DAY_7 The Sabbath

so on the Seventh day he rested”

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Genesis 2:2-3)

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:13-19)

For six days in Genesis, we read a lovely song of God constructing the perfect dwelling place for his presence to be enjoyed by his creation. Now on the seventh day, God rests; which is to say “God was present with” what he had made. The fact that God took time to simply be with what he had set into motion, is echoed by the Word becoming flesh and dwelling with us in John 1.

However, in John 2:12-25, we see an account that seems at first to deviate from the pattern. Jesus enters the Temple courts in Jerusalem and angrily drives out the money changers. The Temple was made to be a type of Eden on earth. Images of sacred creatures, angels, and nature covered the holiest parts of the building. It was intended to be a place for humanity to come and dwell with YHWH. But when Jesus arrived, the Temple wasn’t a suitable dwelling place as it was overrun with greed, separation, and selfishness. 

When Jesus begins driving out the money changers from the Temple courts with a whip of cords, he is creating a space where he can rest or “be present with” the people. He is clearing out a place where it isn’t cluttered with stuff; the stuff we create and the religious baggage we can bring. “Destroy this Temple and I will rebuild it in three days”. This flies in the face of the religious leaders of the day.They think that Jesus is discrediting the Temple as a whole. But Jesus is addressing his future death and resurrection. This would point to Jesus as the true and better dwelling place. Or as John would put it, he is the Word that “tabernacles among us.