B8 - E2 In Jerusalem
It was very nearly time for the Passover so Jesus and his small group of followers made plans to celebrate the festival in Jerusalem. When they reached the city they joined the crowds who were pouring in from throughout the country and beyond for the great occasion. Making their way to the temple, they entered the courtyard only to be met by the sights and sounds of a noisy hubbub.
Everywhere, people were hustling and bustling, buying and selling cattle and sheep, doves and pigeons for the temple sacrifices. The money changers were sitting at their tables in the middle of all the activity, gainfully plying their trade. Jesus was very angry to find this hive of industry in God’s house.
Taking off the corded belt from around his waist, he twisted it into a whip and began to drive them out of the temple, animals and traders alike. Going across to the tables of the money changers, he upturned them all and as the coins scattered across the floor, he said to them, “What do you think you’re doing here? Take your goods out of this place and stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
His companions were open-mouthed by this but were beginning to grasp that it was part of the innate authority of their leader which had drawn them to him in the first place and would draw many others. The effect on the leaders of the temple who benefited from all this trading was, as to be expected, very different.
They rounded on Jesus immediately. “Who do you think you are, coming in here to tell us what to do? What gives you the right to behave like this?” but Jesus took no notice of their comments and continued clearing the temple. So, unsurprisingly, this set the vast majority of the religious leaders against him from the very outset of his ministry. They could tell that this man had their measure and they didn’t like it one bit.
Not all the leaders were close-minded though. One of the leading Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, was so impressed by him that he came to visit him late one night and they had a long conversation. That he came secretly was an indication that this would have met with strong disapproval from his fellow leaders. Jesus knew from the start that he would arouse enmity in some places because he could always read what was in the hearts and minds of his listeners.
He began to preach to the crowds who had flocked to the city for the Passover and the people started to take an interest in everything he said. They were impressed by his fearlessness and the justice of his words and actions and many of them came to believe in him. Before returning to Galilee, he and his companions travelled to the Judean countryside, heading once more for the Jordan River.
John was still baptising people in the river when some of his followers came to him to complain that Jesus had also come to the area and was baptising people there but John reminded them that he had told them that someone greater than he was would come to fulfil his prophecies. He said to them, with total humility, “My joy is complete now. It is right that he should increase as I decrease.”
It was not long after this time that the sad news spread throughout the country that John had been arrested by Herod who had harboured deep ill will towards him ever since John’s forthright denunciation of his immorality. The arrest saddened Jesus deeply but was no surprise, aware as he was that speaking the truth to authority with authority would always arouse hostility. So it was that the beginning of his ministry was to mark the end of John’s mission.
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