Pubic Ministry: Cleansing the Temple (2:13-25)

Introduction:

In our continuing study of this great Gospel of John, we saw last week the first of seven sign miracles that Jesus would do to declare the reality of he being both God and man, and that this reality would transform both heaven and earth. Jesus showed us by changing the water into wine, that he was the one who would implement the New Covenant, replacing or fulfilling the Old Covenant with his eternal salvation and blessing.

This morning, we will see again, a display of Jesus New Covenant work as he engages in Cleansing the Temple, the center of worship life of every Jew, in John 2:13-25.

Text: John 2:13-25

John 2:13–25 ESV

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Main Idea: Since Jesus is the true temple of God, we worship at God’s temple when we worship him.

Background:

Jesus is the final and full expression of what was only a shadow in the OT (Heb. 10:1). Here He indicates that God is present in Him in a way that was only foreshadowed in the temple that stood on Mount Zion. The temple in Jerusalem could be destroyed, but not the temple that Jesus would rebuild in three days, His own body that was to be raised from the dead. John’s record of the temple cleansing immediately after the miracle at Cana (vv. 1–11 note) offers an important key to the whole of Jesus’ ministry. In these events are signaled replacement of the old order (water of ceremonial cleansing, Herod’s temple) with the new (the wine of salvation, Is. 25:6–9; the risen Lamb as the new temple, Rev. 21:22).

Matthew, Mark, and Luke report a cleansing of the temple in the week of Jesus’ crucifixion. In spite of some similarities, these are best viewed as different incidents (Mark 11:15 note). It is noteworthy that Jesus’ statement about destroying a temple, which John alone records (v. 19), probably was the basis for the accusation by false witnesses who misconstrued His meaning (Matt. 26:61; Mark 14:58), and again for the taunting comment of some spectators at the crucifixion (Matt. 27:40; Mark 15:29). The first three gospels confirm the historical character of John’s narrative. An echo of the same thought is found in the accusation against Stephen (Acts 6:14).

I. Jesus Cleanses the Temple (13-17)

(13) The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Here and in v. 23 are the first references to a Jewish festival in John’s Gospel and the first references to the Jewish Passover (see Ex. 12:1–28). Later, John refers to two more Passovers—at John 6:4 (Jesus in Galilee) and John 11:55; 12:1 (Jesus’ final Passover in Jerusalem). Apart from these Passover references, John also mentions Jesus’ activities at an unnamed Jewish festival in John 5:1 (possibly Tabernacles), and again at the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths) in John 7:2, and at the Feast of Dedication (or Hanukkah) in John 10:22.

People went up to Jerusalem because it was located at a higher elevation than Galilee and because it was the capital.

A. Cleansing Because of Defilement (14-16)

(14) In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.

Temple (Gk. hieron) denotes the area surrounding the temple, including the Court of the Gentiles, in distinction from the temple building proper (Gk. naos), from which non-Jews were excluded.

selling oxen ... the moneychangers. Animals for sacrifice and coins appropriate for the payment of God’s tithes (in exchange for Roman coinage, which bore idolatrous imagery and wording) were offered as a convenience to pilgrims who had traveled from a distance to worship at the temple. But this profitable commerce rendered the temple, “my Father’s house,” an unfit venue for worship, especially (as the Synoptic accounts of the later temple cleansing show) for Gentiles, who were restricted to the outer “court of the Gentiles,” where the animal merchants and moneychangers conducted their business.

So, by conducting their business in the temple complex these individuals disrupted the worship of non-Jewish God-fearers (see note on 12:20) and thus obstructed the very purpose for which the temple existed.

(15) And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.

a whip of cords. Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Mal. 3:1–4. He comes suddenly to the temple and purifies the sons of Levi, as a demonstration of His zeal for God and for keeping God’s ordinances holy.

Malachi 3:1–4 ESV

1 “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

(16) And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” - Again, Jesus is affirming the true use of the temple is for the worship of God by all nations, and is not to be used as a place of “Worship for Profit”.

B. Cleansing Because of Holy Zeal (17)

(17) His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” - This OT prophesy concerning the messiah showed the immense passion the messiah would have for worshipping the Father, to the point that he would bare any reproach that resulting from this action.

