This is a good time
for a brief summary. Jesus comes to
Jerusalem for Passover after spending times with family and friends in
Capernaum. He comes to the temple and is
confronted by a scene that moves him to take drastic action in order to remedy
the affront to His Father's house. As a
result he singlehandedly clears the temple court of merchants and vendors with
a whip he makes with his own hands. The
temple court is now cleared. All that
remain are Jesus, a stunned group of people wondering what just happened, and
the temple leaders who now ask Jesus what miraculous sign he can provide to
prove he has authority to do what he has just done. A bit strange, to say the least.
The temple
leadership does not arrest Jesus. They
do not enquire of Jesus why he did what he did.
They simply ask for a sign. How
odd. They, in spite of their personal
feelings toward this Galilean stranger, know they have witnessed an
extraordinary event. Jesus' response is
quite cryptic. This declaration would
cause a totally different result during his third and final visit to Jerusalem
(Matthew 26:61; 27:40). These words will
be used against him in the final quest to condemn him to death. They misunderstand the meaning of Jesus'
words on this particular day, and will continue to overlook their significance
even when his prophetic words come to pass three years later.
Jesus is answering
their question. He is providing his
interrogators his credentials. He is giving
them the miraculous sign they request to validate his authority. Jesus is saying, "You want a sign? You need proof of my authority? The day is coming when you will put me to
death, but I will come back to life three days later. How's that for a miraculous sign?" In brief Jesus establishes the calling card
of the Christian faith; the linchpin of this new kingdom he is ushering into
existence. All his sermons, all his acts
of compassion, all his miracles large and small, are nothing without the
resurrection. Others might be able to
mimic his acts, and repeat his words, but no one will ever be able to die, be
buried, and to raise themselves up from the dead. Nothing else matters if this is not
true. The Apostle Paul puts it quite
succinctly, "[I]f Christ has not been raised," he says in 1
Corinthians 15, "our preaching is useless and so is your faith." The Jewish leaders do not understand what
Jesus is telling them that day-- sadly they would not get it in the
future. But Jesus certainly got it. His mission was clear. But all he did during
his lifetime would be meaningless if he did not validate his divine authority
to clean up our mess by crushing the Prince of Darkness on his turf. Death would be defeated and Satan's fate
would be secured. That is good news.
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