Season of
Dedication of the Church
Third
Sunday: John 2:13-22
THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE
THE CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE
INTRODUCTION
The Temple of Jerusalem was the only place
where the Israelites could offer sacrifices to God. By allowing unjust
business related to Temple service, the Temple authorities contaminated
God’s dwelling place. The Court of Gentiles became unsuitable for
prayers. The merchants exploited the pilgrims through the sales of
sacrificial animals and money exchange. Like the leaven cleaning before
Passover in the Jewish houses, Jesus cleaned his Father’s house by
expelling the corrupted merchants and their merchandise. When the Jewish
authorities questioned this, he predicted his resurrection as a sign of
his authority over his Father’s house. “We are the temple of the living
God.” (2 Cor. 6:16). Let us keep our lives as holy dwelling place of
God.
BIBLE TEXT
(John 2:13) As the Passover of the Jews was at
hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. (14) In the Temple court he found
merchants selling oxen, sheep and doves, and moneychangers seated at
their tables. (15) Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the
Temple court, together with the oxen and the sheep. He knocked over the
tables of the money-changers, scattering the coins, (16) and ordered the
people selling the doves, “Take all this away and stop turning my
Father’s house into a marketplace!” (17) His disciples recalled the
words of Scripture: Zeal for your house consumes me like a fire (18) The
Jews then questioned Jesus, “What sign can you show us, which proves
your right to do this?” (19) And Jesus said, “Destroy this Temple and in
three days I will raise it up.” (20) The Jews then replied, “The
building of this Temple has taken forty-six years, and you will raise it
up in three days?” (21) Actually, Jesus was referring to the temple of
his body. (22) Only when he had risen from the dead did his disciples
remember these words; then they believed both the Scripture and the
words Jesus had spoken.
INTERPRETATION
(John 2:13) As the Passover of the Jews
was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Passover, one of the three Pilgrim Festivals,
was a commemoration of Israelites’ liberation from Egypt and their
formation as an independent nation under God’ protection and leadership
of Moses. The Israelites celebrated the feast on 15th of the Hebrew
month of Nisan and lasted for a week (Leviticus 23: 4-14; Deuteronomy
16:1-8). After the establishment of the Temple in Jerusalem, they
celebrated the feast there. Every adult Jew living within 15 miles
around Jerusalem had to attend the Passover in the Temple. However, all
Jews, regardless of how far away they lived, came to the Temple during
this main feast.
Jesus had attended the Temple services
several times. His mother Mary and foster father Joseph had presented
him in the Temple when he was an infant (Luke 2:22-38). When he was
twelve years old, his parents took him to the Temple (Luke 2:41-52).
Jesus might have attended the feast of Passover and other feasts in the
Temple several times during the thirty years of his private life. The
evangelists have not documented them because those visits were
insignificant for the readers. During the three years of his public
ministry, Jesus celebrated three Passovers in Jerusalem (John 2:13, 6:4,
and 11:55).
(14) In the Temple court he found
merchants selling oxen, sheep and doves, and
moneychangers seated at their tables.
The Temple had four courts: The Court of the
Priests, the Court of Israel, the Court of the Women, and the Court of
the Gentiles. The outer court of the Gentiles was the only space in the
Temple where Gentiles could enter and pray. The Law banned them from
entering the inner courts. If anyone violated it, they put him to death
(Acts 21:27-32). All kinds of business and exploitation related to the
Temple worship and offerings were taking place in the Court of Gentiles.
So, the merchants and the Temple authorities made the place of worship
unfit for the intended purpose. The money exchange and animal sales were
formerly taking place on the Mount of Olives. Later the merchants bribed
the Temple authorities and shifted their business to the Court of
Gentiles, making it unholy, stinky, noisy, and unjust.
Merchants selling oxen, sheep, and
doves
Money changers
(15) Making a whip of cords, he drove
them all out of the Temple court, together with the oxen and the sheep.
He knocked over the tables of the moneychangers, scattering the coins…
If the business at the Temple was a needed
service for the pilgrims, why Jesus became furious and attacked the
merchants, drove out the animals, spilled the coins, and overturned the
tables? There were several reasons for his action.
1. Jesus got upset that the Temple
authorities allowed the shift of business and money exchange from the
Mount of Olives to the Court of Gentiles. He might have noticed the
change during the past years and was waiting to act during his public
ministry. The Court of Gentiles, once a place of worship, became a
crowded, noisy, dirty, and stinky marketplace with animals, their food,
cow dung, goat manure, bird poop, sellers, and buyers. They were
dishonoring the Temple and denying the worship of Gentiles. By his
aggressive act, Jesus showed that the Gentiles also had rights in his
Kingdom.
2. The animals and birds that the pilgrims
offered for sacrifices in the Temple must be unblemished. The priests
had appointed inspectors to examine these animals and birds. They used
to reject animals and birds brought from outside for minor reasons. It
was a secret deal between the priests and merchants in the Temple to
exploit the pilgrims by charging an unjust price for the animals and
birds sold in the Temple. Jesus revolted against this religious
exploitation.
