Passion for God’s House
Coming up on the Bible Story Podcast, we are going to see that Jesus’ passion for God’s house is like nothing else!
Discussion Episode
John 2:13-22
About the Story
Bradon: Last time, Jesus turned water into wine at a big wedding celebration.
Jon: He was not comfortable doing the miracle in such a public setting, but he followed his mother’s wishes.
Bradon: It turned out that the best wine was served at the end of the wedding because that was the wine Jesus made out of the water, and apparently, he is good at making outstanding wine!
Jon: It was soon time to celebrate the Passover. If you don’t know what the Passover is, listen to the series on Moses. It’s a huge deal.
Bradon: In short, it is a celebration and remembrance of God’s provision and rescue of Israel from Pharaoh in Egypt. All Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians. It was a pretty terrible situation.
We to can have passion for God’s temple, which everyone who is a follower of Christ is God’s temple.
Jon
Application
Bradon: Jesus loves God, and the temple is where people met with God and worshiped him. Jesus had a deep, Passion for God’s house and everything that God designed it for.
Jon: This is one thing that we can learn from today’s lesson. As messed up as the formal religious organization was, the temple was still God’s house. It was God’s dwelling. It was where people met with God. Many might look at what’s wrong with the church today and say, see, that’s why I am not part of a church. Instead, Jesus fights for what ought to be. He stands up and holds everyone to a higher standard.
Bradon: In the midst of all of this, we must remember that Jesus did not sin! We are not sinning by feeling angry. What we do amid our anger may or may not be sinful, depending on what we do. Jesus, within his anger, did not sin even though he said and did some things that were difficult for others to receive.
Jon: Jesus had a passion for God’s house – the temple. Bradon, we Christians do not have a physical temple, and the equivalent is not a church building.
Bradon: Right! Jesus referred to his own body as a temple, and we see later other church leaders and New Testament authors pick up on this idea. Listen to what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19, ‘Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, ‘
Jon: We to can have passion for God’s temple, which everyone who is a follower of Christ is God’s temple.
Bradon: This is the church, not a building, people who have committed their lives to Christ. And just like Jesus, we can be passionate about God’s people – his church – each one is a temple of the Holy Spirit – We can have passion for God’s house!
