Pointless (Audio)

So the Jews replied to him, ‘What sign will you show us for doing these things (clearing the temple)?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days.’ ~John 2:17, 18

We understand (I think) what Jesus means. Two thousand years of resurrection/Easter understanding – cognitively we know that Jesus is talking about his body, but theologically? Are we stuck where the Jewish leadership was? Are we stuck needing a sign and a wonder for the Saviour to really let us know that there really is a God?

When Jesus says, ‘Destroy this temple,’ I wonder if the Jewish leadership thought he was commanding them to do so, to rip down the building that housed their sanctuary – their safety from the world. I wonder if the Jewish leadership were aghast that anyone would dare think that the building that had been a house for God’s name, and a place for sacrifice, would be blasphemed by tearing down the structure.

The Jewish leaders are incredulous. ‘This took forty-six years to build, and you – you! Want to rebuild it in three days.’ Even God can’t do that, right?

And, the freshly scrubbed disciples, only days into the ministry, must have been scratching their heads. Get rid of the temple? Is he serious? Where will we go for the festivals? Where will we worship? Where will we offer our sacrifices? It was only after the resurrection that they fully understood Jesus’ words and their faith in the scripture (John 2:21-25).

For so long the building had been the focus of Israel’s worship, but it had been turned into a marketplace, not used for its original designation as a house of prayer and praise. And so, the temple and its sanctuary had become pointless.

The living temple was in their midst, and they were missing it.

What has changed over two thousand years? Should we look at that this week? Should we dig into our fears of the future of the ‘Church,’ and gaze into what God is doing in these three days?

Pr Reid Matthias