JESUS KNOWS US

Jesus went public while in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover Feast. His first act when He arrived in Jerusalem was to clear the Temple of the distractions of the noisy clamor of commerce and to reclaim His Father’s house as a place of prayer as it was intended. Unlike His first miraculous sign at the wedding in Cana of Galilee when only His disciples and a few servants knew what had taken place, Jesus now was out in the open and in the public eye. His behavior actually caused a commotion that attracted attention. The response of the public to His authority and displays of power was predictable. Attracted by the excitement and impressed by anyone with such powers, whether divine in origin or not, many believed in Him. Contrary to what some church leaders say today, it was most important to Jesus what the people believed, and why, when it was in Him. Jesus knew what was in their hearts and minds and their motives for believing in Him thus He did not entrust Himself to them. What John’s choice of words actually says is that while the people believed in Him, Jesus did not believe in them.

Jesus’ reaction of not believing in those who believed in Him did not result from paranoia or cynicism toward people. It was based upon His Divine knowledge of the truth of what was in their hearts and exactly what they were thinking. We can sometimes fool one another, be we cannot fool God. He knows what is in our hearts and in our heads.

“Jesus knew” and other similar phrases employed by all the Gospel writers clearly indicate that they had witnessed His omniscience, the all-knowing attribute belonging only to God. This was another sign that identified Jesus as God with us. Thus when He dealt with people, the pride, hypocrisy, duplicity, and hidden agendas that lurked behind the masks of their smiles and even their professions of belief in Him were very visible to Him.

When we make our claim to believe in Jesus, the all important question becomes: Does Jesus believe in us? Can He entrust Himself to us? He will not come into our hearts and abide with all the noisy clamor of the world that’s there. Like the Temple, these things must go that we may become temples of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knows who we are and what we are; “He does not need anyone to tell Him.” Jesus knows what is truly in our hearts and minds when we make our professions of faith, when we pray and go through the liturgy of worship that look and sound so good to the public eye.

The good news is that Jesus did not become aware of the fallen sinful nature of mankind only after He got here. He was not caught off guard nor surprised by it. Way back in Genesis 6:5 we read, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” Nothing had changed or has to this day; in fact, it was because of this sin nature in mankind that God sent His Son Jesus into the world that the world through Him might be saved. Jesus knew us very well, yet He loved us and came to us anyway and dwelled among us “and we have seen His glory.”

Paul says in I Corinthians 3:18, “We who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

E. Stanley Jones, in his book, Christian Maturity, points out that we become what we habitually gaze upon. He says, “What gets your attention ultimately gets you.” “We have seen His glory,” John said. And as we gaze upon His glory we become more and more like Him which is the gift of His Holy Spirit in us.

Brother Stanley says, “With unveiled faces…If it means anything it means that we must be completely honest with God, with ourselves, with others, with life. We must come clear – absolutely clear. We must have unveiled faces – no masks, no putting on of fronts, no make-believe.
He gives seven steps to true maturity. The first step is this: “We must get it straight, and get it straight once and for all, the pattern of our maturity: ‘into His likeness.’ The pattern of maturity is unique. It is not a pattern of maturity worked out by philosophy, or by psychology, though it may coincide with these patterns here and there. It stands in its own right – unique and alone… because it is not pieced together by man, but placed before us by God – Jesus is God’s revelation. We are to be made in the likeness of God – the likeness of God as seen in Jesus.” Being in His likeness is not accomplished by our own uptight effort. We are “being transformed.” That means the work of transformation is His, not ours. It “comes from the Lord.” And it is a never ending process – “with ever-increasing glory” the Holy Spirit transforms us into His likeness as we reflect more and more of His glory.

WHEN JESUS ARRIVES

Jesus spent a few days in Capernaum with His mother and disciples and when it was almost time for the Jewish Passover He went up to Jerusalem. John’s matter-of-fact statement calls for reflection to truly grasp what took place. Just let your mind wrap around the scene as Jesus the Son of God arrives in Jerusalem and enters the Temple. This was not just another trip to the big city.