Psalm 69:9 ESV

9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

This reproach is seen next in…

II. Jesus’ Authority Questioned (18-22)

A. Jews Seek a Sign (18)

(18) So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

What sign. Observers demand a sign to show that Jesus has authority to purge the temple courts of businesses that operate under the permission of the high priest and his colleagues in the Sanhedrin. Jesus has just performed a sign that elicited faith in Cana of Galilee to the north, as John’s readers know (2:11). Even after being miraculously fed in the wilderness, a crowd will demand a sign from Jesus to warrant their faith in Him (6:30).

Jesus however will give them a sign if they will recognize it…

B. Jesus the True Temple (19-22)

(19) Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Destroy this temple. Contrary to the garbled accusation of false witnesses at His trial, Jesus predicts that His opponents (verb destroy is used in the second person plural, thus “You” plural) —not He—will destroy the temple. As His disciples realize after His resurrection, He is referring not to Herod’s temple but to His own body as the location of God’s dwelling with His people (vv. 21, 22).

will raise it up implies that Jesus himself would have a part in raising himself from the dead, though other verses mention that the Father and the Holy Spirit were also involved. In fact, Jesus says that he is “the resurrection and the life” (11:25).

(20) The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”

forty-six years. The sentence itself does not indicate whether the temple was finished or was still under construction after these years of building. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus (Antiquities, 15.380) says that the temple was begun in the eighteenth year of Herod the Great (around 19 B.C.) and was not completed until the reign of Herod Agrippa (A.D. 63), indicating that construction was still continuing in Jesus’ time.

will you raise it up in three days. The Jews (and the disciples, v. 22) misunderstand Jesus’ ambiguous statement. Such initial misunderstanding is common in John’s gospel (e.g., 3:4; 6:52). Those who “receive” Jesus (1:12) are led on to full understanding, but those who reject Him remain at the level of complete misunderstanding (1:5).

(21) But he was speaking about the temple of his body. - we see here explicitly stated that Jesus himself was the New Covenant temple. The old temple was only a shadow of the coming of Immanuel, “God with us”.

Hebrews 10:1 ESV

1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

(22) When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

his disciples remembered. During His final instruction of the disciples before His arrest, Jesus promises that what He has taught them will be brought to their remembrance by the Holy Spirit (14:25, 26). The ability to predict events otherwise unknowable is evidence of divine authority. This applies to the prophecies of the OT and to the predictions made by Jesus, especially about His resurrection.

We see throughout this gospel, that Jesus would reveal his truths to a select few, because…

III. Jesus Knows His True Disciples (23-25)

This section serves as an introduction to Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus in ch. 3.

Believed and did not entrust himself constitutes a wordplay in Greek (both use the verb pisteuō).

A. Knowledge of False Belief (23)

(23) Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

believed in his name. In biblical times, the “name” summed up a person’s character, activity, and place in God’s purpose. The faith of those mentioned here remains superficial, however, because they come to it only because they have seen “the signs”. For that reason, Jesus does “not entrust himself to them” (v. 24).

saw the signs. Since the gospel has described only the transformation of water to wine at Cana so far, its record of Jesus’ signs is obviously extremely selective, as is stated explicitly in 20:30, 31; 21:25.

B. Knowledge of Humanity (24-25)

(24) But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people

did not entrust himself to them - as has been mentioned, this same word for believed by the people and entrust by Jesus, reveals that Jesus would not fully commit himself to those whose belief was superficial.

Jesus...knew all people, an affirmation of divine omniscience. His knowledge of people’s hearts is displayed in his encounters with Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman in chs. 3 and 4.

(25) and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

During His humiliation, which Heb. 5:7 calls “the days of His flesh,” Jesus sometimes exhibited limited knowledge befitting His true human nature, rather than His divine omniscience (11:34; Mark 13:32). Yet He also displayed supernatural knowledge, important for His redemptive work, that confirmed His deity and the Father’s endorsement of His claims and mission (1:48; Matt. 9:4; 17:27; Mark 11:2–4; 14:13–16).

So What?

Do we understand that when we come together to worship the risen Christ, we are worshipping at God temple?

Do we have faith that is superficial, only believing what we can see, yet failing to believe when we can’t see what is ahead?

Do we understand that to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ requires us to trust him as our master and recognize that we don’t know what is best for us?