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John 2:12-25

Let’s look at the rest of John Chapter 2 today on God’s Dayimer:

John 2:12-25 (NIV)
12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 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. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. 23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25 He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

Jesus cleanses the temple. The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) record Jesus cleansing the temple at the end of His ministry. Here John records a cleansing at the beginning of His ministry. The most likely answer is that there were two cleansings. This first cleansing is most likely a fulfillment of Malachi 3:1-3

Malachi 3:1-3 (NIV)
1 “See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness,

In verse 17 the disciples are reminded of Psalm 69:9 which says:

Psalms 69:9 (NIV)
9 for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

The authorities want proof of His authority to challenge the existing order, but He answers them by talking about His death and resurrection which they don’t understand. His disciples will connect the dots after the fact. Jesus does other miraculous sings while He was there in Jerusalem during the Passover feast, which John does not describe, but many people believed in His name. These people, believed He was doing miraculous signs from God, but they did not see Him as the Messiah and put their faith in Him the way the disciple had after He turned water into wine.

John 2:1-11

We are now moving in to John Chapter 2 here on God’s Daytimer.

John 2:1-11 (NIV)
1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” 4 “Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, 9 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 10 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 have saved the best till now.” 11 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.

Jesus first miracle (John used the word “signs” to point to their significance,the miracles were a sign that Jesus was the Messiah) was very private, only the disciples who had already been called (it is possible that Matthew was not there which would explain why this miracle was not recorded in the Synoptic gospels; Matthew, Mark and Luke), Jesus mother, and some servants knew. It was enough for the disciples who were present to put their faith in Him.

As we read these first verses of Chapter Two we find ourselves at a wedding feast. Wedding feasts often lasted seven days. They took place after the groom had returned for the bride and taken her back to his home or his father’s house. At some point during this celebration, the wine runs out, Mary looks to Jesus to see if there is anything He can do. Because verse 11 tells us that this is Jesus first miracle, it is unlikely that Mary was expecting one.

If the master of the banquet had seen that the water that had been used came from the purification jars (water which was used for the ceremonial cleansing before and after meals) he, or any other Religious Jew would never have drank from it. This is a contrast between the old religious way of doing things (rules and regulations) and how Jesus would come and do things.

The fact that this wine was the best (normally the best wine was served first and then the wine that wasn’t so good) is another picture of the message that Jesus was bringing about the Kingdom of God was an advance over the rules and regulations of the Pharisees. God had kept the best until NOW.

John refers to this miracle as a revealing of His glory. In the Old Testament Moses had turned water into blood which was a picture of judgment. Here, at the beginning of Christ’s ministry, water is turned to wine, a picture of the joy He provides by the Spirit.

John 1:35-51

As we continue on God’s Daytimer looking at the gospel of John we are going to be introduced to Nathanael.

John 1:35-51 (NIV)
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour. 40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” 48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” 50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.” 51 He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Like John the Baptist, Nathanael had his own preconceived ideas about Messiah. He knew that the Messiah had to come from somewhere other than Nazareth, and yet Jesus telling Him he was under a fig tree helped him to see past his preconceived ideas. The personal miraculous encounters with Jesus caused each of these men (John the Baptist-dove and voice of God; Nathanael-under the fig tree) to immediately recognized the hand of God and they set aside their preconceived notions, to submit to the authority of Jesus. What we will see in the chapters to come is that this would not be the response of the religious leaders.