More than just a magnificent scene, this was an event of cosmic proportions with divine purpose and eternal consequences. Jesus, whose glory had been revealed in Cana of Galilee, now entered the city of Jerusalem and walked into the Temple courts, His Father’s house. David, centuries before, had written about such a day as this:
“Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty —
he is the King of glory.” (Psalm 24:9-10)

Where were the religious authorities of Jerusalem when Jesus arrived? Wouldn’t you think they would have been out in force to greet Him? Surely they would have sounded the shofar to call all the pilgrims that had come to Jerusalem for the Passover to come to the Temple court to witness the arrival of the King of Glory. Sadly when He arrived there was no reception, no fanfare.

Unfortunately, those who were charged with the responsibility of knowing and communicating God’s will and word to the people were so distant from Him, they had no idea He was about to pay them a visit. They were so dead in their own trespasses and sins, so busy about the temple’s business agenda, they did not know He was coming nor did they recognize Him when He got there. They were big on politics, profits, and programs but totally lacking in the areas of prayer, purpose and prophecy.

When the King of Glory arrived at the temple He found things were “business as usual.” He was not impressed in the least by how busy everyone was. When the Temple authorities did show up, they were responding to the commotion Jesus was causing by interrupting their market place. Shocked by what they observed Jesus doing, they demanded a sign that would authenticate His authority to do such things.

While they certainly did not like what Jesus was doing, they did not challenge Him on the rightness or wrongness of what He was doing, they only demanded a sign that would authenticate to them that what He was doing was from God. Down deep in their hard hearts they knew very well that they were prostituting the Temple by turning this House of Prayer into a market place. They were so arrogant and distant from God they didn’t recognize Him in their presence. While they recognized the “rightness” of what Jesus was doing, they questioned whether God authorized it. Doubting that God had anything to do with it, they demanded a sign.

The sign of Jesus’ authority was inherent in His Person as well as in what He was doing. When John sent his disciples to inquire of Jesus as to whether He was the One who was to come, or should they wait for another, Jesus appealed to what they saw Him doing. (Luke 7:19-23) What they saw Him doing was disrupting evil’s “business as usual.” He was confronting evil forces and setting their human prisoners free. That is exactly what Jesus was doing in the Temple that day. Evil forces that had prostituted that Holy place were being confronted and the Temple and others held hostage by these practices were freed to be what God had intended. Jesus' arrival and actions at the Temple that day were signs announcing God’s arrival in the world to reclaim what was His; not only the Temple, but all mankind.

Evil does not surrender easily, however. Thus, before it was over, both the Jerusalem Temple and the Temple of Jesus body were assaulted by evil forces. But, thanks be to God, evil never has the final word. Jesus declared that when evil had done its worst He had “authority to raise it up again.” At His resurrection the world would witness the ultimate power of His authority. Although Jesus’ declaration was utter nonsense to the Temple authorities, the ultimate confrontation and conflict with evil had now begun. Jesus, the Son of God, had come to His Father’s house with authority to reclaim it.

How many times Jesus had been to the Temple before this particular visit is unknown. The first time He came to the Temple was as an infant in His mother’s arms. He was recognized and greeted by Simeon, a man who had been waiting in the Temple for His arrival. John said of him, “…he was righteous and devout…and the Holy Spirit was upon Him.” He had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would live to see the Lord’s Christ. (Luke 2:25-26)

It’s exciting to see how God is not hampered by the religious professionals’ failure stay in touch with Him and do His bidding. God simply found Simeon and revealed to him that Jesus was coming. It was such a one as this who recognized the Son of God, not the authorities. He recognized Jesus and greeted Him with these words:
“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

Also there at His first visit to the Temple was Anna the prophetess. When Simeon had finished,
Anna “came up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:36 & 38)

Another well known time Jesus visited Jerusalem and the Temple was when, at the age of twelve, He was accidentally left behind in Jerusalem. After three days of searching for Him, His parents finally found Him in the Temple, obviously the last place they thought to look for a twelve year old. Jesus expressed surprise that they would not have thought to look there first. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) This was His first statement of identity with “His Father’s house.” He returned to Jerusalem and the Temple as a man to reclaim it for His Father.

