God Wants to Surprise You

He made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the Temple area. He said, ‘Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a shopping mall’ (v.16, MSG). His disciples remembered the words, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’ (v.17).

There was a terrible temptation then, as there is now, for money-making to interfere with the worship of God. Of course, there is a practical side of worship, both in the Temple and in churches today. However, when the object of our focus becomes money, we are in serious trouble. Jesus surprised people by how passionate he was about this.

Lord, I pray that you would give us as a church the same passion that you had for your Father’s house.

• Surprisingly important
  This event in the Temple is right at the beginning of John’s Gospel because John wants to emphasise just how important this clash is.

Jesus redefines the Temple. Jesus’ body is the true Temple. Jesus says to them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days’ (v.19). The true Temple will be destroyed, but God will rebuild it again in three days, through the resurrection. They are surprised and cannot understand this – they ask Jesus how on earth he thinks he can rebuild this Temple in a mere three days. But John adds, ‘the temple he had spoken of was his body’ (v.21).