Have you ever been somewhere with your family, or with friends, and something unexpected happened?  Maybe something unbelievable?  Today we look at an example of this found in Scripture.  John 2:12-25 tells the story of Jesus doing something unexpected when He went with his mother, brothers and disciples to the temple.  When he found folks buying and selling animals and such in the temple, he flipped out.  He made a whip and started driving them out.  Verse 16 says that Jesus told the people, “Get out of here!  How dare you turn my father’s house into a market.”  I’m positive the whole scene must have made his family super uncomfortable.  Most likely shocked.  They were probably wondering what in the world he was doing.  Verse 17 says the disciples thought of something else.  They remembered the Old Testament teachings that said, “the zeal of the Fathers house has eaten Him up.”  Jesus was fired up about what He was seeing.

The Jews who were there were asking for a sign.  A miraculous sign that would explain his reasoning for throwing people out and saying what He said.  Jesus answers them in verse 19, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”  Of course the Jews didn’t understand what He was saying.  They thought He was talking about the actual temple that had already been in the works for 40 some years.  But Jesus was telling them that the only sign they’d get was His resurrection three days after His death.

The resurrection is the most powerful “sign” that Jesus was who he claimed to be.  Christianity hinges on this truth.  If there was no resurrection, then all the claims of being God’s son would be nothing more than the talk of a crazy man, and His crazy followers.  Is there proof?  I believe there is.  The Bible has shown itself to be one of the most reliable sources of history found. The evidence is overwhelming.  Jesus showed Himself and talked to people for 40 days.  He was among them.  They saw his hands and feet. There was eyewitness testimony from people known for great character.  People who lived out the highest of moral values.  People who were tortured and Killed for expressing it.  But never once did they confess to some sort of hoax.  If the Jews were trying to squash this story, they would have had a massive search to find the truth.  To find the body. They never could.  Instead, Christianity grew at an enormous rate.

The resurrection brings proof and hope for eternal life.  I pray God opens the eyes of our hearts, that we might see Him clearly.