Cleaning Up

Intro

John 2:13-25

What gets you mad? What gets you so riled up that you just can’t contain it and you either verbally or physically react? Maybe someone cuts you off on the road and your mouth starts moving and making noises… sometimes you might even regret what pops out… Or maybe you are at a sporting event (as a parent of a child on a sports team, this happens to me) and something good or bad happens and you get up and cheer or jeer, call out the refs or the coaches… Maybe you are at a concert and the music was so good, but now seems like its over and the whole crowd gets up cheering for an encore and you join along. Or maybe someone starts up a conversation about politics... The fact of the matter is that while some or all of these might affect us, chances are that we all have a point at which we just can’t hold it back any more and we get loud and active for what we see taking place around us. The good news is that Jesus did it too.

Diving back into our walkthrough of the gospel of John, I want to remind us of Jesus’ first miracle at Cana where He turned water into wine. What I really want to remind us is of the containers used, namely large stone pots used for purification rituals for the household. Today’s scripture takes us to the Temple and there is something more to be done with the Jewish practices of ritual purification that Jesus needs to address. And He does so in dramatic fashion.

In this Gospel the cleansing of the Temple is the first great public act of Jesus’ ministry; in the other Gospels it is the last.

Leon Lamb Morris

Placing this event can be an interesting task, but what concerns us this morning is less about when it happened and more about why it happened. John’s gospel is purposefully working its way through the life and ministry of Jesus and this is important for John to tell us fairly early in Jesus’ ministry.

As was mentioned last week briefly, John is demonstrating how Jesus has come to correct a number of religious practices for the Jews at the time. The wedding at Cana only whetted the appetite and hinted at how something needed to change about how the Israelites purified themselves. Jesus is now at the temple and wants to purify worship for the people.

Jesus’ cleansing of the temple testifies to his concern for pure worship, a right relationship with God at the place supremely designated to serve as the focal point of the relationship between God and man.

D. A. Carson

R.C. Sproul helps to explain some of what the expectations for the Messiah would have been at the time.

The Jews hoped that the Messiah would cleanse the temple of Gentiles, but Jesus cleansed the temple for the Gentiles. It was to be a place for people, not for sheep and goats.

R. C. Sproul

Jesus dramatically reversing the expectations of the people is another subtle motif that you can keep a watchful eye out for as we continue to make our way through the gospel.

Just as Jesus cleansed the temple of impure worship and things which take away from our God, so too do our hearts and lives need to be dedicated temples to Jesus and to our God, dwelling places for the Holy Spirit!

Cleaning Up

John 2:13–17 NASB95

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.”

Of the few events that all four gospels share in common, Jesus cleansing the temple is one of them. However, there is a discrepancy between John’s gospel and the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke). John places the event at the beginning of the story of Jesus’ ministry whereas the synoptic gospels report it to be near the end. We could get into great debate over the exact placement of when this event took place, but that is beyond the scope of what we want to take out of this passage this morning. It is possible that the timeline of John’s gospel is accurate and the event took place early in Jesus’ ministry, or it is possible that the synoptic timelines are more accurate and that it took place closer to His crucifixion, or it is possible that Jesus did the same thing on multiple occasions. Regardless, it doesn’t take away from the reliability of the event having taken place and the lessons that we can learn from when it happened. So, let’s put our trust in God, and in the Holy Spirit that as He inspired John, and the other gospel writers, that regardless of the exact sequence of events, the truth of those events remains, and that He still has some things to teach us about all of it!

Jesus is on a mission to clean up the religious practices of the people of Israel. We are clearly told that it was near Passover and that Jesus went to Jerusalem and more specifically to the temple. One hint as to John’s post-resurrection writing of the gospel would be the designation given at the very beginning that this was “The Passover of the Jews...” He has begun to differentiate between the Jewish faith and Christianity. This wasn’t just “the Passover,” it was the “Passover of the Jews.” Jewish religious practices had missed the very thing for which they hoped… the very thing which the Passover originally foreshadowed in Jesus Christ, namely His death on the cross as the substitutionary blood that would cause the angel of death to passover all who believe in Him! Jesus fulfills the Passover ultimately, but here at the beginning of John’s gospel, he clearly wants his readers to know that Jesus is upset at what He sees taking place in the temple courts.

