John 2: Jesus Clears the Temple

John 2:12-25 says,

After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he has said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Now While he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

Verses 12-17 are the first of three main points. When Jesus arrived at the temple and saw people selling dirty animals and making change within the temple walls He was not happy to say the least. Jesus made a whip and then proceeded to drive everyone out of the temple, both men and animals. But why did He do this when this "market" had become accepted by the Jews? Because He had zeal for His Father's house. Because Jesus held the house of God sacred. Think of the most valuable thing you have in your possession. Now imagine people taking and defiling it in any way imaginable. What would you honestly do if you saw that? You would save it from being further defiled, and try to repair it. That is because you hold it sacred. The question now is, "Does God want you to hold this thing sacred?" And the next question is, "Are you holding sacred what God wants you to hold sacred?" Today's generation treats a lot of sacred things like they're trash. Homes, the planet, parents, friends, people in general, religion, sex, marriage, the list goes on. Are you with the world in not holding certain things sacred, or are you looking intently at what God has given you and valuing the blessings? Jesus went so far as to drive out an entire temple and look like a crazy person doing it. Why? Because the people were defiling His Father's house. The place where people are suppose to come and worship God at. This generation is perverse in this regard more than any other. We hold the wrongs things sacred, and ruin the things that are sacred. Now with everyone the things that are held sacred and that are not are always different. So take now to talk with God and ask Him what is sacred and what is not. And then change what you value after He answers.

Verses 18-22 are about the Jews reaction to Jesus actions, and Jesus reaction to their reaction. The Jews demand a miraculous sign from Jesus as proof that He has authority to do such a thing. Jesus answered, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." When the Jews heard Jesus say this they instantly thought He was talking about the temple they were in. But Jesus was talking about His body. Throughout the Bible God talks in riddles. He hides the truth within the truth. There are things that, with the entire Bible, are still hard to understand. I know this very well as there is a lot of the Bible that confuses me. But with every part of the Bible, there is a hidden meaning within it. But it is not impossible to understand the Bible. I understand more now than I did when I started this blog 3 years ago. The way to understand the Bible more is to keep reading it and putting it into practice. The more you read and do what the Bible says the more you come to know who God is. God wrote the Bible through a series of men. If we learn more about God, then we will understand His purpose for the different parts of the Bible. The Bible is not written in a straightforward way because it is a book meant to guide us through life. God reveals different parts of the Bible at different times in our life. God wrote the Bible to guide His followers back from sin, and then down the path of righteousness. The path that ultimately leads to Heaven. The importance of the Bible is more than we can ever know. We won't know all the secrets of the Bible until we are in Heaven. The Bible is so complex and constantly revealing new things that it is impossible completely understand it. That is something that I am truly grateful for. I couldn't ask for a better tool to use to live a righteous life than a book that reveals new things to me with every step I take in life. So we must all stay buried in God's Word, so that we don't miss out on anything that God wants to show us.

Verses 23-25 tell us that Jesus did not entrust himself to the men around Him for He knew what was in a man. These were not even criminals. These were people like you and me. So why didn't Jesus entrust himself to them? Because Jesus knows everything about any one person. People are not something we can completely put our trust in. I know that sounds pretty bad, but we are all sinful beings. We are messed up on a large scale. I heard this from one of my youth leaders, "No matter how bad you think you are, you are always worse." So knowing that I can see why Jesus wouldn't trust me. We are temporary creatures who's attitudes about things change more than the grains of sand in any square foot of the beach. With that known, why do we trust other people so much? Why do we rely on other people for so much in life? We hold our relationships with other more valuable than our relationship with God at times. It's sad to think that we do such a thing. Jesus did not trust in man, but He did trust in God. So like Jesus, we should put all of out trust in God. Before checking on how our relationships with other people are going, we should always check how our relationship with God is doing.

