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Jesus is the New "Place"
of Worship
John 4:20-24
When
Jesus wove a whip and drove out the moneychangers, he said he did so not for
the sake of proper sacrifices but for the sake of prayer – in fact, prayer
for all the nations. "My house shall be called a house of prayer for
all the nations" (Mark 11:17). In other words, he focused attention away
from the outward acts of Jewish sacrifices to the personal act of communion
with God for all peoples.
Then
he said two other things about th temple that pointed to a radically altered
view of worship. He said, "Something greater than the temple is here,"
referring to himself (Matt. 132:6), and, "Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). This attitude toward the temple got
not only him killed (Mark 14:58; 15:29) but also Stephen (Acts 6:14). That’s
how important it was.
Jesus identified himself as the true temple. "Something greater than the
temple is here." In himself he would fulfill everything the temple stood
for, especially the "place" where believers meet God. He diverted attention
away from worship as a localized activity with outward forms and pointed
toward a personal, spiritual experience with himself at the center. Worship
does not have to have a building, a priesthood, and a sacrificial system. It
has to have the risen Jesus."
John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad,
p. 217 |
