Josh Benner

Tag: John 2

  • Destroy this temple, and in 3 days, I will raise it up. John 2:18-25

    Destroy this temple, and in 3 days, I will raise it up. John 2:18-25

    Summary John 2:13-25: As Jesus begins his ministry, he cleanses the temple in Jerusalem. In the first century, the temple had become a commerce center during Jewish holy days and so Jesus will drive the merchants out from the temple in verses 13-17. In verses 18-22, we see the response to Jesus

    John 2:18: So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

    That is not an inherently absurd question. Jesus is driving people out of the temple, and so they want to know how his actions are justified. It seems like they expected some grand miracle. 

    Instead, Jesus tells them of a future sign which he will perform. 

    Verse 19:  Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 

    Jesus says that’s the sign he can do. 

    20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”

    The religious authorities look to how long it’s taken to build the temple and it therefore seems absurd that Jesus could possibly raise it in three days.

    They miss the point. 

    Rebuilding the temple

    At the time of Jesus, the temple in Jerusalem was actually still under construction. I always thought it was complete and when they talk about 46 years,  they’re referring to how long it took to complete the work. 

    Incorrect. 

    Little bit of history. 

    The Jewish people built a temple during the reign of Solomon. That’s the first temple. It was destroyed in 586 B.C. when Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians. 

    About a century later, reconstruction began of the second temple. That temple was pretty modest, and it saw a major renovation which began around the year 19 B.C.

    In other words, the major renovation BEGAN about 46 years before Jesus cleanses the temple here in John 2. 

    By the time of Jesus, they’re saying that construction had been under way for 46 years. 

    Construction would not be complete until 63 A.D. which was some 35 years after the time of Jesus. 

    I point that out because 46 years is a long time. But the actual temple renovation took more like 80 years. 

    And if it sounded absurd that someone could rebuild in just three days what had taken 46 years, imagine it from their perspective in the first century as they looked at a temple that was still being renovated. And someone saying he could build that in three days. 

    The authorities don’t challenge Jesus’ claim. But Jesus isn’t referring to the building anyway. 

    John makes that explicitly clear in the next verses. 

    Verses 21-22:

    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. 

    Jesus is the temple and he’s referring to his death and resurrection. 

    Jesus died and rose on the third day.

    Jesus is the true temple

    The significance of the temple in the Bible is that the temple is the place where God is with his people. 

    That’s why the temple was so important in the Old Testament. 

    When Jesus says “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19, yes, it’s referring to his death and resurrection. But it is also pointing to Jesus as the greater temple. 

    The temple was just a building. Merchants could encroach upon the holiness of the temple. But in Jesus, we have an incorruptible temple, an incorruptible savior through whom we are brought into the presence of the Lord. 

    And we are again reminded of that death that Jesus would die for sin. 

    In chapter 1, we see Jesus called the Lamb of God (John 1:29), referring to his sacrificial death. In John 2:4, Jesus pointed forward to his crucifixion. 

    This book is constantly pointing to his death. 

    Eight full chapters of John are dedicated to the final week of Jesus’ life. 

    Why so much about his death?

    Abraham Lincoln’s two secretaries John Hay and John Nicolay wrote an expansive biography about our 16th president. It’s 5,000 pages and they talk about his death on just 20 of those pages. 

    Between the four gospels, roughly one third to one half of the books are devoted to Jesus’ death. 

    Why? Why is there this constant focus on his death? Because it is the only way to redemption. It is the only way to God. It is the only way to forgiveness. It is the only way to heaven. 

    There’s no other way than through the presence of God on earth who was torn down and raised back up three days later. 

    Jesus cleanses the temple but in cleansing the temple, it points to himself as the temple who does not need cleansed. 

    The temple was always meant to point to Jesus. 

    In the Old Testament, you have all of these exact specifications for the temple, and its precursor, the tabernacle. You have dramatic Old Testament texts which talk of the presence of God filling the temple. You have Israel who continues to fall into sin and idolatry, in spite of warnings from God’s prophets. Eventually they’re conquered, they’re exiled, they lose the land, the temple is destroyed.

    They would later be freed from exile and given the command to rebuild the temple. 

    But all of that is pointing forward to the true temple. 

    In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. It was the unmitigated presence of God. And humanity sinned. Paradise was lost. 

