"Wait, what?!?"

"After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken."

One of Jesus' most highly publicized events was when he "cleansed" the temple in Jerusalem. Matthew, Mark & Luke all place this event at the end of Jesus' ministry (during the last week of his life). John, on the other hand, places it at the START of his ministry. Either way, it's a powerful message - that "God's house" is not a marketplace. That people of faith often get caught up in the "side businesses" and miss the true power of church - being a place to connect to God through prayer.

In the aftermath of this publicity nightmare, the religious folk who were upset with Jesus questioned the "signs" he based his action on. "Destroy the temple, and in three days I will raise it up," he replied. They knew the temple had been under construction for 46 years... there's no way it could be rebuilt in 3 days. Then John tells us, 'But he was speaking of the temple of his body.'

What struck me was the next verse (v.22). The disciples had no clue what Jesus meant at that time. But "after he was raised from the dead," they remembered, "and they believed the Scripture" and Jesus' words. That's one of the things I love about scripture. Sometimes we read/hear a passage that's for us in that exact moment of our lives. And it's powerful. Bu then there are other times we read or hear something... and it starts the long process of percolating. It becomes "latent" in our souls... dormant until just the right time (the Bible calls is a "kairos moment")... when suddenly we "get it." It makes sense.

That's what happened to the disciples. When Jesus rose from the dead after three days, they were like, "Wait... three days... where have we heard that before? Oh yah! The temple prediction!"

PRAYER: May God let the Scriptures percolate within me, until just the right time! AMEN.