Bible scholars do not agree as to whether this event recorded in John is the same as the one recorded in the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John has the event taking place at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry; whereas, the synoptic Gospels place it near the end. More important than the issue of when it happened, is the fact that Jesus came to Jerusalem and to the Temple to reclaim it for His Father. The glory He revealed in Cana of Galilee was present and now entered the Temple in Jerusalem. The glory of God that had departed the temple in Ezekiel’s day had returned in the flesh in Jesus. His glory was seen in the authority of His judgment that began in His Father’s house.

“See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the LORD Almighty.” (Malachi 3:1)

Jesus came to His Father’s house and found it in disarray. It was being used as a place of commerce rather than being used exclusively as a House of Prayer as it was intended. Some have suggested that the merchants were cheating the people and that the money changers were making unfair exchange, as if to suggest that their just being there was not problem enough. They conclude that Jesus only objected because they were using unfair business practices and cheating the people. They may or may not have been cheating the people, but that discussion completely misses the point.

When Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers and drove the merchants and their animals out of the temple He did not comment on the fairness of their practices. As He unleashed the wrath of His judgment on them He said, “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” It was the presence the commerce in the House of God that was detracting from the purpose of His Father’s house.

All seem to agree that it was in the Court of the Gentiles that this commerce was taking place. It would never have been allowed in the Court of Men or the Court of Women, and certainly not in the Inner Court or the Holy of Holies. The Court of the Gentiles was the place of least importance. Yet Jesus did not even make that distinction when He drove them out. In Jesus’ mind the “whole house” where they were was His Father’s House, including the Court of the Gentiles.

On the Day of Pentecost God honored His whole house when He sent the Holy Spirit upon the disciples gathered on The Teaching Steps leading up to the temple. “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the ‘whole house’ where they were sitting.” (Acts 2:2)

No doubt there were many other places in Jerusalem where evil could have been found that day when Jesus went to the temple. But as is always true, God’s judgment begins at His own house first. When Ezekiel heard the Glory of God giving instruction to those who would carry out His judgment on Israel He said to them, “Begin at my sanctuary.” (Ezekiel 9:6) It is no different now. In too many places claiming to be “Houses of God” the clamor of commerce is found. “For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God.” (I Peter 4:17)

“Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth —to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water. (Revelations 14:6-7)

In our day judgment has begun upon the celebration of Christmas. Like the Temple in Jerusalem, for many years we have allowed it to be prostituted by crass, wanton commercialism. Like the Temple it too is being taken away by commercial interests. We Christians have participated in this and have only ourselves to blame. We have danced to the music of the commercialization of our celebration of our Lord’s birth and now we are going to pay the musicians. To the world it is now just a “Winter Holiday” where “make it or break it” business is done. The mention of Christ is outlawed in the places of commerce and in the public square. Sadly there are too many who claim to be Christians who are so caught up in the commercialization of the season they don’t even understand what all the fuss is about.

The first time this came home to me was when I lived in Japan for three years, from 1976 to 1979. The predominant religions of Japan are Buddhism and Shintoism, but Christmas is big there. When I visited the Genza, the commercial district, in Tokyo one December I was shocked to see how the Japanese had so easily imported the commercialism of Christmas, but not the Christ of Christmas. The whole district was ablaze with the traditional “Christmas” lights and decorations and music. There were plenty of Santa Clause and reindeer and “Christmas” trees; and, O yes, many things to buy. “Merry Christmas” signs and sounds were everywhere, but there was absolutely no mention whatsoever of the birth of Jesus or any suggestion that there was any religious significance even remotely related to this holiday season. Thirty years ago I caught a glimpse of the current American celebration of this holiday season. I commented then, “This is where America is headed.”

Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days." No matter what happened to the Jerusalem Temple or what happens to the celebration of Christmas, Jesus has the ultimate authority. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18) The celebration of the Christmas Season may become the same as the current “Temple Mount” in Jerusalem. Like the Jews at the Western Wall, we will only remember what it used to be. But unlike them the way it used to be will not matter. The resurrected Christmas, like the Resurrected Temple of Christ, cannot and will not be destroyed. Jesus is the Christ of Christmas who is alive today and forever more. The Resurrected Christmas is and will always be so much more than a mere commercial holiday season in December each year. Christmas is Christ in us whom we worship and celebrate all year long and even into eternity. Christmas begins when Jesus arrives.