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John 2 - 4. Jesus’ first Passover, since the commencement of His public ministry, was a distressful event: He entered the Temple precinct and drove out those selling oxen, sheep and doves, including the money changers. The fact that the temple guards did not intervene to stop or arrest Him for what was a significant breach of the peace, implied that His reputation had possibly preceded Him.

Subsequently, rather than confronting Jesus for His rioting, the religious leaders chose to questioned His authority for His uncommon behaviour, which was an explicit challenge to their own power and control over Temple affairs. Jesus’ reply, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” went totally over everyone’s heads (John 2:19).

In reading through John’s Gospel, one is immediately struck with his use of Old Testament typology references concerning the Christ: viz., the Lamb of God, the Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, the true vine, the tabernacle or the Temple, the Sabbath rest.

Here, referring to His body as the Temple, Jesus was addressing His resurrection, but to everyone else, it raised a mysterious disconnect (John2:20-22; c.f., John 1:14 - at His incarnation, John stated that He ‘tabernacled’ among us). The significance of these symbolic representations is that Jesus considered Himself to be the focal embodiment between God and those who had put their faith in Him; He being effectively the Temple of God (Rev 21:3; Rev 21:22).

The atonement process, through His death and resurrection, was fundamental in establishing Christ’s authoritative claim that He is the only One through Whom we have access to our heavenly Father (John 14:6); essentially, there is no other way. Nobody believed Jesus when He made certain out-of-this-world claims during His tenure on earth.

Unlike Jesus’ followers and disciples, with the post-resurrection advantage of hindsight, it is quite straight forward for us either to trust God or reject Him, unlike the need for the former to wait for His resurrection and to suddenly realise what He meant when He said things about Himself; as His miracles, resurrection and subsequent appearances had no historical precedence for them (John 2:22-25).

For example, in His conversation with a high ranking Pharisee, Nicodemus, on the necessity of a new birth in order to see the kingdom of God, it was to authenticate His heavenly authority in giving us God’s new life through Him (John 3:1-13). And just as seeing the raised serpent during the days of Moses meant believing that God through their faith was the Israelites’ Healer, anyone who believed in Christ, the object of our faith, Who died on our behalf, will possess eternal life (John 3:14-15).

God’s whole purpose in initiating His faithful and merciful dealings with man throughout Testamental history is due to His unconditional love for a broken world and restoring man’s estrange fellowship with Himself (John 3:16-21). Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at a Sychar well defined for us His new covenant thinking on worship (John 4:1-30).

In line with the Temple and resurrection context mentioned above, true worshippers are freed from being bound by the material world (John 4:13-15) and have been set free from their personal spiritual handicaps in life (John 4:16-19; John 4:27-29). Furthermore, geographical locations are no longer an impediment to their worship (John 4:20-23; as Near Eastern gods tend to rule over localities), nor are they subjected to prejudices in any form (John 4:9, 27; John 4:39-42).

Jesus Himself throughout His earthly life modelled for us a selflessness that only lived to pursue His Father’s will on earth (John 4:31-38). The principal element that Jesus was attempting to elicit from the Samaritan woman was not the manner or task of worship but the motive of true worshippers (John 4:24).

Hence, worship in the New Covenant appears impossible until after Christ’s resurrection. His focus was seeking after the heart of true worshippers, who despite themselves, as saved sinners in Christ, must come sacrificially offering worship to Him in the way the gift of the Spirit of God dynamically opens for them (i.e., in spirit) as they learn about who Jesus is and what is God like (i.e., in truth; c.f., John 3:6-8).

Hence, the significance of the forms and rituals of our worship is minor compared to what goes on in our hearts and minds in Christ when we worship our Creator. God is God, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the eternal Life-Giver and unchangeable One, and He is incorporeal, not flesh and blood, therefore, how we appreciatively comprehend our God through our position in Christ matters principally as we draw near to Him (c.f., Acts 7:48-49; Acts 17:24).

And as the Apostle John explicated, the hour as true worshippers of our Father in spirit and truth ….. has now come (John 4:23).

About Coram Deo

Coram Deo — before the face of God. This blog reflects on Scripture, world events, science, music, psychology, and the human mind — always through the lens of Christian faith. All of life is lived before the face of God.