But perhaps we need to give some more context here. In many ways, the Temple replaced the Tabernacle, and so scriptures pertaining to the religious practices surrounding the Tabernacle can be directly trasnferred to the Temple. And thus Israel was to come periodically to the Temple to worship and make offerings. Those who lived a great distance had special concessions made so that they didn’t need to transport sacrificial animals all the way to the center of the nation, and we know that Jesus and His disciples did not live near Jerusalem in Judea, but in Capernaum in Galilee, a couple regions away. Thus those from outside of town would bring money with them and purchase sacrificial animals at their destination which they could then sacrifice. Read about this concession in Deuteronomy 14:25 “then you shall exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses.”

Another cultural thing that we need to try to keep in mind is that Israel was not independent at this point in their history and thus they didn’t officially use their own currency, but the currency of the Romans, which had pagan symbolism and images of their emperors on them, and thus the Jewish religious leaders would not allow such currency to be used in the Temple… and thus there were money changers on site that could exhchange pagan money for the appropriate Temple currency. This of course makes room for opportunistic individuals to overextend their services and thus be underhanded and unethical in offering their services for a premium, much like we might expect of the tax collectors of the time.

Of Jesus’ reaction to what He saw, one commentary states:

“Jesus was intolerant (zealous) when it came to the misuse of God’s place by the religious leaders.” This zealousness leads Jesus to get upset… downright angry with what is going on. Those who might want to believe in a Jesus that is only love have trouble with passages like this, but we must undertand that love that tolerates evils is hardly love. Any understanding of God (theology) that does not encompass both love and justice ultimately ends up missing the mark and falling into heresy.

Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, vol. 25A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 163–164.

Jesus’ anger here in the Temple echoes God’s anger at Sinai when the people worshipped the golden calf. Jesus drove out the vendors and merchants from the Temple courts. John’s gospel is unique in describing that Jesus made a whip, which He then uses to drive out not just the livestock for which a whip might be needed, but also the merchants. He flips the tables of the money changers and then turns to those selling doves and tells them to “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” It’s interesting that Jesus drives out so many in His anger, and then turns to those who sell doves to speak with them. Perhaps this is Jesus’ anger softening towards those who were supposed to help the poor, or perhaps it is just John’s way of telling us that there was a lot of chaotic things taking place that day and that Jesus thoroughly drove out those who were taking away from the true worship of God. Jesus is purifying worship in the Temple.

John records that the disciples would remember this time with Jesus and reflect on Psalm 69:9 “For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.”

Searching for Signs

John 2:18–22 NASB95

The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

Causing such a commotion would attract the attention of those nearby and Jesus began to talk with the people gathered there… more specifically the Jews gathered there. They ask Jesus for a sign that Jesus can provide to demonstrate by what authority He has done these things. It would seem that what Jesus disrupted was something that had become common place in the Temple. People were taking it for granted that those services were stationed there. Jesus wanted to reclaim and purify the religious practices of the people and thus pushed the peddlers out of the Temple. Note that He didn’t tell them not to sell their products, but rather that He told them not to sell them in the house of the Lord. “Stop making My Father’s house a place of business...” The people want to know who this man was that came and ruined what many took for granted.

Jesus’ response is interesting and it is only through our knowledge of how the story continues to unfold, and John’s own explanation that we know Jesus foreshadows His death on the cross. But if we were to try, even for a moment, to put ourselves in the shoes of the people gathered there and to ponder what Jesus could possibly mean that if you destroy the temple and in three days He will raise it up. They are standing in part of the Temple, what else could He mean but this place. And those of you who are historically minded, know that the Temple had been rebuilt already. Solomon’s original temple had been destroyed. Ezra and Nehemiah in the Old Testament chronicle the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem, as well as the Temple itself. But further to that, commentaries on the subject reveal that in 20 B.C. Herod the Great (the one around at Jesus’ birth narrative) had begun a massive rebuilding program for the Temple in order to have his Jewish citizens more happy with him, as he was Idumean, not Jewish. He was a puppet king under Roman rule. He wanted to rebuild the temple even greater than it was in Solomon’s time, and the final construction on the temple would not be completed until 64 A.D. That means that if Jesus’ life and ministry was around the year 30 A.D., give or take five years, construction of the Temple was still underway. And for the real history buffs in our congregation this morning, you know that the temple was then destroyed in the year 70 A.D., which likely would have been sometime near or before the writing of John’s gospel. The people were still in the midst of the reconstruction of the temple and Jesus is claiming that if you destroy the temple, He would have the work done in three days. Someone says in verse 20 that it had already taken 46 years to build the temple.

Of course, John is quick to point out that Jesus was talking about His own body, not the physical temple. John wants his readers to have no doubt that Jesus came for a purpose and that it was to die and rise again three days later!

Jesus Reacts

John 2:23–25 NASB95

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, observing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.

Clearly, Jesus was rejected by the Jews practicing worship in the Temple. The disruption that He caused and the comments about rebuilding the Temple in three days clearly didn’t sit well with the religious leaders. This rejection by the Jews He was sent to continues throughout the gospel and you can keep a watchful eye for other ways that He is rejected. But what happens at the end of chapter 2 is an interesting turn around. Notice that Jesus rejects the people.

Clearly what He had been doing caught the attention of some people and we are told that “many believed in His name” after observing the sigsn He was doing. But Jesus “was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men.” I’ve not really spent much time pondering the end of this chapter all that much before, but what a profound statement. People are starting to believe and they are starting to follow Him. But rather than get excited, He keeps them at arms length. He knows what’s in the heart of people and that what you see on the surface isn’t always genuine. Jesus, despite gathering a small group of disciples, was not yet at a point in His ministry where He was looking to convert massive amounts of people and start a movement. He intentionally wants things to stay small for a while and to really focus on discipling a few people very well. His momentum is building, but clearly it is important that people have a correct understanding of who Jesus is and what He came to do. Jesus did not come to start a revolt against Rome, which could have happened if people’s expectations of the Messiah came to pass. Jesus came to free people not from Rome, but from Sin, which was a far greater enemy. Jesus knows what is in the hearts of people and was careful who He let close and when.

Conclusion

In trying to wrap things up as we come to the conclusion of this message, I want us to again consider what we have read in this special scripture this morning.

Jesus cleansing the Temple should make us consider our own worship practices. What would He do if He came here? Would He be happy with what we do? Would He like the songs we sing? Would He like the messages that are preached, the Bible passages studied, the fellowship, the Communion, the Baptisms?

Ultimately, it boils down to a question of what honors God and what doesn’t. Later in John’s gospel, Jesus strives to hammer home to the disciples that He and the Father are one and the same, and that if you know Jesus, you know the Father. Do we honor Jesus with what we do or do we distract? I’m not going to pretend that we have it all 100% right. But what I am happy with is the fact that we strive to honor God with what we do. We pray over all of it. We spend time in God’s Word getting to know Him better. We seek the leading of the Holy Spirit, particularly in matters we don’t fully comprehend. We might not have it all right, but I believe that we would be open to Jesus’ corrections if He were to come here and toss a table or two.

That’s on a church level, but how about on a personal level? How are you doing in your personal lives when you are not at church? Are you honoring Jesus with your 24 hours a day, 7 days a week lives? If He were to come and toss a few tables in your homes, how would you react? We don’t have it all right all the time. We miss the mark and we still end up sinning. Praise God that such things are not the end of the story, but rather opportunities for Jesus’ grace and mercy to shine all the more.

The truth is that the Temple no longer exists. It was destroyed long ago. Even when it gets rebuilt, worship of God isn’t exclusively done there, just as it’s not exclusively done within the walls of a church building like this. Our lives need to be saturated with worship and dedication to God.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”

We have a tremendous opportunity each day to bring glory and honor to God and we need to make the most of those opportunities. Let us be found faithful to testify concerning Jesus. Let’s be dedicated to God and to the Holy Spirit to such a degree that the Light of the World shines through us as though we are beacons and lampstands for that light.