Jesus Clears the Temple

by    3rd February 2008    0 responses

This article is a study of John 2:12 – end.

“In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.”  John 2:14-15

At the beginning of the chapter, John tells of the first miracle Jesus ever did, changing water into wine at a wedding banquet.  Not a bad introduction for someone claiming to be the Word of God.  Not only does John use an eloquent and insightful introduction to his gospel, but proceeds to show that Jesus was exactly the person he claimed to be.  It may seem odd, then, that this is directly followed by an account that shows Jesus to be a trouble maker!  Why does John include this?  Surely, if he were trying to present Jesus in the best possible light, he would have edited out such undistinguished and embarrassing encounters?

There are several things to understand here.  Firstly, John was not writing a rose-tinted account of Jesus’ life with all the bad bits stripped out.  He was telling the truth, in all its splendour and agony.  It doesn’t matter that Jesus stood out like a sore thumb or that people looked at him with distain.  This was still the same Jesus.  And John uses this encounter at the temple to give us an insight into the character of Jesus.

Anger

This is arguably one of the most famous examples of Jesus getting angry.  There is, incidentally, another example that is almost exactly the same, near the end of his ministry, which is possibly more meaningful as it’s clear the people haven’t got the message!  Nevertheless, Jesus got angry.  And everyone knew about it.  Couldn’t he have just asked?  Couldn’t Jesus have simply come into the temple, had a word with the high priest and achieved the same thing?  Well, for a start it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

Jesus’ anger shows his humanity.  Each of us gets angry every now and then.  This is not some airbrushed photograph of Jesus, not a doctored image that only shows the godliness.  No, this is a real Jesus, a real person like you and me, with emotions and feelings.

However, it’s important to know the difference between anger and rage.  Many people look at this passage and use it as an excuse for their own outbursts.  What makes this incident so powerful was that Jesus was acting with self-control, even through his anger.  The whip that he made wasn’t to hurt people, but to herd the animals out of the temple courts.  And when that job was done, he stopped.  He didn’t let it get out of control.

What do we get angry at?  Are they the same things Jesus would have got angry at?  And when we do get angry, do we execute that anger with self-control?

Respect

Jesus had the utmost respect for God’s temple.  You would expect that, being God’s son, but the temple itself was built on that very idea.  The temple in Jerusalem was awesome.  It was beautiful, elegant, expressive, expensive, revered.  The temple was essentially a tribute to God from his people, an expression of love and devotion made in brick and gold.  And for some reason some people thought it would be acceptable to have animals wandering around in there too.  Jesus saw that and instantly saw that it wasn’t right.

Now, it’s important to remember that the concept of selling animals at the temple wasn’t entirely wrong.  Indeed, Moses had set up that whole system, and you’ll find it all documented in Deuteronomy 14:22-26.  As part of the process of forgiveness and repentance, God people were required to give an animal sacrifice.  If people didn’t come with an animal for this purpose, they were permitted to buy one at the temple so that they could complete the process.  It was logical therefore for people to be selling animals at the temple.  This in itself was not wrong, but in fact scriptural.  The issue Jesus had with it was the way the system was being misused.

Scholars reckon there were two things going on in this market.  The first is fairly obvious – they were charging far too much for the animals and making profit for themselves rather than helping people.  The second misuse of the system was that people would come with their own animals – goats, sheep, chickens, calfs, whatever they had to hand – and the people at the temple gates would take one look at them and say “Oh you can’t go in with that goat, its eyes are crossed.  God won’t accept your offering.  Tell you what, why don’t you buy one of my temple-approved animals instead?”  Essentially, they were squeezing as much money out of those coming to ask for forgiveness as possible, which wasn’t the idea at all.

Jesus makes it clear that respect for God’s temple is important.  Do we respect God’s temple?  Exodus 20:7 makes it quite clear that misusing God’s name is wrong.  In the same way that Jesus talked about his body being God’s temple, so is God’s name.  If we say “oh my god” in anything but a reverent fashion, that is a misuse.  The phrase itself is perfectly all right, and you’ll find it used many times in the Bible.  But using it in general conversation without actually referring to God is just like what Jesus saw in the temple.  It may be what everyone else is saying, it may be a part of our culture, but that doesn’t make it any less wrong.

Confidence

In verse 18 John recounts how the Jews demanded a sign of Jesus’ authority.  Clearly they had been considerably upset by his actions, and wanted some proof that he was allowed to do what he had done.  It’s interesting that they don’t immediately arrest him, which indicates that the priests probably knew he was right, and couldn’t legitimately arrest him for anything.  Still, they demand that he prove himself to them.  And Jesus, rather than performing any sort of miracle, gives them a challenge instead.

“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

Jesus is so confident of his authority in this situation that he doesn’t do anything there and then.  He knows that’s what people want, but he also knows that a miracle in itself can be explained away by sceptic eyes, or decried as demonic powers.  No, Jesus knows that a sign isn’t what they need at all.

Jesus’ confidence is not just in himself, but also in God.  He is all too aware of the prophesies regarding his own resurrection, and is confident that God will do what he promised.  Hence the challenge – destroy this temple, kill me off, put me to death for all the reasons you may come up with, but know that I will be back again in three days.  Jesus wasn’t afraid of anything they could dish out, safe in the knowledge that death had no hold over him.

What about us?  Do we have that sort of confidence?  When God tells us something, or asks us to do something, do we have confidence in it?

Jesus cleansed the temple that day, removing the wrong from its courts and making it clean again and fit for its original purpose.  Jesus also talks about his body being the temple too, and Paul echoes that in 1 Corinthians when he says that all of us are God’s temple:

“Do you no know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honour God with your body.”  1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Just as Jesus cleansed the temple, so we need to be cleansed from our corruption.  This is more than telling lies.  Our corruption can sometimes go a lot deeper, and it may take Jesus throwing your money tables over for you to realise.  Our worship can be corrupted when the music takes priority over the meaning.  Our prayer can become corrupted if we say the same thing over and over without really meaning the words.  Our Christian traditions can be corrupted if we don’t understand what they are, what they mean, and why they came about in the first place.  Our personal devotion can be corrupt if we only read the passage without applying it carefully to our lives and praying over it.

Change is difficult, and if we find that there are areas of our life that have become corrupted it can be hard to know where to start.  But Jesus shows us how to cleanse our lives, not by buying our way into heaven or trying to twist the rules to make ourselves appear better, but to tread in his footsteps and follow his example.  And in the end, we are powerless to change ourselves – for true transformation to take place we must let God to the changing.

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Matthew has long had a strong involvement with Christian websites. He was a keen contributor to the original Crossring site, and subsequently launched his own website, Focus On Faith. Focus On Faith was incorporated into Crossring in September 2009, and Matthew took on the role of lead writer for the site. Matthew works as a web designer, and lives in the West Country with his wife, Ellie.

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