A Temple Not Made By Human Hands
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.” The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! And you are going to raise it in three days?” (John 2:19–20)
When Jesus drove the animals from the temple and flip the money changers’ tables, the Jews were upset and questioned him for a sign of his authority to do such things. Jesus gave them this answer that confused them. Jesus may have grown up as the son of a carpenter, and he himself may have been a great carpenter, but nobody could rebuild Herod’s temple in three days. It had taken many skilled workers over forty-six years to build it. But that was the sign that Jesus said they would receive to prove his authority.
And that sign would come three years later, to the week. Three years later, during Passover, Jesus would be arrested and sentenced to death on a cross. He would die and three days later be raised from the dead. This was the sign that they would receive because Jesus was not talking about Herod’s temple. He was talking about the temple of his own body. The people who asked for this sign would be the same people who were standing in that illegal court gathering, trying to manufacture evidence against Jesus that would condemn him to death.
Jesus knew that these would be the words that would be used against him three years later. But this was the way it had to be. This was the reason that he had been born for. His Father’s plan was for him to go to the cross to pay for the sins of the world. To pay for your sins and my sins. And he would be raised again to give us the assurance that this is true. We are forgiven. Amen.
The song for today is “I Will Rise” by Chris Tomlin