Pilgrimage – John 2:13-22

I used to lead a pilgrimage to Pinnacle Mountain near Little Rock, Arkansas.  We would hike to the top and commune with God before a spectacle of beauty.  Israelites made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for annual festivals of remembrance like Passover.  Jesus made such a pilgrimage, too.

Now the Jewish Feast of Passover was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and moneychangers sitting there, so making a whip from cords he drove them all out of the temple along with the sheep and oxen, and he spilled out the moneychangers coins and overturned their tables, and to those selling pigeons he said, “Take these away from here.  You shall not make my Father’s house a  marketplace.”  His disciples later remembered that it is written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.”

So the Jews asked, “What sign can you show us that you should do these things?”  Jesus responded, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  So the Jews said, “This temple has been being built for forty-six years, and you’re going to raise it up in three days?”  But he was speaking about the temple of his body.  Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered him saying this and they believed the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.  (John 2:13-22)

At Passover Jews from all over the world would come to Jerusalem to sacrifice the Passover lamb, in obedience to Exodus 12, and to commemorate Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage.  In Egypt Israelites had believed God and sacrificed a lamb, spread its blood on their doorposts, and were spared the death of their firstborn sons, but the firstborn sons of the Egyptians were not spared and Pharaoh had let Israel leave. 

For pilgrims it would have been very hard to bring animals to sacrifice with them, so merchants in the city set up shop in the temple precincts and sold animals for sacrifice.  They only took payment in local coin, so moneychangers were there to exchange local for non-local coin, for a fee, of course, to help them make their purchase.  But to Jesus this dishonored his Father’s house.  So in zeal for God’s honor he temporarily stopped the trade and made a public ‘statement’ about it.

The Jews wanted to know what sign he could show because this act was tantamount to a claim to be the Messiah.  But Jesus at this time gives them a cryptic sign about his body being destroyed, which he calls a temple, and raising it up, which refers to his resurrection.  It is only later that his disciples understand the reference.  Once again Israel’s spiritual barrenness is evident in the way they treat the temple.  Jesus offers them a truer way of worship if they will accept their barrenness and listen to him.  He’ll do the same for us.

Discussion Questions

1. Have you ever made a spiritual pilgrimage?  If so, describe what it meant to you?  If not, what would you expect to feel on such a pilgrimage?
2. Psalms 120-134 are pilgrimage psalms, psalms written for singing as one made pilgrimage to Jerusalem (hence also called psalms of ascent, Jerusalem being at higher elevation) for Passover, Pentecost, or Tabernacles.  Read one of them and try to imagine why they made sense to sing on the way.
3. How would you have reacted to Jesus’ actions in the temple if you were a moneychanger?  A pilgrim?  A disciple of Jesus?  God?
4. Malachi 3:1 says, “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly Yahweh, whom you are seeking, will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come, says Yahweh Almighty.”  How does this explain why the Jews asked Jesus for a sign?
5. How do you allow your worship to become less than zealous and how can you change?