NOTES for Joh 2:13-25
Today's reading returns us once again to the event usually called the driving of the traders from the Temple.
In itself, Jesus' action was entirely in accordance with the Torah, though it ran counter to established custom. But not everyone, of course, could venture to do such a thing: only someone who could say that he acted in God's name. What Jesus did was not simply an effort to restore order. It was a call, expressed in action, to follow strictly the norms of the Torah, which, in the view of the One issuing the call, were being violated in this case. This naturally raised a question, immediately put to Jesus by those around Him: who are You to call us to what You are calling us to, and to do what You are doing (v. 18)?
It is not surprising that they asked specifically for a sign. It was obvious to everyone that this Man had, and could have, no official authority to restore order in the Temple; in the eyes of those around Him, He was simply a private individual. If, however, He had been a prophet, for example, or still more the Messiah, they would of course have had no questions: a prophet, and all the more the Messiah, had every right to act in this way. But prophetic charisma, and still more a claim to be the Messiah, had to be proved. Something had to be done that everyone would clearly recognize as a miracle, as proof that the One cleansing the Temple really was a prophet or the Messiah.
This is the kind of sign those around Jesus demand of Him. He, however, speaks of only one thing: His death and resurrection, and not directly but figuratively, so that most of those present remain perplexed (vv. 19–21).
At first sight, such an answer seems plainly unsatisfactory, since it explains nothing to anyone. Yet what mattered most to Jesus, apparently, was to bear witness to those around Him about the central purpose of His coming into the world: the Kingdom and victory over the evil in which this world lies. Death has undoubtedly always been seen as the very essence of the world's evil. The allusion to the Resurrection was therefore, in essence, the most fitting answer to the question of power and authority, just as the Resurrection itself was the clearest and most indisputable proof that Jesus had every right to do what He did in the Temple.
Of course, only someone who has themselves come to share in the Kingdom can understand and grasp such a sign. But it cannot be otherwise: one cannot describe the Kingdom as if it were some abstract reality. One can only show it. And then those who are able to see will need no further proof.