Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Introduction

Read Luke 19:45–48 “45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” 47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.”

Explanation

This narrative of Jesus in the temple is given to us in each gospel. The Gospel of Luke gives us the least amount of detail, so I have provided the account from Mark and John to give the fullest account.

We have a strange situation. In the temple, the place of sacrifice and atonement for the people of God, people are selling animals for sacrifice AND moneychangers who would give a certain currency needed to buy the sacrifice. Jesus sees this chaos and completely demolishes the place.

When you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each have accounts that give different details.

Jesus overthrew the moneychangers tables.

Jesus overthrew the tables of those who were selling animals.

Jesus was yelling.

Jesus had fashioned a whip and was driving people out with the whip.

Is this the same Jesus? Meet, mild, and self-controlled. In this passage, we have a stark moment of Jesus anger.

We have to answer why Jesus got angry at the temple. Of all of the place Jesus COULD have gotten angry, the temple is the place he cleanses.

The temple is the place that the atonement for the Jewish people is granted through the sacrifice of animals. Not only this, but the temple is bustling with the Passover. Everyone had traveled to Jerusalem, and everyone needed a sacrifice for the passover.

As a Jew, you HAD to go to the temple, because (1) you could meet God face to face and (2) sacrifices were made. The temple shows us that you can’t just approach God.

This was the way that God was made right with God - a sacrifice. You may think it archaic - why would God ask for a sacrifice to stand in his presence. Why can’t I just directly approach God?

Tim Keller gives a great example. He says, “Suppose you give a child your inheritance to go to college. Everything that you have earned. All of your money.

And this child takes this money and disappears. And a year or two later you hear that they are living in the Bahamas on your hard earned money. Let’s say a few years later that child walks in the front door, grabs a snack from the cabinet, and turns on the TV - not saying anything to you.

What do you do? You have to real with the broken relationship before you can move forward. That child must become aware of what their mistake cost you.

That is what atonement and sacrifice and the blood of animals represents. The cost in the relationship of a God who gave us everything.

This leads us back to Jesus. Why was Jesus mad? I mean, the moneychangers and those selling animals are helping people to offer sacrifices. What’s the problem? The problem was that they were in the temple.

The clamor of the crowd was keeping others from worshipping. Could you imagine trying to worship while sellers were trying to sell chickens and haggle over prices?

I can tell when something happens out of the ordinary in this sanctuary, not because I can see what happens, but because 40% of your eyes move to the same direction! Imagine a chicken running through here.

I am not saying that if your phone goes off in here or you have a noisy little one that you are a distraction. In fact, I LOVE the sound of little ones in this room. It speaks life and joy over this place.

The bigger issue here is that there was no place for meditation. Simply religious action without any chance to dwell upon the things of God. This is why Jesus says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?” They had removed any opportunity to meditate on God.

The opportunity to think about God was gone. The opportunity to pray without interruption and dwell upon God was gone.

They were using the temple as a talisman - a place of a quick blessing instead of an invitation to commune with the most high God.

More than the crowds clamoring however, was the fact that Gentiles were not able to worship. The mercantile in the temple had crowded out the area for the gentiles to worship!

Jesus was angry, because the place meant to be “a house of prayer for all nations” was not a house of prayer for all nations.

It begs a question: Is our church a place that someone who is not a believer in Jesus could come and sit for awhile and watch us and learn? Someone who looks and thinks radically different from us. I’m not talking about membership. I am talking about growing and learning and feeling safe to do so here.

APPLICATION: How do we mimic the moneychangers and purveyors of livestock in the temple?

There is no longer a temple. We are the temple. Our hearts and lives are the temple of God.

We have become casual about the things of God. How seriously do you take the opportunity to worship?

Have you ever watched Undercover Boss? It’s a TV show where the the CEO of a company puts on the everyday uniform of his employees and works as an everyday worker in the facility.

Often, you find that employees are working hard and upholding company policy.

Sometimes, you are an episode where the employee is violating company policy and lazy. Meanwhile, the CEO of the company is standing in front of them.

They would have more reverence for the rules of the company of they knew who was standing before them.

So often, we try to solve this with extremal ramifications. Don’t do this. Do this. Those are all external. What I am asking is for you to let your heart feel the weight of what is happening here.

We must clear the noise from our hearts. Are your hearts noisy to the point that they have little room for Jesus? Clear them out. Often, the temple of our hearts are full of noise - idols jockeying for position above God himself.

Worry

Anger

Materialism

General Busyness - Are you so busy and your mind so busy that you cannot take a few moments to think about god

Entertainment - I love podcast and audible. I feel productive listening to something. Sometimes, I need to clear my mind by praying and singing and spending time with Jesus.

We use the holy things of God to come to Him for any other reason than Him.

What do you come to Jesus for? Is it for him to rubber stamp your life or become ALL to you.

Invitation

Notice that Jesus gave himself. He began to teach in the temple. God came down and MET with the people.

The presence of God, no less than in the days of Moses and Solomon, filled the temple that day. God was working and teaching his people.

He is the supply. He is the presence. His grace grants us mercy and peace.