Continuing our journey through the Gospel of John
18 Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty?six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name.24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.25 He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
It’s interesting how Jesus spoke in multiple layers. He was like an artist, who’s words were dense with meaning and provocative. He was obviously trying to rattle people a bit as he loosely was referring to the destruction of Herod’s temple.
I wonder how often we fail to see the true meaning behind the words of Jesus. And how often do we dismiss how he might be trying to also provoke us?
It must have been incredibly tempting for Christ to ‘entrust’ himself to people. He had the adoration and admiration of so many even though he was unliked by many as well. Christ knows how often we’re simply putting up shallow fronts and how we present ourselves may be so far from what’s actually within our hearts.
