Cleanse the Temple
July 30, 2023

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Cleanse the Temple
Matt Lewandowski
Gospel of John / Jesus Cleansed the Temple / Jn 2:13–22
Sunday, July 30th, 2023

Psalm 69:9 ESV

9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

Malachi 3:1–3 ESV

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.

John 2:12–22 ESV

12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. 13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

CLEANSING THE TEMPLE (zeal for the house)

  • ONE OR TWO CLEANSINGS?

  • TEMPLE CONTEXT

  • (UN)INTENDED CONSEQUENCES?

  • HOW DID JESUS RESPOND?

RELIGIOUS LEADERS DEMAND A SIGN (deflecting from correction)

  • DEMAND A SIGN INSTEAD OF RECEIVING CORRECTION

  • JESUS GIVES A SIGN

  • Matthew 12:38–40 ESV

    38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

  • THEY COMPLETELY MISS THE POINT AND REFUTE WHAT HE WASN’T SAYING

  • THOSE WHO HAVE EARS MUST HEAR NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES TO UNDERSTAND

REFLECTION

1: What version of Jesus do you serve?

2: Is there anything in your belief/practices that needs to be corrected?

3: Do we really have ears to hear what he’s saying or do we only listen to what we want Him to say?