3. Though money exchange could be a service,
the money changers charged an enormous amount as exchange fee from the
pilgrims. Jesus could not tolerate that abuse.
So, the Jewish leaders destroyed the genuine
spirit of prayer and selfless service in the Temple. That made Jesus
furious to act as a revolutionary. It has been a Jewish custom that the
woman of the family would do a general cleaning of the house and remove
any leaven on the eve of Passover. At the end, the head of the family
inspected and carefully removed any last particle of leaven left
unnoticed in the house. Similarly, Jesus was cleansing the Temple which
was his Father’s house to prepare for his Passover sacrifice.
Since merchants sold animals in the Court of
Gentiles, it was easy for Jesus to find ropes there. Collecting several
cords, he could make a whip. He drove the animals and merchants from the
Temple area. That was a single-person revolt. The unexpected action, the
popularity of Jesus as a prophet, his fame as a miracle worker, his
public support, the intensity of his face expression, and the
self-awareness of the merchants that they were doing wrong, might have
made the merchants not to counter attack Jesus right there.
(16) … and ordered the people selling
the doves, “Take all this away and stop turning my Father’s house into a
marketplace!”
Jesus was soft to the doves and their
merchants. He expressed the reasoning for his action. He did not want to
make the Temple a marketplace. Jesus revealed himself as the Son of God
by expressing that the Temple was his Father’s house.
Jesus’ action was also a fulfillment of
Malachi 3:1-2. “Now, I am sending my messenger ahead of me to clear the
way; then suddenly the LORD for whom you long will enter the sanctuary.
The messenger of the covenant whom you so greatly desire is coming, says
the LORD of hosts. Who can endure the day of his coming and who can
stand when he appears? For he is like fire in the foundry and like the
lye used for bleaching.” John the Baptist came as the messenger and
Jesus came to purify the Temple.
(17) His disciples recalled the words
of Scripture: Zeal for your house consumes me like a fire.
When the disciples witnessed the brave action
of Jesus in the Temple, they remembered King David’s Psalm 69:9: “Zeal
for your house burns me like fire, and those who insult you insult me as
well.” David was expressing his passion for the house of God that also
became a prediction and fulfillment in Jesus’ life.
The house of God could mean the Tabernacle or
the assembly of God. King David was very zealous for the house of God.
Though he wished to build the Temple, God did not allow him to do so
during his reign. However, he expressed his zeal for the house of God:
King David spent his entire life to unify the
scattered Israelite tribes and to build up the assembly of God (2 Samuel
5:1-5). The enthusiastic actions of Jesus to unify all nations including
the Israelites and the Gentiles in his new Temple remind David’s zeal
for the unification of Israelites. David prepared every material needed
for the Temple. So also, Jesus prepared everything necessary for the new
Israel. Just as David did not build the Temple, Jesus let the Holy
Spirit inaugurate his church on the day of Pentecost. He also allowed
the apostles to build up the church.
In his attempt to purify Israel, Jesus did
the dramatic action of cleansing the Temple of God by expelling the
merchants and their merchandise. It conveyed the need to rectify the
evils in the then Judaism.
(18) The Jews then questioned Jesus,
“What sign can you show us, which proves your right to do this?”
Jesus’ revolutionary act shocked the Jews.
Besides, he claimed that he was the son of God by relating the Temple as
his Father’s house. So, they asked for proof of his authority. Just
performing the miracles that Jesus did, were not enough for them to
prove the authenticity of a prophet (Deut. 13: 2-5).
John the Baptist had testified about Jesus to
the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him for baptism: “The axe is
already laid to the roots of the trees; any tree that does not produce
good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire… He has the
winnowing fan in his hand and he will clear out his threshing floor. He
will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn in
everlasting fire.” (Matthew 3: 10-12). Jesus had shown this spirit of
fire in the cleansing of the Temple.
(19) And Jesus said, “Destroy this
Temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The communication on the Temple’s destruction
and restoration had distinct meanings for Jesus and the Jews. Though the
Jews took the Temple in the natural sense, Jesus was talking about
himself as the Temple of God. The Temple stands for the divine presence
of God among the people. Jesus was the perffect temple and far better
than the Temple Herod the Great rebuilt. It lacked the original ark and
the shekinah cloud. For Jesus, the Temple’s destruction was his
crucifixion and its restoration his resurrection on the third day.
(20) The Jews then replied, “The
building of this Temple has taken forty-six years, and you will raise it
up in three days?”
The Jews, and even the disciples, could not
grasp what Jesus meant when he said on the destruction and rebuilding of
the Temple in three days. They were taking it in a natural sense on the
Temple that King Herod the Great reconstructed.
