INTRODUCTION

‘After this, he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts, he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So, he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves, he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. Now, while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.’ John 2:13-25

Jesus clearing the temple is also mentioned in Matthew 21:12 / Mark 11:15-17 / Luke 19:45, but here, John places this at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, while the other Gospels place the cleansing of the temple at the end. There are differences in the accounts, which means Jesus cleansed the Temple more than once.

This incident indicates the dishonesty, hypocrisy, and prejudice at the heart of Israel’s religious life, and it helps us to understand that a head-on clash between Jesus and the religious authorities is inevitable.

PASSOVER FEAST

The Passover, John 2:13 / Exodus 12, was a feast implemented to commemorate God’s ‘passing-over’ the marked houses just before the Exodus was held on the fourteenth of the first month, the month of Nisan, or Abib, April, Numbers 28:16-31. It was held in the early spring of every year.

The idea of going ‘up to Jerusalem’, John 2:13, was said as Jerusalem was the capital city. All Jewish men were required to celebrate this feast in Jerusalem, Deuteronomy 16:16, and it has been estimated that up to two hundred and fifty thousand lambs may have been slaughtered at this time.

At the time of the Passover, people came from distant countries to celebrate the feast. As a result, they didn’t bring animals for the sacrifice as they were commanded with them, Exodus 12:3 / Exodus 12:6, and so the locals would then set up shops at this time of the year to fill this need, John 2:14.

THE PROBLEM

The problem was that these shops got out of hand and had slowly been erected closer and closer to the temple until they were erected inside. They started selling outside and then moved into the court of the Gentiles, where the Gentiles went to pray, and then it became simply a money-making exercise. They would sell second-rate lambs and other animals at first-rate prices, John 2:14.

THE MONEY CHANGERS

The money changers, John 2:14, would take the foreign money and exchange it for the local money at high-interest rates to pay the necessary temple tax. It was this trading that ripped off the sincere worshipper that Christ objected to. You can also imagine the mess that the thousands of animals would make in the Temple courtyards, John 2:15.

THE WHIP

The whip, John 2:15, was made up of several cords braided together. The fact that Jesus took time to make this whip shows that His anger was not out of control; He was composed and knew what He was doing. It was a formidable weapon to those about to get a whipping from it, but it’s unlikely that Jesus hit anybody.

Jesus made quite a scene at this time, upsetting the tables and chasing the animals, John 2:16, and it must have been disruptive to those at worship at that time. The phrase ‘My Father’s house’, John 2:16, must have turned some heads, as it refers to Jesus claiming Deity.

At this point, it is mentioned that Jesus’ followers remembered this passage of scripture, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me’, John 2:17 / Psalms 69:9. They may have thought of this at the time, or at a later date after the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which gives the Psalms a messianic ring.

Jesus speaks in almost a riddle fashion in John 2:18-22. The people demand an explanation of His authority, but He didn’t need any authority to remove those who were defiling the Temple, John 2:18. They didn’t realise that Jesus spoke of His body but thought of the Temple.

The body of Christ was rebuilt in the three days before His resurrection, John 2:19. When He arose, the temple became a useless artefact, and His body became the church in which all Christians now reside.

THE TEMPLE

The Temple had taken forty-six years to build, John 2:20. It was started around 20 BC, and the main work was finished in 10 BC, which gives us the date of this statement at AD 26. The Temple was still being worked on when it was destroyed in 70 AD. Some of the blocks used in building the temple were fifteen feet square by four feet high.

The original temple was built on ground purchased by David and built by Solomon, 2 Samuel 24:18-25 / 2 Chronicles 3:1. It was by a long shot the grandest and richest of the temples, and once it was destroyed, its grandeur was never recaptured. It was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the rampant Babylonians.

A new temple, Zerubbabel’s temple, was built in 520 B.C. after its foundations were laid in 536 B.C. Zechariah 4:9. This was rebuilt by Herod in 20 B.C., and the work was paid for before a start was made, and the sanctuary took just eighteen months to complete; however, was still going on in Jesus’ time about forty-six years later?

It is thought that work wasn’t yet complete in the outer areas when this last temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans. The site is now being used by Muslims who have built a Mosque, the Dome of the Rock. Much is currently being said in Israel about rebuilding a temple. However, political considerations regarding the current Mosque on the site prevent this.

The internal area was thirty-three and a half acres. Some wall blocks were fifteen by four feet. Built with cream-coloured stone, with spikes on the roof. It was topped off with gold. There was also a plaque on the wall which read, ‘a no enter sign’ warning of death to all non-Jews who enter in three languages, Hebrew, Greek and Arabic.

The Temple was divided into two parts, the Holy Place, with the altar of incense, the golden candlestick and the table of shewbread. The second part is the Holy of Holies, the heart of the temple, entered into only once a year by the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. The different courts emphasised the strata of religious society; the more important you are, the closer you get to the Holy of Holies.

The two parts were separated by a veil, made of thick cloth. This is the veil that separated man and God, and it was torn in two at the point of Christ’s death. The Inner court or priests’ court was reserved only for priests, and the sacrifice was burnt on the altar located there. The Antonia Fortress was a Roman fortress that they used to keep an eye on the happenings on the Temple grounds.

They asked Jesus if He is going to raise it in three days?, John 2:20, but the temple he had spoken of was His body, John 2:21. This was remembered by the apostles, after His resurrection, and was the cause of even greater faith, John 2:22. They must also have realised the full meaning behind this declaration of Jesus in that He is talking about His time in the tomb.

There is a general statement regarding happenings at the Passover feast, and the emphasis is on the close connection between signs and faith, John 2:23. John’s purpose stated in John 20:30-31, furnishes the key. The signs recorded are in order that the readers might come to faith in Jesus as the Christ and son of God.

But here there is an unexpected consideration, Jesus’ hesitation to trust them, John 2:24. Although some faith had been exercised, Jesus knew it drew attention to supernatural knowledge of human motives.

The faith was in the miracle and not in the miracle worker it points to, Jesus. Jesus didn’t need advice from others because His knowledge was already perfect.

In John 2:25, we are told that Jesus ‘knew what was in man.’ Jesus knows our hearts. Hebrews 4:13 tells us that ‘all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.’ In Luke 16:15, we learn that God knows what is in the heart of every man.

Acts 1:24 tells us that God knows our hearts. Proverbs 15:3 tells us that the eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the good and the evil. Ecclesiastes 12:14 tells us that God even knows secret things. God knows if we are sincere or if we are hypocrites.

If we are not living the way we ought to, we are not fooling anybody. We may think we have the people around us fooled. We may think that we have our wife and our kids fooled.

We may think that we have people at the church fooled. But no one is really fooled. God is not mocked, Galatians 6:7-8. He will not be laughed at or made fun of. We will not trick God. God knows what is in our hearts. He knows who we really are.

On the Day of Judgment, if we have not done what we should have done, and if we have not been sincere, but have had ulterior motives, we will not be right with God, Matthew 7:21-23. God knows what is within our hearts. ‘As a man thinks in his heart, so is he,’ Proverbs 23:7. God knows what we think in our hearts.