13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
To understand what is going on, we need to look at the Passover in the Old Testament. This is one of the feasts that required every male to come to Jerusalem. Passover was part of the Feast of Unleavened bread. In Deuteronomy 14:22-26, regarding bringing tithes to the temple, they were told that they could sell their tithes of animals, grain, produce, and then buy whatever they wanted then present it at the temple. Part of the reason for this is that these feasts included eating and drinking and therefore they had to buy the produce and not just give the money.
In particular, at the Passover, those who arrived from a long distance had to buy a lamb. All sacrifices of animals had to be without blemish and the priests were the ones who determined if an animal was fit for the sacrifice.
The requirements to bring regular offerings and the offerings’ physical requirements is what led to the abuse in the temple that Jesus was addressing. 1) The priests would only accept offerings that were bought from their cohorts. 2) The prices for these unblemished offerings were exorbitant. 3) People who brought money from other nations had to exchange the money for the local currency – another place that the established hierarchy could gouge the people. The final straw that broke the camel’s back was that they were doing all this inside the temple courts.
How do we apply this to our lives and the church?
We should not come to church with the idea of networking with people to make money. I haven’t seen this for a while, but people from one particular multilevel company used to be really good at this. They met people, invited them to their system and made a lot of money while the lower echelon paid the pipers. It still happens with other companies also, insurance sales and people trying to peddle their business.
Churches have an obligation not to be distracted by things such as making money. Selling things to the congregation like books etc. except to cover expenses of providing them.
Churches and pastors should never be in the position of selling indulgences such as the Catholic church has done, or prayer cloths with blessings attached. All these things are distorting and undermining what the church is all about. This is not to say we should never let people know what we do for a living. We should be offering our businesses to other and using the businesses of others in the church but not for inordinate gain or expectation of deep discounts. If anything, we should be giving our church family the best deal possible. The abuse comes when the main reason for going to church is to get business, not to worship God.
15 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. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
Take note of how he dispersed the marketeers in the temple. We know that Jesus is sinless and it is demonstrated in this action. He chased the people and animals out. They would be able to recapture their animals. He scattered the money changers coins. They could pick them up again. But the doves, which would have flown away not to be seen again, he made them take them out. No one suffered loss at this action.
There are times when we need to “cleanse the temple.” Had Luther caved to the political pressure of his time, the Reformation may have been delayed. It would have come, but it would have come by someone else (Est 4:14). If we see something within our churches or our society that needs to be reformed to biblical principles, we must weigh how important our position is. Is it something that needs to be said to raise awareness of other Christians or confront a serious issue in society? Or is it simply causing more uproar in a world of uproar? Is this something that should be kept between you and God (Rom 14:22) or is it something that requires a confrontation such as Paul had with Peter (Gal 2:11-21). Reforming the church always brings controversy but sometimes it is necessary. It should never be taken lightly. Reforming is not revolution but bringing it back to biblical standards.
17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
John quotes from Psalm 69:9 about Jesus’ zeal. What I find even more interesting is the two verses preceding it.
For I endure scorn for your sake, and shame covers my face. I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons; for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me (Ps 69:7-9 NIV)
This is like a forecast of Jesus’ ministry. The leaders scorn him and, had he not been sinless, surely it would be deemed as shame. His brothers certainly rejected him as the Messiah and taunted him (John 7:2-5).
Part of the reason that Christians are scorned and taunted about their faith is their zeal for living godly lives. You never (or hardly ever) see Christians being persecuted or singled out as crazy if they are blending in with the rest of society and doing the same thing they are.
18 Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
Then enter the Jews again to demand some proof to have the right to do as he did. The religious establishment doesn’t like it when Christians go against their traditions or expectations of what is proper. They were pretty sure that they wouldn’t get one. It was simply their way of trying to intimidate Jesus. It isn’t any different than unbelievers who say they won’t believe in Jesus unless they get a sign. It is an excuse to cover up their own sinful desire to remain in control of their rebellion from God. Had the Jewish leaders really wanted to know where Jesus got his authority, they would only have to go back and ask John the Baptist again. He had already pointed them in the right direction, and they had rejected it.
19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." 20 The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Jesus’ response is of course recognized by us and stated by John as a reference to his resurrection. However, had we been there at that time we would have been as confused about his statement as the Jews were. We need to be careful about condemning those who are not yet saved. They don’t have the Holy Spirit and they don’t know Scripture. They operate on human reasoning and that is always dangerous. We need to be careful not to operate on human reasoning also. For Proverbs 28:26 says, “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered (ESV).
It isn’t until we have had our minds renewed by the Holy Spirit that we can understand Jesus. The disciples didn’t understand it at the time, so why should the Jewish leaders? Just as Nicodemus was stuck thinking about physically being born again, so these were stuck in the physical and couldn’t see the spiritual.
We must work diligently developing our spiritual vision. As Paul said, “We fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (2 Cor 4:18 NLT). We can only do this when the treasures of our hearts are in heaven (Luke 12:34). Then we will not need any physical signs to convince us.
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