John 2: 13-25

(John 2: 13-25)

And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.  And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?  But he spake of the temple of his body.  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.  Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.  But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,  And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

After the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine, he moved from Cana in Galilee to Capernaum, but he did not stay long in Capernaum. As the Passover, one of the three great festivals observed by the Jews, approached, Jesus went south from Galilee to Jerusalem. After stopping the Galilee ministry for a while and arriving in Jerusalem through a difficult journey, Jesus was the first to enter the temple. He saw Jesus when he entered the temple and he saw a wonderful sight. 『And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:』

The temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus was not the temple that Solomon had built. The temple in Jerusalem was built three times. The first is the temple of Solomon, the second is the temple of Zerubbabel, and the third is the temple built by Herod from Idumea (Edom). The temple that existed in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus was Herod's Temple. The temple here does not mean the entire temple. The temple referred to here is called the courtyard of the Gentiles, and it refers to a place where anyone can enter if they wish. If they pass through the beautiful gate, which is the eastern gate that enters inward from the Gentile Court, there is the Court of the Woman, and they have to go through the Nicanor Gate from the Court of the Gentiles before they can tread on the Court of Israel.

The courtyard of Israel is a place that only adult male Israeli men can enter. It is about 68 meters wide and 5.5 meters wide, and there are no doors or walls leading to the next level, but there are stairs as a sign of boundaries. Israeli men can see their offerings to God being sacrificed on the altar. Only after crossing the stairs, which is the boundary line in front of the court of Israel, is the court of the priests, where the altar for offering sacrifices is located. And there was a building in front of the altar, and in that building were the Holy and the Most Holy.

When Jesus referred to the temple, it was a courtyard of the Gentiles in which anyone could be. There was no sacrificial activity taking place here, but why did Jesus express His wrath by making a whip out of cords to drive all sheep and cattle out of the temple, pouring money from the money changers, and overturning the tables? It tells us that the building called the temple is no longer a temple. As they say it is a temple, the building has been reduced to a gathering place for merchants.

Jesus and his disciples were not the only people who came to the temple in Jerusalem to keep the Passover. Many people from outside Israel came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. When they go on a long-distance trip, there must be a lot of things to prepare.

Among the various preparations, it was very difficult to travel a long way with an animal, which is a sacrifice, especially for a sacrifice. It must have been quite natural for them to purchase sacrifices in Jerusalem. In addition to offerings, Roman currency was used in all countries under Roman economic domination. When they came to Israel, they had to exchange it for Jewish currency rather than Roman currency, but it would have been much easier to purchase sacrifices for the sacrifice. This circumstance led to the natural settlement of the act of currency exchange to purchase sacrifices in the temple of the Gentiles and the buying and selling of animals to be sacrificed.

『Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.”

Today, many people think of a building as a church. The building is not the church, but Christ is the church. The members who have the spirit body of Christ become the church, and the church is formed among the members of the congregation. A church is a place where two or three saints gather. The place isn't important. In the early church, the family played the role of the church.

When two or three saints gather to worship God, it is a time to remember that they have been destroyed before God and have been reborn in Christ. Therefore, worship is to become one with God. Worship is not giving to God, but entering into God with Christ. So they experience being with God all the time.