Only the Injil v4 - Temple Tantrum!!

Recently I became a 30-something, which at first glance was quite depressing. There has been, however, one sweet consolation - I am now in my 'Jesus years'. These years in Jesus' life (between 30 and 33) were powerful, dynamic, miraculous and ultimately led to the greatest grass-roots revolution in human history.

Realizing this, I picked up my Reese Chronological Bible and each day, for the next 3 years, I will seek to read about exactly what Jesus was doing at my age!
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This edition of 'Only the Injil' focuses on Jesus throwing a 'tantrum' in the temple at Jerusalem. Last time we focused on how he built momentum for his movement. This time we want to look a bit at the what he does when he's got the audience.

> Jesus @ 31 years & 2-4 months old - The stage is set as Jesus approaches Jerusalem. Everyone will be there. Everyone will remember him. This is his chance to make his first impression - what will he say? Will he make a loud speech about God's love, announcing to everyone that salvation is here! Or maybe everyone would simply recognize him from John's baptism so he won't even have to say a word, just let his lifestyle speak for him. What is the first major thing Jesus wants to personally communicate to the masses?

I wonder what you or I would say if we had that kind of chance. A captive religious audience. Pilgrims gathered from all over the country with their hearts set on worship. This must be the holiest time of the year, the very heart of the jewish religious experience. Surely Jesus will use this opportunity to preach a 'sermon on the mount' type message. Something memorable. Love your neighbour stuff? An exposition on worship? A parable maybe? Something that would glorify God?

What Jesus does as he enters Jerusalem is so important I'm going to go on a bit about it. I might even have to make 2 posts. In the past few months of his life Jesus has gone from a little village carpenter to provincial phenom after being baptised by John. Now he will go from being whispered about to being fully revealed country-wide as his revolution begins! What we see next is the true heart of Jesus. Mark my words. This is the heart of Jesus revealed. John 2:14 states that "he found those that sold". He found them. I think Jesus was on a bit of a witch-hunt here. But not for the money changers. They were just bait. A decoy. Jesus shows us what his revolution is going to be all about. I think he went to Jerusalem (since he knew everything) with the specific intent to cause a commotion and make a point. And it was not so much about the guys selling in the temple. And I think he did it with a purpose.

Too often we think of this story and give Jesus a mulligan. Oops, he got mad, must have been a divine mistake. Or "hey, it's Jesus he's allowed to get upset" not understanding the true intention of Jesus' heart. Yes he was ticked that people had turned the temple into a farmers market but that is not the point of this whole exercise. Think about it. He could have showed up any Tuesday there was worship and overthrown a few tables making a smaller scene. But I believe Jesus wanted to make a big scene. I believe he wanted to make the biggest scene possible. I believe he wanted to make a big statement about who he is and what he was all about and he's using the money changers simply as bait to pick a fight with the people he really wants to overturn. Overthrowing tables was simply a way to get everyone's attention and say to everyone what was on his heart.

As Jesus begins his temple tantrum the religious elites take the bait. I think this was his plan. I think he turned over the tables just to get their attention and get a reaction which he could respond to. Their reaction is (John 2:18):“What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miracle to prove it?" Translation: "Who the hell do you think you are screwing up our religious ceremony!?" Have you ever had this experience? Have you ever got a bit agitated when some bumbling outsider made a mess of your carefully organized religious ceremony/worship service/conference. The immediate response is usually "get lost, can't you see there's something important going on here". Jesus has made a mess of their biggest religious feast of the year! This is the holiest moment in their religious calendar! You can imagine the scene. Shattered tables, coins and livestock cover the ground. This is not appropriate! They are not happy about it! What will Jesus say to them as they ask for an answer? Pilgrims from all over the country are listening. Why did he do this?

Jesus takes the opportunity to lay down his manifesto for all to hear - "Destroy the temple" are the first words out of Jesus mouth (John 2:19) . Destroy the temple!!! Did he just say destroy the temple?? What a horrible blasphemous statement to God's chosen people, on the holiest day of their year! "Destroy the temple? It took us 46 years to build this temple! This temple is a pinnacle of all our religious efforts and pride. We love this temple. We would never destroy it. Instead we are going to destroy you for speaking against our holy religious symbol. We love our religion. We love our temple. Who do you think you are!

