The gospel writer, John, wastes no time in getting the activity of Christ. The first half is an interesting conversation between Jesus and his earthly mother. He says, "my time has not yet come," and she tells the servants to do whatever He says. Mary knew that there was a power in Jesus that could do anything, absolutely anything. There are times in my life that I just give up on situations and/or people, because I think it's a lost cause. All things are possible with Christ, and just like in this story the master said this was choice wine, everything that Christ does is best. The way that we experience the full power of Christ is in our submission to do whatever He tells us.
The second half of Ch. 2 is interesting because in other Gospels we read this account of the temple clearing during the week leading up to Jesus' death on the cross. Some scholars think John is just telling it earlier to make a point, while others think that Jesus cleared the temple on two occasions. In either case, there is a powerful challenge for us in Jesus' words to the money changers who were cheating people for their own profit right there in the temple of God. Jesus goes on to say that His body is the true temple. We must be very careful how we treat our bodies and where we allow Christ, the temple of God in us, to be and go. I was thinking about dating relationships when I read Jesus' words about making the Temple a market place. Many times we place selfish human relationships that aren't really relationships above our passion to follow Jesus. Follow Jesus and He will lead you to the best friendships, family relationships, and dating relationships. When we follow relationships first they very rarely lead us to Jesus.
The comments and responses have been great to the blog, I'll try to post earlier in the day than I did today. Keep it up and.....
Go Live.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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3 comments:
I find the fact that it mentions so early in John about that Jesus is our Temple helps stress the fact that it is important to remember. I feel this is something that should be remembered consistently because it is very important in our lives and will actually effect how we live. Having the temple of God in our bodies means we should really watch what we put our body through. The temple is oh so important and if we just treat it harshly that shows we don't care that we were each carefully knit in our mother's womb. Also it changes how we live because we have the knowledge that there is this gift inside of us that will help comfort, love, and guide if we choose to accept it. It makes us feel like we have a true life to live.
Something I find interesting about the aspect about the market is that it shows that the people were putting their money above their religious aspects in their life. This is something that we all fall into throughout times in our life where we put something before God. Jesus himself was disgusted by the fact people were living this way. The market and their money could become an idol to these individuals and find it more important than God. We still need to watch out to make sure we don't put TV, friends, relationships, money, jobs, etc before God, because that is not what our life is suppose to be. We must just put God first and the rest will follow.
I find two things in this chapter especially intriguing. First that the miracle He chose to begin his ministry with was one associated with a great celebration. Weddings were BIG news and BIGGER celebrations. He personally intervened in what could have possibly been a disaster or at least a great embarassment to the hosts and miraculously provided them with the best wine of the entire event. How wonderful that our Savior chose a celebration and a wedding at that to demonstrate the beginning of His earthly ministry. I think this has great meaning. Secondly I think the temple court that Jesus cleared was the court of the gentiles. Now we know that he came to the Jewish people and that was the plan, but even so he was outraged that the "lowest" court, the court of gentiles was being used for something other than the sacred. Again I think this is important in that it points not only to the fact that the temple (which He also alluded to as His person/body) was special and must be treated as such, but it being the court of gentiles it showed that His care extended even to "the dogs".
I've always liked verse 5. Mary says "Do whatever He (Jesus) says."
That's great advice. If we do whatever Jesus says to do, we will see Him doing amazing things as well.
With Jesus in control "the best" is yet to come.
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