1. This was the first miracle of Jesus' ministry, and it was peculiarly appropriate for this purpose. It" manifested forth his glory,' "" the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Glory is the outshining, the visible expression, of his nature and powers. It was necessary for the disciples that they should have some outward, certain knowledge of what was the real nature of Jesus, at the very beginning. Hence it is recorded directly after this miracle that His disciples believed on him.

2. This miracle, this sign, showed the disciples that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah, because he did what no mere man could do. It proved his divine power. A miracle is an act of a personal, living God using his laws, not breaking, not suspending, but using them, by doing with his infinite power the same quality of

action that we do every hour, but in a degree beyond human power. The miracles were God's signature, endorsing the claims of Jesus. Only divine works could prove that the doer was divine.

3. The Sign was also an Allegory. The change of water into the luscious juice of the grape (far more than into fermented wine) is the sign and symbol of all which Christ is evermore doing in the world, ennobling all that he touches, making saints out of sinners, angels out of men, and, in the end, heaven out of earth, - a new paradise of God out of the old wilderness of the world. It expressed the sympathy of Jesus with the joys of social life, with the happiness and pleasures of daily life. The feast, which celebrates the marriage, expresses the abundance, the joyousness, the social pleasures, the satisfaction of every want, the variety, "the feast of reason and the flow of soul." It was a revelation of his character. It was love; not love afar off, desiring to help in high things, but out of sympathy with the daily life of those he came to help. But his goodness "irradiates the natural joys and domestic incidents of human life." "He was a joyous comrade," lover of warm life, and warm sunlight, of all that is fresh and simple and pure and beautiful." Burdened as he was with the awfulness of sin, and the redemption

"the

of the whole world resting on his heart, he yet gladly shared in human joy; he beautified the wedding festivities with his presence and did not detract from its gladness, but used divine power to relieve common burdens and add to simple joys. Like Prince Siddartha in the Light of Asia, he scattered in all such places pearls and gems of truth and wisdom.

Jesus and the Home. The fact that Jesus necessarily, as the Son of God, remained unmarried has led many to imagine that celibacy was the highest and purest mode of life. But Jesus by this miracle in Cana endorsed marriage and the home.

He sancti

fied them by his presence. For true, unselfish love is the way back to Paradise. Jesus renews the heart, and fills it with love, and in his love the highest earthly love is possible.

To the family pertain the noblest ideals of human love, the best illustration and type of divine love. Not friendship alone, but the highest love of husband and wife, of parents and children, is " the master passion"; for it includes perfect friendship and more. The family is the soil in which love and friendship flourish most luxuriantly and bear the best fruit.

Compare the Greek paradise, the garden of the Hesperides seen in the sunset radiance. Here the golden apple was guarded by four maidens named Æglè, Brightness; Erytheia, Blushing; Hestia, the Spirit of the Hearthstone; and Arethusa, Ministering. The Hesperides garden of modern times is the home. Over the fireplace in my study are written the lines by Joseph Cook,

"The flame purrs and sings,

And the heart upward springs;

The multiform blaze

Fills the soul with its rays;

The good angels meet
In the light and the heat,
And heaven opens wide
At the holy fireside."

The star of Bethlehem for the Christian religion stands over the Home.
II. JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE COURT, vs. 12-22. THE IDEAL RE-
Four or five weeks pass without record of Jesus' life, except that after a

FORMER.

The great Court of the Gentiles of 14 acres was on the south, the further side, for the temple itself faced the east.

short sojourn at Nazareth, the whole family moved down to Capernaum, his mother and his brothers, and his disciples, and Jesus himself. It is probable that Jesus was preparing his six disciples for their work by instructing them in their Scriptures. Most of them lived in or near Capernaum, and were with their families, or working at their business as fishermen.

Early in April Jesus and his disciples went up to Jerusalem to the Feast of the Passover. "They went up because Jerusalem was the capital, and because the city was 2500 feet above the sea level.". Exp. Gk. Test. Jesus was particular to attend these great feasts, for however much they were often perverted and misused by some, they were divinely appointed services. He himself was to be their fulfilment. And he could reach great numbers, at that time, with his teaching, and scatter the seeds of truth over all the countries from which the Jews came; and they came from all parts of the world. Naturally Jesus went to the Temple, and entered the great court

13. And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

15. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;

of the Gentiles which "had an area of about 14 acres (Dods), into which every one could come and if they wished could join in the services; for though Gentiles could not go into the inner courts on pain of death, yet they could see the incense of prayer rising toward heaven; and the daily sacrifices for sin.

As Jesus entered the court this is what he saw and heard, "the sounds and movements of a market, the loud and eager exclamations of competing traders, the bustle of selecting one animal out of a flock, the loud talk and laughter of the idle groups of onlookers," the money changers at their tables, cattle driven through the court to the altar, and great throngs of people. "Dealers were advertising their stock in loud and lusty voices; buyers were wrangling and disputing, and the coarse shouts of the drovers added to the general uproar, while the clink of coins and the cries of animals rose above the din of the jostling crowd." No wonder that Jesus was filled with indignation.

How Came this State of Things to Exist? Great numbers of oxen, sheep, and doves were required for the sacrifices. Each family must bring for sacrifice a passover lamb, the sacrifices being slain in the inner court near the great altar. Those living near could bring their own sacrifices, but "worshippers coming from remote parts of the Holy Land, and from countries beyond, found it a convenience to be able to purchase on the spot the animals used in sacrifice, and the material for various offerings salt, meal, oil, frankincense."