"My job description" Jesus is saying "is to destroy your religion so you can really know God." Destroy it. I'll rebuild it once it's gone, but it has to be gone. The things you love. The things you cherish the most. Lay down your temple and take up your cross. What does that mean for me and you? What do we need to destroy so we can hear God clearer? What do we need to dismantle so Jesus can 'rebuild' true faith inside us? Jesus says that his job is to destroy religious ceremonies/festivals/worship/temples in order for us to have nothing so he can rebuild us.

If this is difficult to accept think about it - this is what got him killed in the end. This very statement that he would destroy the temple. If he was just upset at selling in the temple the story would have ended there, all the jews would cheer because he had cleared away the riff raff and then Jesus would be made King of israel. But that is not his point at all! The money changers are secondary to the primary message of destroying religion.

I would suggest that the reason Jesus spends so much time with sinners & tax collectors is not becuase he felt sorry for them. It is because he knew that they understand God better than the holiest religious person. Are you with me here? The worst sinners have no religious baggage, no 'temple' that needs destroying. They can see clearer than the most righteous person who is blinded by his religious views. Jesus knew that the sinners & tax collectors hear God without filters. And so, before he embarked on a life of helping the poor, the needy, the prostitutes, he had to bust some serious religious chops!

I think what Jesus wanted to personally communicate to the masses in Jerusalem was that religion is blinding you - turn back to God. That is his message for you as well. Your religious meetings, bible studies, conferences etc etc have become a stumbling block to really hearing and understanding the message which he delivers next in the synagogue (Isaiah 61:1-3).

If you are a Christian think about that in your church life. Your years of church are actually keeping you from God. Your patterns of worship are actually keeping you from truly worshiping. Jesus is telling you to clean the money changers out of your life. Do a religious detox. Destroy and He will rebuild in three days. It took the jews 46 years to encase their religious traditions. Jesus says destroy it and very quickly, only 3 days, He will rebuild. What an amazing promise. Rebuild your religious thought patterns. Rebuild your habits. Rebuild your views.

If you are not a Christian, you have the greatest opportunity to experience God without religion! The revolution of Jesus would welcome you to it's protest against organized religion and full persuit of God! The Salvaiton Army is a good example of this. A few nutbars named William & Cahterine Booth built a revolution with teenagers, outcasts, rejects and peverts that truly demonstrated the heart of God. They were the 'hand to man' helping the poorest of the poor.

A few other interesting points:

1. This message is very attractive to people looking for a way out of religion and back to God
a) John 3 - Nicodemus approaches Jesus just after this
a) John 4: 45 - The Galileans believed because of this.

Obviously I haven't even scratched the surface with this topic. Obviously there will be alot of confusion. Feel free to leave comments and i will try to explain more of what I mean. This is just the first part of Jesus' manifesto. This one was in the temple. The next one is in the synagogue. Same result both times - religious people completely furious! Jesus & sinners - 2, Religious People - 0. Who's side are you on?

Up next - Temple Tantrum 2

Only the Injil v3 - Making a splash

Recently I became a 30-something, which at first glance was quite depressing. There has been, however, one sweet consolation - I am now in my 'Jesus years'. These years in Jesus' life (between 30 and 33) were powerful, dynamic, miraculous and ultimately led to the greatest grass-roots revolution in human history.

Realizing this, I picked up my Reese Chronological Bible and each day, for the next 3 years, I will seek to read about exactly what Jesus was doing at my age!
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This edition of "Only the Injil" focuses on Jesus continuing to build momentum with his new movement. Last time we saw him 'making a splash' so to speak, getting baptised by John the Baptist so everyone could see. This time he uses the biggest celebration that the country has to make his public debut

Everything Jesus does is so fascinating and instructive. There's so much that could be said about each of these 'editions' that it's hard to really decide what to include. I've put this edition off for far too long for just that reason.

