Cue the Body

‘They looked at the mess around and asked Him: “What justification is there in you ripping apart our market here?” He just looked at them and told them, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in 3 days”. They were indignant however and replied “Pff, good luck! It has taken 46 years to build this place and you’re telling us that you’re gonna rip it down and rebuild it in 3 days?!” But the temple that He had spoken of was His body. After He was raised from the dead, His disciples recalled what He had said.’

– John 2: 18-22

I never really paid much attention to the weight in these verses before, but now that I have heard them and have actually applied the meaning (something more than background information), I am ever more amazed at the intricate detail that God put into His plan. While observing these lines being put into reality (the beauty of theatre), I was taken by these sentences for a couple reasons and I plan to explain the ideas a little further.

1. Jesus makes such a claim that would be absolutely ridiculous — if he wasn’t dead serious. Think about it: Soloman was this jumbo smart, attractive, popular, powerful and wealthy guy who had everything going for him. He was a musician, he was the national ‘Ask Jeeves’ and to boot, he had so much money and time that he built the greatest temple possibly ever recorded. So this temple was designed to be perfect in accordance with what God wanted and visually and aesthetically pleasing to the human senses– but it was based and built solely for the glory of God and to explode the adoration that is had for him into the heavens.

Imagine a place that is built for God and God alone. Think about the detail, the decoration, the absolute beauty that is poured into the place; think about the colours of the fabrics and the paints that depict his grace. Think about the symbols and the items of worship and then think about how long that took to all assemble. Yeah, 46 years sounds about right to me.

Alright, back to what Jesus said– so when he goes ‘I’m gonna take this place down and put it back up 93.48% faster than you who had a whole squadron of champion builders, interior decorators and college painters’, I’m sure there were more people than just the pharisee’s going ‘Uhm, say what?!’ but that leads me to my next realization.

2. This is what really made me type ideas into my phone (do you ever do that? Find something so important and thought-provoking that you simply must remember it? Yeah I did that with this part). We have been told for as long as the green giant has been green that the church is not merely a building but instead a collection of people or an assembly, if you will. If you really have much doubt, try checking out Romans 16:5a.

‘Greet the church that meets in their home.’

This verse may look a little lame from the outside, but underneath the simple wording, Paul is talking about the collective body that loves, worships and follows Christ. The people as a whole are considered to be the church and not the place in which they go to worship (in this case a house. Is a house a church? I think not).

That’s what I found mesmerizing though: as Jesus was flinging tables and food and market wares out of the house of God, and the pharisees were reprimanding him for doing so, he was still focused on those that he loves.

Confusing? Let me explain.

He would rip down the so called ’church’ and all the falsehoods that were being taught. He would make his way into the group of people who called themselves ‘believers’ and change everything they saw so that it not only focused on the truth of the word of God, but also so that they may understand and move towards the Great Commission.

He would take the people who were called the church, he would change their perspectives and their knowledge of their religion so that it was instead directed on the truth and a relationship with their God.

And I always thought he was talking about he building.

By coming to tell everyone about what was really going on and how they were being dishonest and false and horrible with each other, he was coming to take them out of darkness and stick them in light. That leads me to my last part.

3. Now before, I was not the biggest fan of the Message, but as of late, it has really been getting into my head with the easy and direct ways that things are said. As I read John 2 from the Message (before transposing it into my own words) I was made aware of a verse that I hadn’t recognized before.

‘But Jesus was talking about his body as a temple.’

– John 2 : 21

He was predicting his death while changing the world — not too shabby for a day’s work if you ask me. The reason Jesus showed up on earth was so that he would take us out of the dark crevasses of life and put us into a place in which we could see, but imagine how frightening that must have been for him?

Yes, he was the son of God. Yes, he was conceived by the holy spirit but by no means does that mean he did not feel pain. He was still human, directly connected with God but still of earthly flesh and unfortunately that includes nerves. He was tortured but instead of it being solely for the malicious and saddistic reasons of possessing 30 bits of money, he came so that we wouldn’t have to suffer the same way he would have to suffer.

He said that they would destroy his body but he would come back and rebuild it in 3 days. Jesus would be broken and absolutely taken down but never fear! Wait for a few days and we’ve got him back– we’ve got him back for, well, ever. Cheesy? When I write it, yes. When you actually get conked over the head with the absolute however, it’s far more impressive than any writer can describe.

So while Jesus was making a mess and cleaning up the church, he was fixing more than just the building. He was fixing the people who created the church that met in that building. Jesus went out of his way to break up misconceptions of God so that a real relationship as tangible.

‘This is my body which was broken. It was broken for you.’