What were Jesus' motivations in the Temple scene?

We asked today in class why Jesus was not thrown out or arrested for his actions in the Temple? I found some information here. This article refers to the Temple scene as written in Mark 11:15–19.

We find more evidence of the precedent of merchants in the temple in other historical work. More can be found here.

Another take was that Jesus was non-violent and actually was showing the model way to perform non-violent resistance, the precursor to civil disobedience. Some Christians who falsely take to violence cite Jesus’ act in the Temple as precedence. But, Jesus was not violent. His actions in the Temple were focused on things not people.

On a side note, I found this reference which discusses the chronological discrepancy between John’s version of the Temple clearing and the other three Gospels. Could it be that there were two Temple cleansings?

Sunday, Jan. 30 Class Notes

Of Signs and Faith (John 2:1 – 3:21)

Walter led the class.

We started class with a discussion of signs. Signs have been defined as “an act that points beyond what takes place to something else” Reaction to the signs of Christ are varied but several are scripturally highlighted here.

I. The Wedding at Cana – John 2:1–11

This wedding story is only seen in the Gospel of John and does not show up in any of the other three Gospels. The class discussed why this wedding feast shows up. We had a discussion that it seemed trivial to the point of frivolous for this story to be discussed by the Gospel writer. Some of our observations concluded:

Frivolous story that is out of place

Jesus mother is quite persistent

Wine foretells Christ’s blood flowing when He is crucified

The Feast participants are unaware of the miracle. Is there a linkage to Jesus’ teachings on wealth?

The Disciples were key recipients of message so to solidify their belief in Jesus divinity

We also had a discussion of Jesus mother. Never in John is Mary singled out by name but is called Jesus Mother. Additionally, she is only a significant character in two scenes – the wedding at Cana and at the crucifixion. We concluded that the Gospel writer was probably distinguishing her from the other Mary’s. Also, by identifying her as Jesus mother confers higher status on Mary.

II. The Temple Incident – John 2:13–25

In this story we see Jesus coming back to Jerusalem. In fact we discover that Jesus comes and goes from Jerusalem a lot in this Gospel. Another point which distinguishes this Gospel from the three synoptic Gospels. This story does show in the other Gospels but is portrayed as happening during the last week of Jesus life. Here, we see this early.

John uses this story to show the emerging conflict between Jesus and the Jews. The Jews referred here are not all Jews. But, most likely they refer to the Sadducces, Pharisses and Temple Priests – those who enter significant conflict with Jesus culminating with the crucifixion.

Jesus runs off the merchants from the outer court of the Temple. It was not unusual for their to be merchants and money changers near the Temple. In fact, this practice was probably put in by devout Jewish leaders to make it easy for travelers making distant pilgrimages to pay the Temple tax and make animal sacrifices. However, Jesus was probably angry with their presence in the Temple proper instead of being in the street outside; i.e., in the Lord’s House.

In John 2:19, we here Jesus say

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

This statement is the sole Johannin prediction of the Passion.

III. Nicodemus – John 3:1–21

Nicodemus was a Saducee. He meets Jesus at night and engages Jesus to learn more about Him. Jesus responds to Nicodemus questions with

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again [2] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The use of born again is the subject of controversy. The word is derived from the Greek, “anothen”, which means either “again” or “from above.” Nicodemus clearly thinks again here because he asks Jesus

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

Jesus was likely referring to his own divinity and the fact he comes from God above. Nevertheless, today we see “born again” as a key marker of conversion to Christianity.

The class reflected that Nicodemus actually admits the Jesus is from God. So, we are to assume that some of the Jewish leaders were aware that Jesus could be the Messiah.

Jewish Perspective On Baptism

In today’s class (Sunday, Jan. 23) a question came up about the origins of baptism, especially as it relates to the Jewish faith. From some research, we find that baptism does have its roots in ancient Judaism. This analysis of the baptismal sacrament explores some of that background.

Well before the coming of Christ, baptism had been established as the consummating step of the process by which a prosyelite would enter the Jewish faith. The people of the New Testament era were therefore quite familiar with the practice. Note that when the priests and Levites confronted John the Baptist (Jn. 1:19), they did not ask him "What are you doing?", but rather they asked him "Why do you baptize?" When an outsider confessed a faith in Judaism, he would be

• instructed in the faith,
• circumcised,
• and then (after he had healed) he would immerse himself in water in a witnessed ceremony.

Immediately as he came out of the water, he would be given all rights and privileges of Judaism.

Further analysis of the origin of baptism goes back to rabbinical law. The mikveh laws were specifically focused on spiritual cleansing and centered around water rituals. From cleansing of clothes, to cleansing after touching the dead, and cleansing before and after ministering in the holy tabernacle.

Some of the origins of Jewish rejection of baptism may stem from the crusades.

History contains shocking accounts of forced baptisms of Jews by so-called "Christians" during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition. Given the choice of baptism or death, many Jews were executed by people who never knew the Christ they claimed to serve. Understandably then, our Jewish people often regard baptism as the final act of assimilation into an enemy camp that has a long and bloody history of persecuting Jews. Unfortunately, people who jump to this conclusion fail to see three important truths.