King Solomon had built the first Temple in
950 B.C. (1 Kings 6:1). Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon destroyed it
in 586 B.C. (2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36). After the Babylonian
exile, Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah constructed another Temple at
the same location with the decree he received from the then Persian King
Darius. Its dedication was in 515 B.C. (Ezra 6:15-18). People called it
Zerubbabel’s Temple or the Second Temple. At the dedication of that
Temple, the older Jews who could recollect the First Temple got
disappointed. It was 90 feet less, with fewer resources, and was less
majestic compared to the Solomon’s Temple. The most precious and holy
items like Ark of the Covenant and God’s glorious presence or Shekinah
were missing.
King Herod the Great rebuilt the Second
Temple, enlarging it and making it magnificent like that of Solomon’s
Temple. The reconstruction started in 19 B.C. and continued even after
Jesus’ resurrection until 63 A.D. without interruption to the
sacrifices. Though the builders completed the major portion of the
Temple before the death of King Herod the Great in 4 B.C., the
construction continued. According to the Jewish historian Josephus,
10,000 skilled laborers were at work. Since the laity could not enter
the holy places, 1,000 Levites received training as builders and masons
to do the work. Wealthy Jews in diaspora contributed costly offering to
beautify the Temple.
When Jesus told the Jews on destroying and
reconstructing the Temple in three days, the last stages of the
construction was still going on. The phrase Jesus used for “raise up”
could mean either reconstructing a building or raising from the dead.
(21) Actually, Jesus was referring to
the temple of his body.
The body is the dwelling place of the soul of
a person. When the soul departs, the body becomes useless and gets
decayed. Jesus is God, the Word incarnate. He took the form of a human
flesh (John 1:14). So, his body became the dwelling place or the temple
of God. The Sanhedrin along with Pilate destroyed Jesus, the temple of
God, through his crucifixion. That temple of God resurrected on the
third day, as Jesus predicted. The disciples understood the true meaning
of “raise it up” only after his resurrection. The Evangelist John gives
his interpretation on the meaning of Jesus’ words here for his readers.
(22) Only when he had risen from the
dead did his disciples remember these words; then they believed both the
Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken.
The disciples believed in the word Jesus had
spoken, refers to his prediction on his resurrection. He had foretold
his resurrection also at other times. When the Scribes and Pharisees
demanded a sign from Jesus, he said: “An evil and unfaithful people want
a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet
Jonah. In the same way that Jonah spent three days and three nights in
the belly of the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and
three nights in the depths of the earth.” (Matthew 12:39-40). While
going to Jerusalem he took his apostles aside and said: “See, we are
going to Jerusalem. There the Son of Man will be given over to the chief
priests and the teachers of the Law who will condemn him to death. They
will hand him over to the foreigners who will make fun of him, scourge
him and crucify him. But he will be raised to life on the third day.”
(Matthew 20:18-19 & Luke 18:32-33). However, the disciples did not take
these seriously until Jesus’ resurrection.
The Jewish leaders took these words of Jesus
on his resurrection seriously. They asked Pilate’s permission to guard
the tomb of Jesus so the disciples would not remove his body and claim
resurrection (Matthew 27:62-66). Since the disciples had no clue on
this, they did not wait at the tomb of Jesus. When they noticed the
empty tomb of Jesus and had seen Jesus with his celestial body after
resurrection, they remembered the words of Jesus on the destruction and
restoration of the Temple and associated them with his own resurrection.
The Evangelist John states that “they came to
believe the scripture” which means the predictions on the resurrection
of Jesus in the Old Testament. There are many such predictions in the
Scripture. For example, Psalm 16:10 states: “For you will not abandon my
soul to the Underworld; nor will you allow your holy one see decay.”
Peter referred to this in his speech on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:31)
and Paul in his address in the synagogue (Acts 13:35-37). Other
predictions are Psalm 30:4; 49:16, and 86:13. Hosea 6:2 says: “He will
revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, and we
shall live in his presence.” The disciples understood that the scripture
came to its fulfillment in Jesus.
MESSAGE
1. Jesus used to attend the synagogue
services and Temple sacrifices regularly. When he was a child, Joseph
and Mary used to take him to the Temple, though the Holy Family was
living in Nazareth far away from Jerusalem. Do we make sure that we and
our children attend the religious services regularly?
2. Jesus acted with anger when he found that
the authorities in collaboration with the merchants made the Temple
dirty, noisy, and unjust. Are we keeping our church holy and fit for
worship?
3. Even after proving Jesus’ authority by his
resurrection on the third day, his enemies did not believe in him. The
base of our faith shall be beyond reasoning and proof. We also need
close encounter with Jesus by listening to his words and imitating his
actions.
4. As St. Paul taught: “We are the temple of
the living God.” (2 Cor. 6:16). Let us keep our lives holy dwelling
place for God.
5. Many Christians, who once made their life
holy through baptism and other sacraments, make the Holy Spirit’s
dwelling place unholy by a sinful life or ignoring God. Let us pray for
them.
6. Many in the world have not yet heard of
Jesus. Others have lost faith and keep themselves detached from the
church. Only a few become “the temple of the living God.” Let us for
pray them and for our missionaries all over the world.