11th March 2012 John 2:13-22

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts
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.

I know people who hate that we have a fair trade stall in church once a month because they say it's like the sellers in the temple.  But I think that's missing the point; the real point is that we don't require donations to be saved and we don't charge for blessings.

Today the part that strikes me is the way Jesus refers to himself as the temple; that he will be rebuilt in 3 days.  Not built differently but just rebuilt.  It helps me explain to someone a discussion about whether Jesus was the same person when resurrected.

Jesus we thank you for the way you challenged the established norms and the need to jump hurdles to know God.  Keep us real in our sharing of you and your lack of requirements of us.  Amen