For example, last time I was simply writing about how Jesus gathered his disciples but there are some really comical interchanges (I think) as Jesus first meets his future disciples through their friends. Take John 1:42. Andrew brings Peter to Jesus and the first thing Jesus says to Peter is 'hey buddy, I'm gonna call you 'The ROCK'! Or when Jesus meets Nathaniel (John 1:46) his first words are 'hey, here comes an honest man!'. You can almost see a smile on Jesus' face as he establishes himself as a guy with something about him that they would want to follow.

Jesus had personality and people skills. To me, it's almost comical to read how he interacts and make these new followers feel comfortable with him, and at the same time makes them want to follow him. This is interesting, especially as we think of making contact with people. So many times I've brought people to church and the leaders that are supposed to be experts on this stuff completely drop the ball. One time a friend of mine brought their mom to church and when I introduced her to the key leader in the church his first words to her were 'Hello, it's great to see you, but where have you been for so long'. Total idiot. In contrast, Jesus puts people at ease, makes them feel like he's interested in them, points out good things and even gives them little pet nicknames :)

> Jesus @ 31 years & 2 weeks old - So after gathering his first followers, Jesus hangs out with them in Capernaum for a while (John 2:12). Lots can be said here about discipleship. Spending time with people. Deepening relationships. Having no agenda. Too often I see Christians that hustle their contacts/disciples from this event to that event and rarely just hang out with them. Think about it. If you had someone that was interested in following Jesus what would you do with them? Bring them to a program/church/event? Jesus' strategy is totally different, he seems to me to be anti-programatic in his discipleship. He takes them home to meet his mom. Is that something you've ever done? Bring your friends to meet your family? Let them spend time in your home. Ask yourself, how often do the people in your church programs come to your home? Would people that are in your church programs be able to 'just drop in' and stay with you for a few days? It doesn't sound like something that could make the church bulletin but it's exactly what Jesus does.

Then they go to a wedding in Cana of Gallillee (2:2) and He does a simple miracle there. I won't comment on this, other than to wonder what Jesus meant when he said 'woman, my time hasn't come (John 2:4)'. As you read through what Jesus did in the next few weeks, was he saying he didn't want to be revealed until the time was right in Jerusalem at the passover? I'd be interested to hear thoughts on that.

What happens next is phenomenal. How did Jesus go from being a poor carpenters son from Nazareth to national phenomenon in such a short time? Was it simply his magic Jesus skills that helped him, or was he more strategic? John 2:13 mentions Jesus taking his disciples down to Jerusalem for the passover. It's what every good Jew would do. Take a pilgrimage. Sacrifice. Once again everyone would be there. Jesus once again decides to crash the biggest party in the country. This time though there's nobody to introduce him so he makes his own introduction. Cue Super Bowl Sunday part 2.

Jesus has already developed grass-roots word-of-mouth interest throughout the country, reminiscent of William Wallace lore in Braveheart ("William Wallace killed 50 men"), about who he was. So what is Jesus' next move? He takes it to the next level by going to Jerusalem with his new disciples and making a massive spectacle! There are so many applications here I don't know where to start. Think about this, there is already a buzz in the country about who this guy is that John baptized, but now he goes to the capital city Jerusalem right at Passover time and intentionally picks a fight with the religious leaders!! If being baptised by John the Baptist was Superbowl Sunday then this stunt is the World Cup of Soccer in comparison.

Everyone that was there to see John the Baptist would be there in Jerusalem. Also, all those people who weren't there, but heard reports about 'this one' would also be there. All the whispers are now escalated. He did what? In the temple? Did you see him? Who is this guy? This is what would be heard at supper tables across the land. The strategy Jesus uses is amazing to watch. Literally everyone in the entire country is talking about him, as well as other pilgrims who had come from other places just for the passover. I liken it to the scene when V takes over Jordan tower in the movie V for Vendetta and gets his message to the entire country.

With these 2 huge publicity stunts Jesus ensures that he is the talk of the town and all eyes are on him. He sets the stage for eveyone to be interested in everything he's doing. Every move will create more whispers. Every sentence will be analyzed. The stage is set. While I can barely contain the excitement of this, next time I will look at the content of what Jesus does in the temple and what statement he's making with all this publicity.

