~ All the council sought false
testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found none. ... But at last
two false witnesses came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to
destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” -Matthew 26:59-61
It's
a dangerous thing to know a little bit about Jesus and get it wrong. It's even
more dangerous to not even care about getting it right.
This
passage comes from the sham religious trial of the Lord. The religious leaders needed to come up with
a reason for His guilt before bringing Him to the Roman authorities for
crucifixion. Their best effort was to bring in two false witnesses who presented
the statement in this verse.
Unfortunately,
they didn't get it right, and as false witnesses they didn't really care
anyway. They said Jesus had claimed that He was able to destroy God's temple
and then rebuild it. But the actual
quote has been preserved for us in John's gospel: When the people asked Him for
a sign, He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it
up" (John 2:19).
Look
at all the things they got wrong. He never said He would destroy the temple; He said they would. He spoke generally of a temple, not the temple of God;
and He didn't talk about rebuilding but about raising that temple. John
explains that He was talking about the temple of His own body: They would
destroy it, and He would rise to life after three days (verses 21-22). It's interesting that the leaders themselves
understood exactly what He meant (read Matthew 27:63).
This
"God is able" passage quotes people who imagined that the Lord Jesus
was destructive and unpredictable. Granted, the Lord’s original statement was metaphorical
and intended to be a bit obscure. But it's no use accusing Jesus of strange
sayings when the accusation itself reveals its ignorance.
It's
always worthwhile to devote our time towards knowing what Jesus really said and
understanding what He really meant.
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