February 23 | John 2:13-22

Dave Mann
Feb 23
3 min read

DAILY READING

REFLECTION

To Believe!

By Dave Mann

The word “believe” is used 85 times in the gospel of John, many more times than in any other book in the New Testament – believing in God, trusting in him. This is a principal theme of John’s writing, as he wrote in the prologue of his gospel, Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12).

This cleansing of the temple and the brief discussion of the destruction of the temple, i.e., Jesus’ body, and the rebuilding of it in three days, have as their focus the teaching of the disciples, so that they might remember, recall, and believe (John 2:17, 22).

The disciples must have wondered what sort of man Jesus was that he would dare to disrupt the function of the sale of sacrificial animals in the temple courtyard. Then they remembered from Psalm 69:9 “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Psalm 69 was considered a Messianic psalm that described what the Messiah would be like. They recalled the verse which states that the Messiah would have zeal for the temple, the house of God.

Earlier in John 2, Jesus had turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana. As a result of this the first of Jesus’ signs, John writes, “And his disciples believed in him.”

When Jesus taught about the bread of life, he said, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47).

When Jesus proclaimed the reception of living water, he said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38).

When Peter and John had a footrace to Jesus’ tomb on Easter morning to verify what the women had told them. Finally, the other disciple [John], who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed (John 20:8).

Toward the conclusion of the gospel of John, he reiterates what he had written in the prologue, But these things are written that you may believethat Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31).

Do you believe? I am not asking if you attend church. I’m not asking if you are religious. I am asking if you trust in God – rely on, have faith in, have confidence in him. This is the reason Jesus came to earth – that you might believe and thereby receive eternal life.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I pray that you would keep on sending your Holy Spirit to my spirit, that you might inspire me to believe and to rely on you with all my heart. Overcome my doubt with faith, which is the gift of your Spirit. Thank you for loving and bringing me to eternal life, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVE MANN

I am a Pastor for Internationals (retired) in the UALC community. I am married to Pam, father of four, and grandfather of seven. Pam and I have lived twenty of our years in other countries including France, Cameroon, Haiti, and Morocco. In retirement, we continue to enjoy writing devotionals, learning languages, and teaching English to internationals.