Let Jesus Cleanse your Temple

I would like to expound on a few miracles of Christ in the second chapter of John that illustrate how he can take us as the dirty sinners we are and make us clean.

The first account I wish to address is that of Jesus turning water to wine at a wedding in Cana. The water that Jesus turned to wine was “after the manner of the purifying of the Jews.” In other words, it was dirty bath water. Brother Griffin reminded us of the symbolism in this. He talked of how Christ took the bitter cup (dirty bath water) and made it sweet (wine).

This reminds me of the song entitled “Savior, Redeemer of my Soul.” Here is the first verse:

1. Savior, Redeemer of my soul,

Whose mighty hand hath made me whole,

Whose wondrous pow'r hath raised me up

  And filled with sweet my bitter cup!

  What tongue my gratitude can tell,

  O gracious God of Israel

I love the part that says “and filled with sweet my bitter cup.” Our bodies may represent the bitter cup. He can take out the gross water (sin) and fill us with sweet (the Holy Ghost).

This brings me to my next point. Jesus cleanses us. He, and only He, can rid us of the bitterness and filth of sin and fill us with the sweet, sustaining nectar of peace in his Gospel.  In John 2 verses 14 to 21, we find the account of Jesus cleansing the temple.

Brother Griffin brought up an interesting point about the Greek words for temple. He said naos means “body” and heeron means "an actual building, or a physical temple." When  Jesus found that thieves were defiling the temple, he entered in and “made a scourge” and “drove them all out.”

When we have sin in our lives, Jesus can come in and drive it out if we let him. He will cleanse us, but it will not come without pain. Jesus did not go into the temple and kindly invite all the moneychangers to leave. He was deliberate and even forceful in getting rid of them. So it is with sin and repentance. We can change through Christ, but the change requires that we let him perfect us and painfully mold and shape us. Becoming like Christ is difficult and thus requires some pain and sacrifice.

The principle of these two stories is that Christ overcame all sin and he wants to cleanse us. If we let him into our lives, he will help us and “fill with sweet our bitter cup.” As we become more like him we become more aware of even our smallest sins. Becoming like Christ is a process, but as we continue to let him in and daily clean our temple or naos we will find that we become a little more like him each day.

I invite us all to examine our lives and see what ought not to be part of our temple. When we find those habits or sins that we don’t want in our lives, we can go to our Heavenly Father in prayer and through repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can have our temple cleaned. We cannot clean our temple alone. Only our Savior, Jesus Christ, can understand and truly cleanse us. I know he lives and I know that through his atonement I can become clean and return to live with him some day.


Click to watch an uplifting video: "Savior Redeemer of My Soul performed by Dallyn Vail Bayles"