can’t then in isn’t so,..may be a reason why faith without work is dead,..because it takes work to keep my faith alive,..daily grinding in His word,..seeking the opportunity everyday to glorify Christ just by sharing His name with someone,..prayer,..and the list goes on,..but it is this work that keeps my faith in Christ alive,..
I try to imagine this whole scene thus far: Jesus has scattered the merchants in the temple, and spoke to them about the temple as being “His Father’s house.” I can imagine the merchants running to some kind of authority or local leadership saying ” and this guy started scattering our tables and merchandise talking about His Father’s house.” Whoever showed up certainly wasn’t trying to ascertain anything other than that “this man” was a fraud (and perhaps crazy). They ask him “by who’s authority?” I believe this was an effort to trap Jesus in His own words. “Oh, you’re the Son of God eh…” But Jesus really just cuts to the heart of what these men were thinking. He offers them no resistance, and lets them know that they cannot stop His mission. I wonder to myself if the merchants in the temple were really there, not on any legitimate authority, but because the authorities and leaders in the community “turned a blind eye” to it. But once confronted with a man that drove out what was not supposed to be there, they had no real course of action. They instead tried to pin down the man, but Jesus let them know this was bigger than Him, or them.