His Passion - John 2:12-22

His Zeal (2:12–22)

Jesus, His family, and His disciples stayed in Capernaum for a few days before going to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. It was required for every Jewish man to go to three feasts in the Holy City every year: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Deut. 16:16). The gospel of John talks about three feasts: Passover (John 2:13; 6:4; 12:1), Tabernacles (John 7:2), and Dedication (John 10:22). It is possible that the unnamed feast in John 5:1 was Purim (Est. 9:26, 31).

Even though He broke the Pharisees' man-made religious rules on purpose, our Lord followed the law and was faithful to it. He fulfilled the law in life and death, so today believers are not under that "yoke of bondage" (Acts 15:10).

The first thing Jesus did to show how much He loved God was clean the temple (John 2:13–17). The priests had set up a very profitable business where they would trade foreign money for Jewish money and sell the animals needed for the sacrifices. This "religious market" probably started out as a way for Jews who traveled long distances to worship in the temple to make things easier, but over time it turned into a business instead of a ministry. The sad thing is that this business was done in the temple's court of Gentiles, where Jews should have been meeting Gentiles and telling them about the one true God. A Gentile looking for the truth probably wouldn't find it among the religious merchants in the temple.
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Our Lord suddenly showed up in the temple and cleaned up! He was careful not to damage anyone's property (for example, he didn't let the doves go), but He made it clear that He was in charge. He didn't want the religious leaders to ruin His Father's house with their money-making schemes.

The state of the temple was a clear sign of the nation's spiritual state. Their religion was boring and routine, and the men in charge were more interested in making money and having power than anything else. The wine was gone from the wedding feast, and the glory was gone from the temple.

The disciples thought of Psalm 69:9 when they saw how brave and zealous He was. "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." Psalm 69 is a messianic psalm that is quoted a lot in the New Testament. For example, John 15:25 quotes Psalm 69:4, John 7:3–5 quotes Psalm 69:8, John 2:17; Rom. 15:3 quotes Psalm 69:9, Matt. 27:34, 48 quotes Psalm 69:21, and Rom. 11:9–10 quotes Psalm 69:22.

There were still some godly people in Israel who loved God and respected His temple (Luke 1:5–22; 2:25–38), but most religious leaders were false shepherds who took advantage of the people. Jesus "declared war" on the hypocritical religious leaders when He cleaned the temple (Matt. 23), and this led to His death. His zeal for God's house did indeed consume Him!

He also showed how much He cared by giving His life (John 2:18–22). It made sense for the religious leaders to ask Him to show them where He got His power. They were the protectors of the Jewish faith, so they had the right to put any new prophet to the test. "The Jews require a sign" (1 Cor. 1:22). The leaders asked Jesus for a sign many times during His ministry, but He only gave them the sign of Jonah (Matt. 12:39ff.). The "sign of Jonah" points to the then future death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus used the temple as a picture to show this truth. "Destroy this temple [My body], and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19). People who heard Him didn't understand what He was saying because they were spiritually blind. People in the Gospel of John often get spiritual truths wrong and think of them in terms of things that are real or physical (John 3:4; 4:11; 6:52). The temple that Herod built began in 20 BC and wasn't finished until AD 64. How could one person "raise it up" in three days?

Of course, this statement was a prediction of His own death and resurrection, and His followers remembered it after He rose from the dead. But His enemies also remembered it and used it against Him in court (Matt. 26:59–61). Some people even made fun of Him with it while He was dying on the cross (Matt. 27:40).

John included many vivid pictures of the Savior's death when he wrote this gospel. The first is the killing of the Lamb in John 1:29, which shows that He would die in place of sinners. The second image, the destruction of the temple (John 2:19), suggests a violent death that will end in a victorious resurrection.

The third picture is of the serpent being lifted up (John 3:14), which comes from Numbers 21:5–9. The Savior would take on our sins (1 Peter 2:24). His death would be voluntary (John 10:11–18): the Shepherd would lay down His life for the sheep. Lastly, the planting of the seed (John 12:20–25) shows that His death would bear fruit for God's glory. It would seem like failure when He died and was buried, but God would bring victory in the end.

The temple was a big part of the Jewish faith because it was where God was supposed to live. The temple was the center of all the Jewish religion's ceremonies and sacrifices. It was easy to guess how they would react when Jesus said their beloved building would be destroyed. If His body is the temple, then the Jewish temple would no longer be necessary. In this mysterious statement, our Lord foretold the demise of the Jewish religious system.

But that was one of the reasons John wrote his gospel: to show that the law is over and that "grace and truth" have come through Jesus Christ. He is the new temple (John 2:19) and the new sacrifice (John 1:29). John will later tell us that the new way of worshiping will depend on how honest you are on the inside, not where you are on the outside (John 4:19–24).