John 2:12-25

The cleansing of the Temple, an oft-quoted story from the Gospels, shows Jesus' anger at the treatment of the Temple. After all, God designed it to be a place where all nations could come and pray (Isaiah 56:7). But the Jews of Jesus' day had replaced the court of the Gentiles with the market required to get sacrificial animals to the people. I could hardly imagine having a prayer service in the Mall of America on the day after Thanksgiving, nor could I imagine going to Wall Street on peak trading hours and expecting the peace and quiet necessary for meaningful prayer. Indeed, something is wrong with this scenario.

John's account of the story is different from the other three Gospels in a couple major ways. The first is that the story takes place at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, whereas the other three have Jesus cleansing the Temple at the end of His ministry. This is not a major deal, because the Gospels all wrote the events of Jesus' life to tell a particular message. No one, with the maybe-kinda-sorta-possible exception of Luke, wrote the Gospels to tell an exact timeline of Jesus' life.

The other major difference is the conversation that Jesus has afterwards. Jesus has made a serious cultural/religious faux pas by messing with the Temple. And now He has to explain Himself to an angry crowd. Jesus claims that His authority comes from the fact that Jesus could rebuild the Temple in a few days. No one, at the time, understood that Jesus was going to become the Temple and that it would be rebuilt in three days. The disciples picked up on that later.

The most fascinating part of the Cleansing of the Temple is the last part (2:23-25). Jesus did not entrust Himself to the people who believed in Him, because Jesus knows the hearts of human beings. There are two parts here. One is that Jesus did not give Himself over to newfound fame. Jesus did not "go with the crowd," otherwise He would have been at the center of a riot. Also, Jesus did not need their testimony.

Let me tell you, I am a big fan of what other people think about me. I love to hear the testimony of others, especially good testimony. In my life as a Christian, I admit that I crave the attention of others and often ignore the calling that God has placed on my life. It is tricky, indeed, but if I am to grow in Christlikeness, part of that journey involves controlling my craving for approval and attention. May we all grow to be more like Christ today.