JOHN 2:18-22 IT’S A MIRACLE, FOOLISH PEOPLE!

18 Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous 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 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 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.

If the true Temple is where God dwells, then with the incarnation of the Son of God as Jesus Christ, the body of Jesus became the Temple. The edifice that the Jews called the Temple had been destroyed and rebuilt and the last time it was built it took a generation to complete. So when the officials asked for a miraculous sign to prove Jesus’ authority, the rebuilding of the Temple in three days would be a miracle indeed. But of course Jesus was not referring to the building and its reconstruction. Rather Jesus was prophesying about his death and resurrection. Through the scourging and the crucifixion, the Jews and Romans destroyed Jesus’ body, but God raised it again as a renewed body on the third day. It is that miracle that puts God’s seal of approval, his authentication, on Jesus as the incarnation of the eternal Son.

What is interesting is that the Jews asked for the sign, but when it came, only the disciples believed and not the Jews. One is left to wonder how many times we receive from God what we ask for but do not recognize the answer when it comes. Of course, even acknowledging a miracle is an act of faith!

Help me, Father to faithfully anticipate answers when I ask you questions. May my questions ever be for the purpose of knowing you better and never asked as a test of you. And even when I do not ask, make my eyes open to your wonderful work in this world. Amen.