So we can conclude that baptism was very much a Jewish right and frequently practiced in the time of John the Baptist.

Sunday, Jan. 23 Class Notes

Judith led the class.

I. We had a discussion about the fact that over 90% of John is unique to this Gospel. Some of these items are…

§ Jesus as the Creator

§ Jesus as the “only begotten” of the Father

§ Jesus as “Lamb of God”

§ Jesus turning water into wine

§ Jesus’ conversations w/Nicodemus, the woman at the well, & the woman caught in adultery

§ Jesus raising of Lazarus from the dead

§ Jesus washing the disciples’ feet

§ Jesus’ teaching on the coming of the Holy Spirit

§ Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John 17)

§ Six of the 8 miracles recorded in the Gospels

§ The “Upper Room Discourse”

II. Look for these characteristics in the Gospel throughout our study…

§ Dualisms (contrasts)

§ Conversations and discourses

§ “Signs”

§ “I am’s”

§ Confrontations w/”the Jews”

- Hogan’s question

§ “His own”

§ Movement to/from Jerusalem

o To for festivals

o From when someone’s after him?

o Minimal Galilean ministry

III. Word of God

We had a lengthy discussion about what the Word of God meant as written in the Prologue section of John. I think we came to the conclusion that it was a placeholder for the power, knowledge and love God gives to the world that is beyond our ability to describe in language. Hence, “word” is a symbol or placeholder for something beyond our earthly ability to describe. The word comes form the Greek “logos”, which means “word.”

IV. Beginning of John

John does not start with an earthly genealogy of Jesus or a birth narrative. Rather this Gospel suggests Jesus was with God at the beginning of time. It then moves to a witness of Jesus in John the Baptist. We discussed why John the Baptist put in here by the Gospel writer. We concluded it was probably to have an earthly time marker, since we know when John the Baptist preached.

We also note that John the Baptist witnesses the descending dove on Jesus when baptized. And, John the Baptist identifies Jesus as the coming messiah, a witness to the true identity of Christ.

There was also a spirited discussion of the role baptism played if at all in ancient Hebrew faith and what role it plays today. Follow to this post to find more depth on the matter.

Class Syllabus

Revised Jan. 30, 2005

January 16 - Introduction (Simpson)

23 - John 1 - Testimony Concerning the Word (Wilson)
(Mission rep to visit class)

30 - John 2:1-3:21 – Of Signs and Faith (Shorter)

February 6 - John 3:22-5:47 – The Varied Responses to Jesus (Scott)

13 - John 6:1-8:11 – Jesus Himself as Sign (Wilson) (1st Sunday in Lent)

20 - John 8:31-9:41 – Growing Opposition to Jesus (Shorter)

27 - John 10-11 – I Am the Good Shepherd/
I Am the Resurrection and the Life (Simpson)

March 6 - John 12-13 – The Final Path to Jerusalem (Simpson)

13 - John 14-17 - The Farewell Sayings (Wilson)

20 - John 18-19 – The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus (Shorter)
(Palm Sunday)

27 - John 20-21 – The Resurrection Appearances of Jesus
(Scott) (Easter)

April 3 - Peacemaking in John? (Scott)

10 - " (Wilson)

17 - “ (Simpson)

24 - “ (Shorter)

May 1 - Dr. Scott Morris – “Called by God” guest speaker
(Warren Hall)

8 - Peacemaking in John? - Last class (Scott)
(Mother’s Day)

How to post a comment - Update

The Blog service updated the way comments are posted. This is much easier. There is a more detailed discussion here.

Posting a comment is easy. All you have to do is point your mouse to the word that says "0 comments" at the end of each post and click on it. it appears in the line at the bottom of each post that looks like this

posted by WWShorter at 10:14 PM 0 comments

This will take you to a screen which only has the post you are looking at on it. At the bottom of the post you will see a "Post a Comment" Again, point you mouse arrow to the "Post a Comment" and click on it.

A pop-up screen will appear that allows you to post one of three ways - as a Blogger member, as "other" in which you can put in your name, or "anonymous."

You enter your comments in the text box. You can post as little or be as verbose as you want to.

When you are finished, press the "Publish you comment" box. Congratulations, you have posted a comment to this web log.

Alternatively, send me an e-mail and I'll post if for you.

How to navigate

When you read a post, you may find highlighted text which may be underlined. This is an example which takes you to Germantown Presbyterian home page. When you point your mouse to this text, your mouse will change to a link. Clicking on the link will take you to a new web page, which contains more information relevant to the posting. You can go back to this page by clicking on the back button on your browser.

Welcome

This Blog was created for members of the Germantown Presbyterian Church Spring 2005 Adult Education class studying the Book of John to have a forum for further discussion and reflection on our class sessions each week. I will try to post a summary of the class each week. I will also post on specific questions which may arise during a class.