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Jesus did many miracles over the course of His earthly ministry.
(See John 21:25.) The Bible only records some of those miracles. John always uses the word "sign"
linked with miracles. These miracles are meant as "signs" to point to a particular spiritual teaching.
Jesus never put much faith in the mere working of miracles to bring people to an understanding of
who He was. (See John 2:23-25.) In this chapter we see the first recorded miracle of the changing of water into wine. Besides showing us that Jesus is able to change circumstances and even our very make-up, this miracle also points to what will be a new way of cleansing. The old way was based on ceremonial washing with a legalistic approach to keeping the law. (see John 2:6.) The new way is Jesus' blood shed for all on the cross. There were two cleansings of the temple. One cleansing took place in the beginning of Jesus' ministry and one at the end as recorded in Luke 19:45. John is the only one who records the first cleansing. In Jesus' time there was great corruption by the priests of the temple. The priests sold unblemished animals to sacrifice for exorbitant prices in the temple courtyard. They had foreigners exchange their money for an ancient Jewish coin and charged a high fee for that service. This corrupt unethical behavior alienated the worshiper, and brought out a righteous anger in Jesus. Jesus is often depicted in movies as frail and not very physical. However, we see Jesus was a man of intense zeal and concern for the work of His Father. Though Jesus was meek, He was not weak as indicated by John 2:15-16. The Jewish temple pointed to Jesus. In 70 A.D. the temple was destroyed and has never been rebuilt. Jesus spoke of a new temple in this chapter. Jesus' body was the temple, just as we are a temple when Jesus dwells in one's heart through the power of the Holy Spirit. (See 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.) |