Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said to this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said

 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  

 

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said to this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
 
- John 2:13–22 

 

In yesterday's reading, we were given the sixth and seventh days of Jesus' ministry:   On the sixth day given in John's Gospel, there was a wedding in Cana of Galiliee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this (on the seventh day in John's Gospel) He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."   What is remarkable about this passage is that in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke this episode appears at the end of Christ's ministry, at the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  But John places it squarely at the beginning of Jesus' ministry.  There are some patristic writers who teach that Christ, in fact, performed this act twice.   Also, this is the first of three Passover festivals that Jesus attends according to John's Gospel.  To explain this event, we need to understand that those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were trading in live animals which were to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers doing business were trading Roman coins for Jewish coins.  Roman coins, bearing the image of Caesar, we considered to be defiling in the temple.   My study bible adds that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it's also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  The disciples remembered Psalm 69:9:  "Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."  

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said to this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  In this section of today's reading, we should understand that the term Jews, as used in John's Gospel, frequently is meant to refer specifically to the religious leaders.  In this case it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  Since Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is being challenged by the religious leaders.  My study bible comments that as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, He answers in a hidden way.  The ultimate sign given to the people will be His death and Resurrection. 

Let us first take note in today's reading of the several references to Scripture that we find.  There is first of all the quotation taken from Psalm 69:9:  "Zeal for your house has eaten me up."   This gives us an important flavor or hint about how Scripture works.  There is no time limit on it, and neither is it specifically limited to one set of experiences or another.  In other words, there are timeless truths to be found in it.  Moreover, so much of Scripture is prophetic that is not necessarily immediately understood as such.  When we read the psalms, we can frequently find ourselves in the psalm.  That is, so often in a normal course of systematic reading of the book of Psalms, we will find that the psalms are speaking for us.  It is as if the author of the Psalms has been through experiences that somehow prefigure our own, and in that moment we find the psalm expressing better than we can what we are going through, and framing it within our moment of faith, be it a crisis or an exaltation of joy in our love for God.  We cannot take Scripture outside of this role, for to do so is to miss the greatest substance of the text, and what distinguishes Scripture from all other types of literature.  There are modern voices that seem to clamour to do this (to limit each piece of literature to the specific time in which it was produced) but that is indeed a grave mistake, and outside of the tradition of the use of Scripture for thousands of years.  I would bet on tradition every time.  It is the Gospels themselves that teach us to understand and use Scripture in this way, given that so frequently Jesus Himself refers to the Old Testament Scripture and Himself as fulfillment of that Scripture.  Here in this particular reference, it is His disciples who later recognize in Scripture what was happening with their Lord in the temple.  And so may we come to recognize ourselves in what we read, and especially in the book of Psalms.  Next we find that Jesus has given a strange and mysterious saying to the religious leadership when questioned as to His authority to cleanse the temple.  He says, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Jesus' own word requires of us -- as it did of the disciples then -- a mysterious kind of understanding within the image He gives.  Only later do they understand the fulfillment of this saying in Christ's Resurrection, and that He is referring to the temple of His body.  John adds:  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said to this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.   It's a little bit mysterious as to which "Scripture" John is referring, but it is clearly put together with "the word which Jesus had said."  No doubt there are several passages in Scripture which are seen as pointing to Christ's Resurrection.  St. Paul affirms the same thought when he writes that Jesus "was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures"  (1 Corinthians 15:4).  We say the same when we recite the Nicene Creed, and that "the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures."  When we are moved by Scripture, when we are moved by the words of Jesus in His teachings, in His parables, and in His discourses such as the final word to the disciples at the Last Supper which John gives us in this Gospel (John 14 - 16), we might hear words that move and comfort us in any time of need and inspiration.   In the Armenian Apostolic Church tradition, all of Scripture is called "the Breath of God."  In this title we recognize that all of it is the Word, the work of the Holy Spirit, just as in this Scripture in today's reading both "the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said" are fittingly juxtaposed together.    All of it is a timeless gift.  We should accept just as it has been given to us, and continue to find its meanings as has always been done.