    God gave the law through Moses. Humanity continued to sin and God continued to be faithful. 

    The temple was built and sin continued. The temple was lost. 

    And on the grounds of a new temple, we again see sin. We see people dishonoring a holy place. 

    Left to our own devices, we’ll continue to lose the temple, to squander God’s grace because we’re sinful. 

    But instead of having a building which represents the presence of God, we’re given a person. 

    Jesus Christ, the eternal God of creation himself becomes the temple. We are welcomed back into the garden because Jesus left heaven. We are welcomed into the presence of God because Jesus was forsaken. We are invited into the presence of God because Jesus is the true temple.

    We are given grace which cannot be lost because it was bought by a savior who does not sin. 

    The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). 

    Jesus came to be with us so that we could be with him. 

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  • Jesus, water, and wine. Studying John 2:1-12

    Jesus, water, and wine. Studying John 2:1-12

    Summary: In John 2, Jesus and his disciples attend a wedding feast. The feast runs out of wine. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, approaches him about the situation and after saying that his time has not yet come, he performs a miraculous sign when he turns water into wine. 

    1. Conflict

    On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

    Jesus is at a wedding feast in Cana, which is a town in Galilee. And the feast runs out of wine. This was a serious faux pas and huge social embarrassment at the time. Now the groom was responsible for the financial burden of the wedding.

    In the first century, in this region, weddings could last over a week. Many in the town would have been invited. They were huge parties. So Mary approaches Jesus, saying “they have no wine.” She seems to feel some sense of a burden to try to help out. 

    Jesus gives a seemingly abrupt response in verse 4. Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”

    Some translations like the NIV try to soften the language by saying “Dear woman,” but what he literally says is “woman.” 

    Now if my mom had asked me for something and I said, “woman,” I would have gotten backhanded. But it’s a different culture than our culture, and this should not be taken as a sign of disrespect. 

    Towards the end of this gospel, when Jesus is on the cross, he entrusts the care of Mary to the Apostle John and he again uses the same word.  

    John 19:26: 

     When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

    So while it may sound odd to our ears and language, Jesus is not disrespecting Mary. 

    The hour

    Back in our passage, Jesus asks “what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 

    Throughout John, Jesus refers to his hour, and the hour is referring to the time of his death.

    To give just one example. John 17:1, Jesus is praying shortly before his arrest:

    “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,

    In Verse 5, after Jesus gives his response to Mary, Mary is undeterred. There’s no offense in what he’s said. 

    His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 

    As I said a few moments ago, we don’t know exactly what she expected. 

    We all face situations where we have to trust in Jesus and where we don’t know exactly how he will work things out, but we have to trust him, nevertheless. 

    We have situations with our health, where we don’t know how things will work out. But we have to trust in Jesus. We have situations in our hearts where we struggle with brokenness, despair, depression, but where we must turn to Jesus, even when we may be tempted to think that even he can do nothing. We have situations in relationships where there is so much brokenness and damage that all hope seems lost, but we must turn to Jesus, and depend on Jesus, and lean on Jesus. 

    He says to Mary my hour has not yet come.

    It’s the beginning of his ministry. Everything Jesus does is building up to the crucifixion. 

    That’s the purpose of his ministry. His hour. His death for a sinful humanity. And part of that seems to also be captured in Jesus’ response to Mary. 

    This story is showing that Jesus operates based on the will of God, not of Mary. He is not here at the whims of man or of the world. He is here for the divine mission and the divine mission. 

    2. Resolution 

    The text tells us in verse 6 

     Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

    So they find six stone water jars. Not just any jars, but jars that were used for Jewish rites of purification. At this wedding feast, water would be poured out onto the hands of the Jews for washing before they ate. Jesus tells them to take these jars of water and to fill them up. Six jars, 20-30 gallons. Upwards of 180 gallons, or by modern standards, roughly 900 bottles of wine or 150 boxes of Franzia. 

    And Jesus instructs the servants: 

    “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.

    Verse 8: And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.

    Now the story doesn’t explain the process by which Jesus turned the water into wine. We just see the result. 

    Verse 9: When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew),

    So the servants were aware that Jesus had made the wine. 

    “the master of the feast called the bridegroom10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

    What the master of the feast is saying is that they would normally use the better wine first and then go to the cheap stuff, but when he tastes the wine that Jesus made, he says that it’s the better wine. 

