Having jumped into John first for this blog series, my brother and I were surprised by how quickly John jumps straight into the story of Jesus. Unlike Matthew where it talks about his birth, the threats on his life and so on, John just gets right to the point.

Regardless of how surprised by the fact it just gets right to the point of Jesus in John, we were keen to read more and explore what stuck out to us.

Righteous Anger

[John 2:13 NIV] When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
[14] In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
[15] So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
[16] To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”
[17] His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

A very common mistake people fall into is that Jesus is just a nice guy, and while yes he is full of love for every person as evident by his selflessness among countless other things. Jesus is a warrior. He came here to fight evil, as you will see when reading more into the bible.

The other major thing we see in this passage is just how much Jesus loves his father. He gets angry when people start to take advantage of what God has commanded of people, so that they could profit from it. There was even a prophecy of this event in the old testament.

[Psalm 69:9 NIV] for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

What are your thoughts on this display of righteous anger from Jesus? What do you think Jesus was feeling in this moment seeing what he saw in the temple?

Jesus Foreshadows His Death

[John 2:18 NIV] The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
[19] Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
[20] They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”

In the middle of his righteous anger, the Jews themselves unhappy with Jesus coming and destroying their setup question his authority. But rather than him just announcing he is the son of God, he just gives them a prophetic word about the events soon to unfold. Take a guess what event he was referring to then continue to read.

[John 2:21 NIV] But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
[22] After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

His reference to him raising the temple in 3 days is a reference to his crucifixion and then resurrection 3 days later. So you might be thinking, if he knew about his death, and how brutal it was going to be. Why would he just allow it to happen?

What do you think? What do you think Jesus's motives where despite knowing what was going to happen to him?

Jesus's First Sign

[John 2:1 NIV] On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,
[2] and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
[3] When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
[4] “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
[5] His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
[6] Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
[7] Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
[8] Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”They did so,
[9] and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside
[10] and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
[11] What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

I don't know about you dear reader, but I know for a fact that when my brother and I were hanging with our friends at the beach, the closest we ever got to something similar was in our imagination where we converted sand into rice pudding. Not one of us dared to eat it cause we knew it was still just sand.

However in this passage we see a situation where Jesus is at a wedding and after an exchange with his mother Mary when the wine ran out at the event, Jesus instructs the servants to fill up 6 jars used for ceremonial washing with water. These jars were used to wash hands among other things mind you. Then he asked them to pull some of the contents out, and suddenly it was wine, not water. Not only was it wine, it was the best wine according to the master of the banquet.

In Jewish culture, they started with the best wine, and over time as it got low, they pull out the less expensive wine.
(I wonder if it was the equivalent of a goon bag 🤔)

What do you think? How do you think the people who watched this unfold reacted?

What do you dear reader think of this chapter in the bible? What draws your interest, raises questions, or speaks to you? Leave a comment below with your thoughts as you read the bible. God Bless you 😄