"An

Gradually all this business came to be done within the temple courts. The authorities not only connived at it, but drew a large revenue from rents and taxes. immense amount of covetousness and selfishness was fostered by the sale of these animals for sacrifice, often at exorbitant prices. For example, Edersheim tells of a case

Jewish Half-shekel.

in which Simeon the son of Hillel compelled the dealer to reduce the price of a pair of doves from a gold denarius worth nearly $4.00 to a half silver one equal to 8 cents." New Century Bible.

"The yearly temple tax of half a shekel due from every Jew, however poor, could not be received except in a native coin called the temple shekel, which was not generally current. Strangers, therefore, had to change their Roman, Greek, or Eastern money, at the stalls of the money changers, to obtain the coin required. This trade gave ready means for fraud, which was only too com

The coin in which the Temple tax was paid. The tribute money of Matt. 17:27. Value, 32 cents

=Greek didrachma or two Roman Denarii.

mon.

Maclear.

The result was that the temple court became "a den of thieves" (Mark 11: 17). Dishonesty in connection with religion does much more harm than elsewhere. It creates unbelievers. It undermines the power of religion. It turns men away from the truth. This place, made to be a house of prayer, the only place where outsiders could be reached by the religious influences of the temple worship, this missionary ground had become a Vanity Fair, an agricultural show, where all that the temple stood for was destroyed by the noise of the traffic, the disputing at the tables of the money-changers, the shouting and wrangling in bargaining for cattle, the tramping of oxen and sheep, and all the noise and confusion of the market-place. Worship was out of the question; prayer was interrupted. And the very object of the temple was sacrificed to the greed of gain.

The Heroic Reformer. When Jesus entered into this court of the Gentiles, and watched the scenes being transacted there, his soul burned with indignation. This destruction of the power of religion in the name of religion must be stopped!

Jesus stands alone. He has no weapon, but he picks up a few ropes of braided

16. And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

17. And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

18. Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

rushes (so the Greek, translated as small cords (Am. R. omits "small")) and binds them into a scourge which is good for driving cattle but harmless to man or beast. What he saw before him was con

He went on into the Court, and drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen; and as he went along, he overthrew the tables and poured out the changers' money upon the marble pavement, and said unto them that sold doves (which being in cages could not be driven out), in a ringing voice that could be heard all over the Temple Court by the astonished people, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.

How was it Possible for Jesus to Succeed in this Reform? Why did this great burly crowd of drovers, and soldiers, and elders in authority yield to the single voice of an unknown young man ? 1. Jesus acted and spoke as one having authority, as a prophet, or as even the Messiah. "It might have been expected that the words of Malachi would have been suggested to them, 'The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple; but who may abide the day of his coming? for he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.' He exercised the authority of a Son against the turmoil which defiled his Father's house." - Exp. Gk. Test.

2. His zeal, which his disciples afterwards remembered (v. 17, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up), and his enthusiasm, may have made his face shine like Stephen's when the Sanhedrin "saw his face as it had been the face of an angel (Acts 6: 15), or as Moses' face shone after he had been talking with God (Ex. 34: 2935). Joseph Cook, in his Conscience tells us that "other things being equal, Cæsar's eye goes down whenever it meets and does not possess the solar look. The veriest sick girl with this solar light behind her eyeballs is more than a match for Cæsar without it."

"Thus oft it haps that when within
They shrink at sense of secret sin,
A feather daunts the brave;

A fool's wild speech confounds the wise
And proudest princes veil their eyes
Before their meanest slave."
Walter Scott in Marmion.

3. They knew that they were in the wrong. "Conscience makes cowards of us all. Because they knew that God was on his side, and " one with God is a majority." They felt as King Richard did:

"My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,

And every tongue brings in a several tale,

And every tale condemns me for a villain."- Richard III. v:3.

4. Because Jesus embodied in himself, as a prophet, the moral sentiment of the nation. "All the true friends of law, who must have been long grieved by this disorder, would defend the righteousness of his action, thus rendering resistance impossible. "It was impossible for the authorities at Jerusalem openly to proclaim themselves the patrons of this disorder."

19. Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

20. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

21. But he spake of the temple of his body.

22. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

18. Then answered the Jews, through their leaders and rulers. What sign shewest thou, to prove that you have a right to take this authority into your own hands.

It looked like high-handed usurpation, unless he was a prophet sent from God. Let him show his credentials.

The Sign. What Jesus replied to this question, shows that Jesus himself and what he did was the sign of his being the Messiah. Jesus' answer to their question was a fact concerning his body, and a symbol or type of what was to take place in the national Temple some 40 years later, which they at this time could not understand.

19, 21. Jesus answered and said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. . . . But he spake of the temple of his body. He foresaw that these leaders would destroy his body on the cross at some future time for the same reason that they were at that present time opposed to him for what he had done.

And in three days I will raise it up, as took place on the third day after his death. Instead of destroying him, by that resurrection his body was transformed into a spiritual body eternal in the heavens. He became our universal Saviour, everywhere present, our everliving King, leader, Saviour, and friend. The disciples understood this after Jesus had risen from the dead (v. 22).

20. Then said the Jews, thinking only of their temple in whose courts they were, Forty and six years was this temple in building. It was begun, according to Josephus, in the eighteenth year of Herod, B.C. 19 or 20 (A.U.C. 734), and now it was A.D. 27, A.U.C. 780, making about forty-six years. And wilt thou rear it up in three days? if it should now be destroyed. The raising it up in its material form would have been impossible. They thought that their argument was invincible. But they did not know what would take place.