Up next - Temple tantrum

Only the Injil v2 - Jesus' first followers

Recently I became a 30-something, which at first glance was quite depressing. There has been, however, one sweet consolation - I am now in my 'Jesus years'. These years in Jesus' life (between 30 and 33) were powerful, dynamic, miraculous and ultimately led to the greatest grass-roots revolution in human history.

Realizing this, I picked up my Reese Chronological Bible and each day, for the next 3 years, I will seek to read about exactly what Jesus was doing at my age!
____________________________________________________________________

For this second installment of 'Only the Injil' I wanted to look at how Jesus built momentum and gathered his first followers, or disciples. What is the picture you get in your head as you think of Jesus gathering followers? I wonder if we think much past the scene of Jesus walking along the beach, stretching out his hand and saying 'Come follow me' and then by some mystical powers people would drop whatever they were doing and follow him. Is that all there was to it?

> Jesus @ 30 years 11 months - Let's start mapping this out. It would seem Jesus called his first followers after coming back from 40 days in the wilderness. He had already made a very public appearance by getting baptized at the height of John the Baptist's ministry, so Jesus would have been well known to the people he called to follow him.

First of all, imagine with me the hoopla surrounding John the Baptist around the time Jesus got baptized. Mark 1:5 states that "All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John". Everybody was there. This was like Superbowl Sunday and Jesus decides at this exact moment to get baptized! Think of the strategy as Jesus walks through the massive crowds and then the person they are there to see, John the Baptist, turns and says to everyone 'Look, it's the Messiah, he's the one you really want to talk to'.

The whispers would fly! Not only through the crowds gathered in the wilderness, but to almost everyone in the entire country as these spectators traveled back to their own towns. This 'publicity stunt' was the background for Jesus' return from the wilderness. Everybody knew who John said he was, and were waiting with anticipation to see what he'd do. This is an excellent lesson on momentum building. Jesus didn't just show up on a street corner and say 'Hey everyone, I am the Messiah", he was very strategic in how he used natural networks to spread his message and build curiosity and anticipation.

Now, if you look at the map of Jesus' travels it shows an interesting pattern. In John 1:35 John the Baptist is stationed in a town called Bethbara. On the map to the left this town is near the area simply called 'River Jordan'. John is walking around Bethbara with his disciples and Jesus shows up, fresh out of the wilderness, everyone wondering what he'll do. It's interesting to me that all Jesus really does here is piggy back off what is already going on with John. He leverages the momentum John has created. He shows up the first time where John is baptizing. He shows up a second time when John is teaching his disciples.

What is really amazing is what happens next! John is walking with two of his disciples, he sees Jesus and says to them 'Behold the lamb of God' (ie: hey, remember this guy I told you about?). John 1:37 then states 'the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus'. Did you catch that?? Jesus scoops John's disciples!! And John has no problem with this. Today's equivalent would be if a minister at one church encouraged their congregants to join another church with a better minister! We find out later in verse 40 that one of the disciples Jesus scoops is Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

Now we see Jesus really start to teach us about networking. What is Jesus' next step? Does he set up shop in Bethbara and tell his new disciple Andrew to bring people to him for a synagogue class each Sunday at 11? No, John 1:41 says that Andrew finds his brother Peter and says 'We have found the Messiah!!". Peter comes and follows as well - 2 disciples for Jesus. Next we see Jesus travelling up to the city where Andrew & Peter are from which is Bethsaida. If you look on the map you'll see that it is a considerable distance up the Jordan River to the sea of Galilee, where Bethsaida is located.

Why does Jesus travel all this distance? He is working Andrew and Peter's natural network. He visits the town where they are from (John 1:44). He finds Philip, probably someone Andrew & Peter knew from town and then Philip brings Nathaniel - his brother? relative? we're not sure, but it is someone in Philip's network, which resulted from someone in Andrew's network, who was from John the baptists network.

I want to pause here to contrast what we are used to in church with what Jesus is doing here. Usually we experience church leadership that does not spend a whole lot of time exploring someones natural network of friends. When someone comes to church they are given a list of meetings and groups to go to, which may actually extract people from their natural networks!! Jesus does the opposite. He natural flows through the contacts that his new disciples are most comfortable with. One person at a time he works Andrew's network to gather his disciples. It's all there in John 1:35-51.

