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- What did it mean to the original reader or original audience?
- Harmony of the Gospels on Founder's Passion
- Parallel Gospels = Luke's Explanation of His Own Research
- Harmony of the Four Gospels on Step Bible (After going to the site, click on resources on the top menu. Then click on Harmony of the Gospels to locate the section you want.
- Harmony of the Gospels on BlueLetterBible.org
Summarize the main story: Describe the events of the scriptural story in your own words.
Review and retell the story.
- What room or area of yours is cleanest? Dirtiest?
Jesus performs his first miracle and drives the merchants and money changers out of the Temple. When the Jewish leaders challenge his authority, Jesus says he will restore the destroyed temple (his body) in three days.
Jesus’ First Temple Cleansing (2:12–25): He later does this again at least once (see Matt. 21:12–13).
A. Purging in regard to his Father’s Temple (2:12–17)
1. The cleansing of the Temple (2:12–15)
a. The wickedness (2:12–14): Jesus finds dishonest merchants selling animals in the Temple.
b. The whip (2:15): He makes a whip out of ropes and drives them out!
2. The condemning of the thieves (2:16–17)
a. The scoundrels he faces (2:16): Jesus accuses them of turning his Father’s house into a market!
b. The Scripture he fulfills (2:17): Psalm 69:9 predicts that the Messiah will do this!
B. Predicting in regard to his fleshly temple (2:18–25)
1. The ignorance of the Jewish leaders (2:18–22)
a. The sign demanded (2:18): They insist that Jesus work a miracle to validate his authority from God.
b. The sign described (2:19): Jesus says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
c. The sign distorted (2:20–21): They think he is referring to Herod’s Temple and not his body.
d. The sign discerned (2:22): After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples understand the full significance of his statement.
2. The insincerity of the Jewish laity (2:23–25): Many in Jerusalem profess belief in Jesus, but for insincere motives!
- God is ... What do we learn about God in this passage?
- We are ... What do we learn about people in this passage?
- The sellers and money-changers were set up to provide sacrificial animals for sale at the temple as a help to Jews from far away. How might this once useful practice have deteriorated into a racket? Why else was Jesus angry (Psalm 69:9)?
- As one of the sellers, how would you feel about Jesus' actions? As one of the disciples, how would you feel?
- How is Jesus challenged (John 2:18)? Why? What effect does his response have on them?
- Why doesn't Jesus entrust himself to the crowd in John 2:23-25?
- If you compare your spiritual life to the rooms of a house, which room do you think Jesus might want to clean up: (a) Library -- the reading room? (b) Dining room-appetites, desires? (c) Workshop-where you keep your skills? (d) Recreation room- where you hang out after work? (e) Family room -- where most of your relationships are lived out? or (f) Closet -- where your hang-ups are?
- I will ... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to us in this passage? How can I apply it to my life this week?
- What transformative move needs to be made?
- You can ... Who do you know who needs to hear this? Feel free to share with others by social media links at the bottom of this.
Take Away Challenges
What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you in this passage? How will you apply it to your life this week?
Whom do you know who needs to hear this?
What is God bringing to your attention in this discussion? What beliefs, thoughts, or actions need to be addressed or changed?
PRAYER: In the Name of Jesus.
Other Resources:
- Other YouTube Videos
Articles
Devotions
- Links
John 2:13-25
Jesus’ First
Cleansing of the Temple
13The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple complex He found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves†,
and He also found the money changers sitting there. 15After making a
whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep
and oxen. He also poured out the money
changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16He told those who
were selling doves, “Get these things
out of here! Stop turning My
Father’s house into a marketplace!†”
17And His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house
will consume Me.”
18So the Jews replied to Him, “What
sign of authority will You show us for doing these things?”
19Jesus answered, “Destroy this
sanctuary, and I will raise it up in
three days†.”
20Therefore the Jews said, “This sanctuary took forty-six years to
build, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21But He was speaking about the sanctuary of His body. 22So
when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said
this. And they believed the Scripture and the statement Jesus had made.
23While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many trusted in His name when they saw the signs He was doing. 24Jesus, however, would not entrust Himself to them, since He knew them all 25and because He did not need anyone to testify about man; for He Himself knew what was in man.[1]
[1]
Knight, G. W. (2001). A simplified harmony of the Gospels (pp.
36–37). Holman Bible Publishers.
Two Cleansings of the Temple?
John places Jesus’ cleansing of the temple at the beginning of His public ministry. But the other Gospel writers report that He cleansed the temple as His ministry drew to a close about three and one-half years later (see segment 158, “Jesus Curses a Fig Tree and Cleanses the Temple,” p. 185).
Were there two separate cleansings of the temple or only one? Scholars disagree on this issue. Some believe that Jesus cleansed the temple only one time. They theorize that John placed this event early in Jesus’ ministry to show that He clashed with the Jewish religious leaders from the very beginning, while the writers of Matthew, Mark, and Luke wanted to show that this event sealed Jesus’ doom.
Other scholars point out that two separate cleansings of the temple are a distinct possibility. For example, A. T. Robertson in his A Harmony of the Gospels declares: “There is no inherent difficulty in the repetition of such an act when one reflects on the national indignation of Jesus at the desecration of the temple on his visits during his ministry and considers that Jesus may have wished to make one last protest at the close of his ministry. Certainty, of course, is not possible in such an argument one way or the other” (p. 25).
- God is ... What do we learn about God in this passage?
- We are ... What do we learn about people in this passage?
- I will ... What has the Holy Spirit revealed to us in this passage? How will I
- You can ... Who do you know who needs to hear this? Feel free to share with others by social media links at the bottom of this.
Other Resources:
Pure Hearts John 2 https://virtualbiblestudy.com/john/2/
