A MAN ON A MISSION
The story of Jesus driving the money-changers out of the temple is one of the most vivid pictures of Jesus we have. If we look at the incidents in strictly literal terms, they are difficult to understand and appreciate because Jesus’ behaviors contrast remarkably with an image that is otherwise ordered and peaceful. When we interpret the stories symbolically, however, we see that Jesus was very much in character when he stormed through the temple. He was not just angry with the money changers. What he did in these incidents prophetically forecasts his entire ministry: He was there to destroy the entire religious system of his day. But, more than that, he was prophetically acting out the attitudes and behaviors that his followers should emulate as they work to destroy the religious systems of their day. This is the good work for which they are being prepared. Jesus did this work and they will do even greater works
STUDY TIP: People who say they follow Jesus should take careful note that the purpose of Jesus’ ministry was to destroy religion. If they are not also on a mission to destroy religion they are not true followers.
Just as Jesus was on a mission to tear down religious altars and high places, his followers will also become warriors whose mission is to overcome God’s enemy: Religion. Most people who claim to follow Jesus do not see themselves this way. Rather, most people who claim to follow Jesus are part of the religious system that Jesus came to destroy. They are much deceived.
There are four accounts of the two incidents that must be studied. The first account at the beginning of his ministry occurs in John 2:
John 2:13-25: The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for thy house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign have you to show us for doing this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he spoke of the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs which he did; 24 but Jesus did not trust himself to them, 25 because he knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man.
COMMENTARY: This event occurred immediately after Jesus’ baptism and the wedding in Cana which is generally considered to be the beginning of his ministry. This timing gives some sense about the seriousness of what Jesus did and the commotion he must have raised. First, He transforms water to wine, and then he upsets the commercial business in the temple.
A cursory reading of these two events indicates no connection between them. They appear to be a simple chronology of Jesus’ life. The way we see it, however, they are very much connected.
STUDY TIP: See this link for a detailed discussion of the Cana wedding event.
Occurring immediately after His baptism, this story provides a big-picture view of everything that Jesus does in His earthly ministry. In effect, He provides new, sweet and tasty wine (i.e., God’s words/laws) that is better than the first wine served at a wedding party.
This story is one more picture of the transition from Old/First Covenant religion to the New Covenant. The old wine is the teaching of religious leaders based on the literal words of the Bible. The new wine is the symbolic interpretation of the literal Bible as reinterpreted by Jesus.
John 2:1-11: On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; 2 Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. 3 When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
COMMENTARY: Wine is mentioned in Psalms as something that “gladdens the heart of man.” But in the Bible, not all wine is the same. Read more about wine in Bread, Food and Wine.
The wedding party is symbolic of the marriage of the bridegroom (God) to His bride (Israel). Some will argue that the Christian church is the bride. To a degree that is true. It is only true, however, for those believers who are Jews inwardly (i.e. New Covenant disciples) not just outwardly (i.e. Old/First Covenant religionists). Recall that when Jesus spoke of himself as the Bridegroom, he was talking to Jews. The true bride of Christ includes only those whose hearts are circumcised regardless of their ethnic heritage or denominational affiliations. For a complete picture of this marriage, read Exodus 19-20 which is the story of the first Pentecost.
The wine first served at the wedding in Cana is religious wine that is created by religious leaders. It did have some taste at first, but the taste had gone flat because Israel disobeyed God’s command to listen to his spoken voice — not to religious leaders. It is the wine of the Old/First Covenant.
The new wine served at Cana was tasty, spiritual wine that New Covenant disciples symbolically drink when God writes his laws (i.e. his words) on their hearts. The new wine is the wine of the New Covenant.
The water in the earthen vessels represents cleansed believers for whom the law has been written on their hearts through repentance. Just as Jesus is living water, these believers are also living water as the life of Jesus is made manifest in them through repentance. These believers have joined God in a New Covenant relationship mentioned in Jeremiah 31:31-34. This same transformation is found in Ezekiel 36, particularly in Ezekiel 36:25-27.
The water-to-wine story has the same message as the parable about old and new wine-skins in Matthew 9:14-17. Just like the prophecies about the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:25-27, the water-to-wine story reveals the process of internal, spiritual change (i.e. from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh) in the way that Israel would obey the Law of Moses. In other words, while it was impossible for Israel to fully obey the Law of Moses (Joshua 24:19-28) under the terms of the Old/First Covenant, it is possible for New Covenant believers to choose to obey the spiritual intent of the law. This brief story in Joshua is one of several situations in which God inaugurated the New Covenant with Israel.
The water-to-wine story prophetically sets the stage for the spiritual work Jesus would do to establish the New Covenant. The temple incident is prophetic about events (destruction of the temple and its associated religious rituals and government structures) which were necessary to fulfill the prophecies of Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 36:25-27.
These prophetic acts (Jesus and the moneychangers) and resulting symbolic events (the temple was destroyed twice) fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah 1:4-12 which lays out the principle that the old sinful beliefs and habits must be destroyed before the new spiritual faith can be built and planted. It is all about the cancellation of the Old/First Covenant legal religious system in preparation for the New Covenant which functioned through the law written on the hearts of people instead of written laws and regulations.