Consumed for the House

Reflecting on the reference to Psalm 69:9 in John 2:17, Alan Kerr ( The Temple of Jesus’ Body: The Temple Theme in the Gospel of John (Library of New Testament Studies) , 85-6) notes that the verb “consume” is a sacrificial term that might refer to Jesus’ death.

Thus, “within this pericope dealing with the expulsion of the sacrificial animals from the Temple here is an intimation that Jesus Himself will become a sacrifice. Furthermore, Caiaphas’s prophecy . . . has a clear sacrificial nuance. Hoskyns puts it succinctly when he says, ‘[T]he purification of which His action is a sign depends on the sacrifice of his body . . . . And with his sacrifice Temple sacrifices will end.”

Thus, “on a post-resurrection reading the text takes a deeper meaning. Zeal for Jesus’ Father’s house will precipitate the consumption of his life as a sacrifice.” Kerr argues that it is precisely in this way that he becomes “the Passover Lamb to take away the sin of the world.”