Capernaum
2:12
After the wedding at Cana, Jesus, his disciples, and his family went to Capernaum for a few days. Capernaum was a fishing village on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, a little west of Bethsaida. It is in the territory that was allotted to the tribe of Zebulun.
It seems, at first glance, to be an odd insertion in the storyline, since nothing happens during these days. But, we know John had to have a reason for recording this journey.
The reason may be that Capernaum became an important location for Jesus’ ministry. Mark 4:12-16 tells us that Jesus moved there from Nazareth after John the Baptist was arrested. Mark wrote that this move fulfilled a prophecy found in Isaiah that the people of Galilee were dwelling in darkness but have now seen a great light. Jesus also performed miracles there. So, John may have recorded this to foreshadow these future events.
Peter lived there and Andrew lived there. (Mark 1:29) A structure believed to be his house has been excavated. A church was later built on top of the remains.
Additionally, as we mentioned before, this verse also shows us Jesus had brothers and sisters in his family. He was not Mary’s only child.
Jesus At The Temple
2:13-22
When the time for Passover came, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. When John writes “up”, he literally means up in altitude. Capernaum was situation in a low spot next to the Sea of Galilee. You went up in altitude toward Jerusalem. Plus, Jerusalem was built on a small mountain, called Mount Zion, and was elevated above the land around it.
The Passover was one of the feasts the Jews were required to observe. The first Passover is recorded in Exodus 12. The last plague God would impose on Egypt and Pharaoh was the death of the first born. God told the Jews to take a lamb without blemish and kill it at twilight, then put the blood on the door frame of their house so that the Lord would passover their houses and not kill their first born.
From that time on, the Jews were to observe the Passover on the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish year. In Leviticus 23, Moses added details to the observance, which went on for 7 days. On the 15th day of the first month, and for the rest of the week, they observed the Feast, or Festival, of Unleavened Bread. They ate unleavened bread for seven days. They also made a food offering to the Lord every day for seven days. They held a convocation on the first and seventh day and could not work on those days.
Since Jesus obeyed the law, he went to Jerusalem to observe Passover. People from all over Judea came to Jerusalem, so the population of the city swelled by many thousands.
On one of the days, Jesus went to the temple. There he found people selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons. He also found money changers.
The reason these merchants were there was that people who traveled long distances to get to Jerusalem could not easily bring animals for sacrifices. So, they could come to Jerusalem and buy an animal there. It is likely that the merchants paid the priests a fee to conduct business at the temple.
Also, the Jews had to pay a temple tax at Passover. They had to pay the tax with a Jewish coin. Most of them used Roman money in their towns because that was the medium of commerce. So, when they went to pay the tax, they needed a money changer to allow them to properly pay the temple tax.
There was nothing wrong with merchants providing these services. They were helpful. However, there was something wrong with the place they chose to do their business. They did it at the Temple. This would be in the courtyards, not the Temple building, and likely in the Court of the Gentiles, the only place Gentiles could go.
The courtyard were the place where people came to pray. They could not do that if merchants were taking up all the space for business transactions. Plus, it would be noisy and busy, not conducive for prayer.
So, Jesus made a whip of cords and drove them out of the temple with all their animals. He overturned the tables of the money changes and poured out their coins. It must have been quite a spectacle.
Finally, Jesus instructed them to take their things away and “do not make my Father’s house a house of trade. The Temple was the place where God said he would dwell among the Jews. It was his house. It was for worship and prayer, not trade.
Jesus’ words and actions reminded the disciples of Psalm 69:9 “zeal for your house will consume me”.
The Jews, meaning the leaders, confronted Jesus and asked him what sign he would show for doing these things. (18) By that, they meant who gave him authority to run off the merchants they had allowed to conduct business there. The fact that they asked for a sign, or miracle, indicates they had some suspicion that Jesus was some sort of prophet sent by God.
But Jesus, the divine Son of God, did not perform miracles upon demand. As Jesus had previously indicated to his mother, his agenda was not man driven, either by his family or now by the Jewish leaders. His agenda was driven only by the will of the Sovereign God.
Jesus answered “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up”. (18) This answer made no sense to the Jewish leaders. It had taken 46 years to build the temple. There was no way Jesus could rebuild the Temple in three days if they destroyed it.
Others, however, would later twist Jesus’ words and try to use them against him. At his trial, a witness claimed Jesus said that he would destroy the temple. This was likely done because the destruction of a temple was a capital offense in Roman law and would justify the killing of Jesus.
But John, writing years later, understood that Jesus meant the temple of his body. (21) So, after Jesus was raised on the third day, the disciples remember what Jesus said and believed the Scripture and what Jesus said. Since Jesus manifested the Father (“he has made him known - John 1:18), and the Father dwelt with him, he was the living temple. When the temple of his body was destroyed by death, it was raised again in three days.
John does not say which Scriptures they believed. But, we can assume that the Holy Spirit brought Old Testament Scripture to mind after Pentecost, that allowed them to understand things Jesus said and did, including this cleansing of the temple and the claim that he could raise it in three days.
Many Believed
2:23-25
During this week of Passover, Jesus did many signs. Many believed in his name. But, Jesus did not assume all was well. He did not entrust himself to them, because he knew what was in them.
That tells us that people believed when they saw the signs, but their belief was not to salvation. They believed he was a miracle worker. Because their belief was superficial, Jesus did not entrust himself to them. He knew they could and would turn on him under pressure, for they were not fully committed to him. God said he searches the heart and examines the mind. (Jeremiah 17:10) Jesus did the same.
What the Wedding at Cana and the Cleansing of the Temple have in common is the replacing the old with the new. Jesus replaced water used for Old Covenant rituals with wine which symbolized the New Covenant. Jesus said the temple of his New Covenant body would replace the Temple of the Old Covenant.
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