    Think about that for just a moment. Hundreds of gallons of water. And somehow, Jesus turns it all into premium wine.

    Out with the old, in with the new  

    And we have seen something else of theological significance. 

    Jesus is showing a transition of the old to the new. He’s using the jars of water used for Jewish purification rituals to do his mighty work. It’s symbolic of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant which Jesus is ushering in. 

    That’s not saying that he replaced the old covenant in that action. That’s not saying that the people who saw this miracle grasped the significance at the time. 

    But it’s not just about turning water into wine, Jesus does this miraculous act to point to something greater. 

    Jesus is Lord of the big things and the small things

    Something else that’s important in this passage. I mentioned earlier that running out of wine would have been a huge social embarrassment. But let’s keep in mind, that Jesus intervenes here. It’s not like this was a life and death situation. It’s not the end of the world.

    Jesus is Lord of the big things and of the small things. And of everything in between. We need to trust him in all situations and seasons of life. Big and small. And to know that there is no situation that’s too inconsequential for us to approach Jesus. It’s not like we’re nagging him, and if we come to him in the small things, we’ll wear him down in the big things. That Jesus is fully of grace and goodness.

    Obviously we turn to Jesus, look to Jesus, pray in the big things, but never feel like something is too small to bring to our Lord. 

    It’s common after a football game to hear a player thank God when talking to the media. Some people mock this and say “does God really care who wins a game?” 

    God isn’t a part-time God, he’s a full time God. 

    1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says: 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

    It doesn’t say to rejoice only when things are good, to pray only for the big things, to give thanks only in the victories. But we should live a life that is devoted to Christ and is lived with a focus on Jesus to the Glory of God. Jesus is the Lord of all things.

  • What was Jesus’s first miracle? An overview of John 2

    What was Jesus’s first miracle? An overview of John 2

    Summary: In John 2, Jesus and his disciples attend a wedding feast. The feast runs out of wine. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, approaches him about the situation and after saying that his time has not yet come, he performs a miraculous sign when he turns water into wine. 

    It’s debated what Mary was expecting when she came to Jesus. At the end of our passage, John tells us in verse 11 that this was the first of Jesus’ signs at Cana in Galilee. But the best evidence from the gospels seems to be that this was the first miracle he performed, anywhere. 

    That’s the view I hold. And on that view, it seems unlikely that Mary would have expected Jesus to perform a miracle here. Jesus is her faithful son. She’s going to him for help in a time of need. The miraculous works of Jesus are done for specific purposes within his ministry. 

    The Bible doesn’t tell us very much about the early years of Jesus. Aside from his birth narratives in Matthew and Luke, there are just two other events recorded of the early years of Jesus and they’re both in Luke’s gospel. Luke 2 tells us of the baby Jesus being brought to the temple. And then we’re told a story from Jesus’s childhood where his parents go to Jerusalem for the Passover and mistakenly think he’s with them when they leave. And that’s all that we have of the younger Jesus. 

    So what was the rest of his childhood like? Was he doing miracles? 

    At the end of John, the apostle talks of how the world would not contain the books about what Jesus had done were they all to be written down (John 21:25). But I don’t think we should assume he was doing miracles his entire life. Again, the miracles are done for specific purposes within his ministry to point to his divinity and glory.  

    In Mark’s gospel, during the ministry of Christ, the people in his hometown are seeing the mighty works and hearing the teaching of Christ, and this is all new to these people. 

    On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him (Mark 6:2-3). 

    With the fact that the author will say that this is Jesus’ first sign, I don’t believe Jesus had done any miracles prior to this. 

    Before his ministry began, I don’t hold to a view that Jesus was just doing miracles left and right as a kid. Biblically, there’s no support for that. Theologically I think it makes more sense that he wasn’t.

    His miracles aren’t magic tricks. In the X-Men comic books and movies, the various characters are mutants who live in the natural world and are born with various powers. But they have to be trained to control their powers. 

    In the original X-Men movie, before some of the main characters wind up at the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, the characters are all realizing the powers they have. Rogue’s power is that she absorbs your energy just by touching you and so she goes to kiss her boyfriend and puts him in the hospital. They have these powers that they can’t even control. 

    I think it’s important not to have that image in mind for the younger Jesus. 

    He’s not a superhero. He’s God incarnate.  

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