Lessons from the Diamond and the Temple

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And He poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And He told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”

So the Jews said to Him, “What sign do You show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking about the temple of His body. When therefore He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

John 2:13-22

I recently reconnected with an old Japanese teammate from my professional baseball days, So Taguchi. Recounting his difficulty with the English language, So reminded me of one particularly amusing mix-up. One day our manager, affectionately nicknamed “Chief,” called an important team meeting and announced with a typical stern expression, “This is a REALLY important stretch of games!” My Japanese teammate, eager to execute his manager’s advice, heard, “This is REALLY important to stretch at games!” Before every single game for the next several weeks, So engaged in a prolonged vigorous stretching routine, all the while wondering why his teammates weren’t heeding their manager’s counsel. So Taguchi basically understood each of the manager’s words, but he completely missed the meaning of his message. After weeks of lonely stretching, my teammate was perhaps wondering, “Was Chief really talking about stretching?”

Understanding words but missing the message is a danger not just in the world of cross-cultural baseball, but in our spiritual lives as well. The Gospel of John’s stated purpose is “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). Throughout the Gospel, Jesus uses various symbols pointing people to faith but leaving many wondering, “Was Jesus really talking about birth, water, bread, etc..?”

The story of Jesus cleansing the temple is case in point. This is a story of vigorous activity in a house of worship, activity seemingly centered upon obedience to God’s explicit commands (Lev. 1-5). Those selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons were conveniently providing worshipers the animals God’s law prescribed for sacrifice. The money changers allowed pilgrims who had traveled great distances to convert their money to the proper currency.

However, by centering this activity within the temple itself, these businessmen had turned what was intended to be a place of prayer and worship into a place of commerce, rightly incurring Jesus’ zealous opposition. Jesus drove them all out of the temple with a whip of cords, pouring out coin boxes and turning over tables in the process. He proclaimed, “Take these things away; do not make My Father’s house a house of trade” (v16). The sale of animals for sacrifice and the exchange of money were temple activities that completely missed the meaning of God’s commands.

Challenged by the Jews to produce a sign proving His authority to perform this temple cleansing, Jesus responded, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Since the action in this story occurred in the temple, it’s not surprising to learn that the Jews understood “this temple” to refer to the surrounding edifice, the construction of which had already surpassed four decades (v20). The narrator clarifies that Jesus was speaking about “the temple of His body” (v21). In other words, the sign that Jesus would produce is His impending death and resurrection after three days.

This shift of focus in the story from the physical temple to Jesus Christ Himself has great significance. Jesus was One greater than the temple (Matt. 12:6). He Himself would be the center of worship through His coming and sacrifice. God’s presence among His people would be through Christ, not a physical building in Jerusalem. Since the temple ultimately pointed to Jesus, He should be the object of our faith and focus.

Like the businessmen in the temple or my Japanese teammate, there’s a danger of robust undertakings that completely miss the point. Even today, we can engage in vigorous religious activity that ultimately is not centered upon a simple faith in the finished work of a loving Savior. As we engage in Christian worship and service this week let us search our hearts and ask ourselves, “Is this activity really about Jesus?”