To many of us discipleship is a mystery. Over the years I have heard many complaints by Christians who have longed for someone to 'take them under their wing' and teach them about Jesus in a deeper, personal way. I've also heard lots of people yearn to know how to reach out to their friends, neighbours and coworkers. Jesus has the answer for both. For me I am thankful to God that this did happened when I became a Christian. I came into the church via a natural relational network (girlfriend) and met with many people who were more interested in me and my network than how many meetings I attended. One person I am most indebted to asked me where the teenagers I knew hung out. We would visit these areas (where I used to go drinking) with Bibles to talk to the people in my natural network. The emphasis was me going to them, not them coming us. Quite the difference.

I feel this is a very significant lesson for the church. We need to be going where people are. We need to not be so concerned about our holy hymn singing times and instead seek to reach out to real people, get into their lives so much that they will open up their natural networks to us, and as leaders, with grace and humility introduce ourselves and our faith to them. We may find that if we take this approach entire communities will open up (like Bethsaida) for us to show the love of Jesus.

In my Jesus years | Only the Injil v1 - The wilderness

As some of you know my 31st birthday is coming up soon. While I won't reveal the exact date here, I will say that the process of transitioning from a 20-something to a 30-something has been fairly traumatic to my youthful outlook!

While it's been difficult to think of myself as a 30 year old, there has been one sweet consolation - I am now in my 'Jesus years'. These years in Jesus' life (between 30 and 33) were powerful, dynamic, miraculous and ultimately led to the greatest grass-roots revolution in human history.

Realizing this has stirred something inside of me. Recently I picked up my Reese Chronological Bible and each day, for the next 3 years, I will seek to read about exactly what Jesus was doing at my age! The Chronological Bible actually goes so far as to put dates on the events in Jesus life, so I'll be able to follow along fairly well. These may not be exact dates, and I may use other sources but it should be a fun project retracing Jesus' steps each day when he was my age and posting my findings here. I may call this series 'Only the Injil' or 'My Jesus years', I haven't decided yet. Probably 'Only the Injil' as this title lends itself to a better understanding by my Muslim friends. The word 'Injil' is an Arabic word for the gospel, derived from the Greek word Evangel, or good news. So maybe that makes me an evinjilical :)

As an intro I thought I'd post a bit about what happened during Jesus' 30th year, seeing as my 30th year is almost over:

> 30 years 1 month - John the Baptist begins to preach, ferociously condemning the religious leaders. When people ask John 'What should we do' (Luke 3:10) he answers by saying in verse 11 'He that has two coats, let him give to him that has none, and he that has food, let him do likewise'. Do you have two coats? John the Baptist states you need to give one of them away. Perhaps now is a good time, before we in Canada have to face winter. Try to find someone this week that needs your coat and give it to them. I'm sad to say I've rarely done this, or witnessed Christians or churches that have done this. I wonder why we shy away from helping those in need. One Christian leader I know, upon being asked this question shamelessly stated 'Well, you know what they say...if you feed a stray cat" as if to lower the value of a human life in need to that of a garbage picking feline! Folks if we are believers in Jesus we are commanded to help those in need. It's not enough to simply study scripture until you can quote it from memory. If we are not doers of the word then what profit is our bible knowledge? Knowledge puffs up and perhaps this pride, which is often seen in evangelical bible memorization clubs is exactly what the Pharisees were suffering from.

> 30 years 9 months - Jesus baptized and 'full of the Spirit' is led into the wilderness to be tempted. It's very interesting to me that the Spirit is the one leading Jesus into temptation. The Spirit leads each of us into tests, to make sure that we can handle the power that is on the other side of the test. Each of us go through the 'wilderness' at times. As John Piper states in the 'video of the week', God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him in the midst of loss. This is what makes the health and wealth gospel preachers so hideous - they would not have allowed Jesus to go to the wilderness. But God does and will 'lead us' into wilderness situations. During these times may we follow Jesus' example of satisfaction and obedience to God in the midst of desolation, loneliness, temptation, isolation, sorrow, hunger and thirst.

Up next - Jesus' first disciples