So from this passage comes three lessons that work well together. Ask God what you should hold sacred and place value on that. Two things to hold sacred are reading your Bible constantly, and building your relationship with God. Read your Bible everyday to see what you need to hold sacred and to learn more about God and trust Him with more. And always trust in God and work on your relationship with Him. By growing closer to Him you learn what's important in life and you desire to learn more about Him. The Bible always works with itself to show us an ever growing picture of Wisdom. We must keep working to make that picture bigger in our minds and hearts.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John 2: Jesus Changes Water to Wine

John 2:1-11 says,

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you saved the best until now."
This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

There are three major points in this passage. The first is Jesus honoring his mother, even when He didn't really want to. The second is the faith of the servants. And the third is that Jesus shared His first miracle with the servants.
When they ran out of wine at the wedding party, Mary became worried for the bridegroom and enlisted the help of her son, Jesus. Jesus told her flat out that His time had not come to reveal Himself to everyone. But Jesus words went through one ear and out the other. Mary ignored Jesus and told the servants to obey Jesus' every word. Mary was not mentioned again in the passage, so one can assume that she ran off without hearing Jesus out any more. Jesus did not want to reveal Himself yet, but He could not sin. The alternative was to honor His mother's wishes. So He did. He called the servants to fill a bunch of water jars used for washing people. Jesus then had the servants take some to the master of the banquet. The master of the banquet declared the wine to be better than any of the wine that had already been served. So Jesus not only obeyed His mother, but He did extra. He made the wine taste better than any of the wine they had already served. You can imagine Jesus' excitement when the first miracle He would get to do was to turn bath water into wine. But He did it nonetheless. Why? Because it was His mom asking. We must all honor our mothers and fathers. Even if it means not getting what we want or losing an important opportunity. They helped bring you into this world. They are important parts of your life and more importantly, God tells us to honor them. There is no reason to not honor our parents in this life. I'll say that again, "There is no reason to not honor our parents in this life."

Now the faith of the servants is greater than it first appears. Imagine, a man you have never heard of tells you to fill your dirty bath tub with water. Then he tells you to take some of it to the master of the entire banquet and let him drink it. Servants back then did not have much choice in whether they could obey or not, but I would be fighting with the other servants to make someone else go. The scripture however, does not mention an argument between the servants. Just that the servants did so. I would just about fall over in fear. But once the master of the banquet tried the wine he rejoiced. Because of their complete faith in Jesus orders, the servants were able to see the very first miracle Jesus ever performed. We must put our faith in Jesus commands too. The Bible is filled with His commands, many of which take us out of our comfort zone. These are the commands we usually try to pretend we didn't see. But they are there and we must obey them. And in truth, they are not bad for us. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God's commands are not going to hurt you in the end. They might get you into some situations where you are persecuted, but that is a good thing. Matthew 5:11-12 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." No matter what happens to us, if we obey God, we will be alright in the end.

The last thing to mention is that Jesus did not mind having the servants be the ones to see His miracle with His disciples. Servants were some of the lowest of society. And Jesus did not need them to fix the problem. He could have made all the glasses never empty with wine no matter how much the people drank. But Jesus enlisted the servants anyways to show them that He was the Son of God. Jesus did not discriminate, ever! He told anyone and everyone. We must not try to choose the people we share the Gospel with. It is like saying this person or that person is not worthy of God's Love. Neither are we. But God does Love us.
Do you remember the day you realized that God truly forgave you and Loves you just the way you are? Do you remember the Joy you felt? Do you remember the feeling of a giant burden being taken away? Do you remember the tears that flowed down your face when Jesus broke your heart wide open? I had forgotten. But when I remembered it a few weeks ago, I thought, "Why am I keeping this from other people?" We must not try to choose, but tell everyone that God puts around us. Even if that person is only gonna be there for a few minutes.

Faith and Love are the biggest things to remember in this passage. Faith in Jesus that no matter what happens, if we obey Him, we'll come out of it perfectly fine. And then the motivation to share the Love that changes us with others. In other words, nothing bad will happen to us, and we get to help show other people this same feeling we have. There is no sound Biblical reason to not share the Gospel, only our bad excuses. So ask yourself the same question I keep asking myself, "What is my excuse?"

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen