Cleaning the Cattle out of our Temples

My first mission trip was to India. Boy, was that an experience! In case you’re wondering, I don’t recommend that first time mission trips be taken to India. That’s kind of like throwing a two year old into the deep end of the pool and saying, “good luck, kid!” It was overwhelming, to say the least. There were a lot of shocking things I saw and experienced in India, but I think one of the most bizzare parts of Indian culture is their veneration of cows.

Mahatma Ghandi was once asked what the highest tenet of Hinduism was and he responded that the protection of cows was the most important thing about Hinduism. It’s hard to wrap our American minds around that concept. Now, I can respect a double cheeseburger, but I don’t think that’s what Ghandi meant...

This cow protection leads to some interesting problems in India. Cows roam free, even in the bustling city of New Delhi, and they cannot be harmed. It’s pretty common to see cows roaming through the streets, and you’ll even find people following them worshipping. It’s an odd sight, to say the least, to see cows roaming freely in the middle of a 10 lane highway jammed with millions of people and traffic. They wander into temples, businesses, outdoor restaurants, pretty much wherever they want. They’re just out of place. They don’t belong there, but because of Hinduism’s mixed up priorities, they have free reign to go wherever they want.

We’re going to take a look at some misplaced cattle this morning, and see what Jesus had to say about it. And if we look carefully, we might find that we have some misplaced cattle in our own lives, too.

Jesus is not “throwing a hissy fit”

John’s account of this story offers some unique insights into the event, one of the most significant of which is Jesus careful crafting of a whip.

Crafting a whip is not something you take time to do when you loose your temper.

The fact that Jesus took time to sit down and make a whip shows restraint, reflection, and intentionality.

It’s obvious from the gospel accounts that he didn’t use the whip on people, only to drive out the livestock.

It demonstrates that Jesus’ actions were not prompted by uncontrolled rage bubbling over but were instead carefully calculated and planned to achieve an effect. Jesus’ actions were meant as a symbolic display.

This passage is not about anger, or even righteous anger.

The Jews’ reaction to his actions in verse 18 demonstrate that they perceived the message—they didn’t demand that he leave, instead, they asked him for a sign of his authority to make such a statement.

So then, what is Jesus doing?

Jesus’ temple cleansing reveals him as the Son of David, the long awaited Messiah.

His disciples understand the significance of his actions and connect them with the Messianic prophecy in Psalm 69:9. Psalm 69 depicts David as suffering unjustly at the hands of his enemies, yet having acted righteously himself.

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.

Psalm 69:21 ESV

21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

In each of the synoptic gospels, the triumphal entry where Jesus is heralded as the “Son of David” immediately precedes the temple cleansing

Mark 11:9–10 ESV

9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

In Jn 2:18, the Jews also seem to understand that Jesus is claiming Messianic authority, because they demand that he show them a sign to validate his authority claims.

In Luke, the account of Jesus’ temple cleansing is immediately followed with a direct challenge to his authority:

Luke 20:1–2 ESV

1 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.”

Jesus’ temple cleansing signals judgement upon Jerusalem and the Temple institution and a transition to the New Covenant.

In Mark 11, the account of Jesus’ temple cleansing is immediately preceded and followed by his cursing of the unfruitful fig tree. Jesus passes by a fig tree which has produced no fruit and curses it. Jesus goes on to cleanse the temple and when he returns, his disciples note that the fig tree has completely withered up. The point is that Jesus has passed judgment upon the temple and those in charge of it, and it will soon be destroyed.

Jesus’ sign—"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”—is not just a prophecy about his coming resurrection.

It communicates his authority over death

It is intentionally cryptic so as to exclude the skeptical Pharisees and Sadduccees from understanding

It is a prophetic sign given to his disciples of his identity as Messiah and God

But, most importantly, it signals the coming transition in covenants

When Jesus said “temple,” he wasn’t referring to the building he was standing in, he was referring to his body.

John 2:21 ESV

21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

Under the Old Covenant, the temple was a physical building where people were to worship God.

The temple was supposed to draw in and attract the Gentiles.

Micah 4:2 ESV

2 and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

The temple was supposed to be holy, set apart for worship, not used and defiled with common things (like business)

The temple was God’s dwelling place with man—the place where sins were forgiven and man could experience relationship with God

So, we need to ask ourselves: “What is the Temple under the New Covenant?”

In the New Covenant, the Temple of God is US—the Church—not a building!

We often misapply Jesus’ instructions here as a prohibition on conducting business within the church building. “There should be no buying or selling within the Church building,” we say. Or we might speak more generally about treating the Lord’s house with respect: “We should keep the Lord’s house holy—no running, playing, or horsing around.”

I know of a small church which once had a thriving Wednesday night youth ministry with more than 50 kids coming every night. The church itself had barely more than 70 people on Sunday morning! But they were reaching kids every Wednesday night whose parents wouldn’t dare come to church on Sunday.

But, after a few doors were flung open and knocked holes in the walls, and after a couple of unchurched and unsaved kids were caught smoking in the bathrooms, it was decided that “the Lord’s house” was sustaining too much damage from these rough kids, and the whole program was abandoned.

In the coming months and years, that church withered up kind of like that fig tree. Shame on them for thinking that “the Lord’s house” was a building. Where the Lord really wanted to live was in the hearts of those children whom they turned away so that they might keep their precious walls unblemished. Mark my words—God will judge churches like that.

But the New Testament equivalent of the Temple is NOT the church building—it’s the Church itself! Our bodies are the temple of God.

When Jesus died, the curtain which divided the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom, signaling the end of the age of the physical temple. No longer would a physical building be set apart for worship, no longer would a physical building be used to draw in the Gentiles, no longer would a physical building be God’s dwelling place with mankind, the place where man experiences relationship with God—No! From that point on, the temple became us!

We like to pat ourselves on the back because we’d never conduct business in “the Lord’s house,” but this building is NOT the “Lord’s house” any more than the building which you call your house. YOU are the temple of the Lord!

Now, remember Jesus’ words?

John 2:16 ESV

16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

Matthew 21:13 ESV

13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

Mark 11:17 ESV

17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Luke 19:46 ESV

46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

So, how do these words apply to us today?

Just like the temple was supposed to draw in and attract the Gentiles, so should we!

Just like the temple was supposed to be holy, set apart for worship, not used and defiled with common things, so should we be set apart for worship and not consumed with worldly things!

If a lost person comes to you, will they find their way to God impeded by wandering livestock?

Is your life so consumed with worldly pursuits that it looks like you’ve been set apart for the world instead?

Is your life a “house of prayer?” or a “house of trade?”

Philippians 3:17–21 ESV

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Just as the temple was God’s dwelling place with man—the place where sins were forgiven and man could experience relationship with God, so your life ought to be the dwelling place of God, lived in the constant presence of God.

If you could travel back in time and be permitted to go into the Most Holy Place in the temple, how would you conduct yourself there? Would you be consumed with thoughts of all the other concerns of life while you were in the presence of the Almighty?

Every day ought to be lived like that because you ARE in the presence of the Almighty! You ARE the Holy of Holies!

James 4:4–10 ESV

4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Of course, you shouldn’t be conducting business while you’re at church, but it’s not because the building is somehow special—it’s because you shouldn’t be mixing worldly concerns with the time that you have set aside to focus on worshipping God. If you constantly find yourself concerned with other things during the time we meet together for worship, then perhaps that’s evidence that you have some cattle in your temple.

Conclusion: It’s time to clean up our temples. It’s time to get the distractions out of our lives, and sanctify ourselves—set ourselves apart as dedicated to the Lord.