Bible Study series No.4 from The Gospel of John: "Unexpected Behavior of Jesus"

2021-10-04

Passover Blood On Door drawing (Vector cliparts) passover, blood , door

This is the picture of Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the Israelite's liberation from slavery and their escape from Egypt. The word "Passover" comes from the biblical book of Exodus where God promised to free the ancient Israelite, the ancestors of today's Jews, who had been enslaved in Egypt. The Israelite were instructed to mark the doors of their houses with the blood of sheep. While God brought death to the firstborn of the Egyptians, the marked houses of the Israelite passed away without any action.

Title: Unexpected Behavior of Jesus

Bible: The Gospel of John 2:13-22(NIV)

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

The time was the "Passover."

It is the most important festival that the Jews celebrate. It is like New Year's in Japan. It is a festival to commemorate the day of blessing when God rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt in 1445 BC and made them His people.

The location moves from the rural town of Cana in Galilee to Jerusalem, the capital and religious center of the Jewish people.

There is a Muslim temple called the Dome of the Rock right next to the holiest place for Jews called the Wall of Lamentations. The Wall of Lamentations is part of the western wall of this Temple Where the Dome of the Rock stands is called the Hill of the Temple where the Temple was built back then.

the Dome of the Rock

The Wall of Lamentations

Jerusalem was the center of the Jewish people.

His disciples thought that if Jesus can successfully perform a miracle here, Jesus' teachings and power would spread among all the Jews and his influence would be immeasurable.

After seeing the miracle of the transformation into wine, the disciples may have had high expectations. But Jesus acted in an unexpected way.

When I was a child, every time I heard this story in Sunday School, I could not understand why he was so angry and my image of Jesus as a gentle, thoughtful, and kind man was tarnished.

People were doing business around the holy temple, but it seemed pretty innocent.

The animals were used for sacrifices by the temple worshippers and they also needed the money for transactions Because the money they offered was Jewish money, the other money was not allowed.

So, why was there so much controversy between Jesus and the Jews?

The Bible did not write about how much the disciples were embarrassed to encounter the arguments between Jesus and Jews.

But I can imagine how it was so awful.

How do you interpret this event?

Some people may say " I think Jesus did the right thing as the Son of God. It is not a place to do business! It is a place to preach the Word of God and to worship.

Another person may say "Even Jesus is a human being. Of course, there are times when he gets angry. But if Jesus were God, it wouldn't have been a pleasant experience for him.

It's understandable.

But in the end, Jesus prophesied and declared that the temple was Jesus Christ Himself, that the temple would be destroyed but rebuilt on the third day, and that He would die on the cross but He will resurrect on the third day.

This is the scene where he publicly revealed that he is the Son of God and the Savior of the people of the world.

The Jewish people of that time started to eliminate Jesus Christ as a blasphemer.

Later, the Roman governor accused Jesus and crucified Him.

The biggest reason for the accusation was this desecration of the temple.

There is another lesson to be learned here.

Since the time of the Old Testament, animal sacrifices have been necessary to purify sins, but since Jesus Christ died as the lamb of the offering, animal sacrifices became no longer needed.

The temple is not just a building, but Jesus Christ Himself.

Historically speaking, The Roman army destroyed the temple of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., 40 years after this event, and the temple was never rebuilt.

As I mentioned last week, Jesus turned water into wine at Cana, but this water was "used for purification.

The author John is trying to tell us that the water for the ritual was changed by Jesus into His blood of the cross so that the water for the ritual is no longer needed.