First Sunday in Lent (2)
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle,
sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 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. 16 To
those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s
house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for
your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can
you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them,
“Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 They
replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to
raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22
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.
John 2:13-22
This incident is recorded in all four gospels. Mathew, Mark,
and Luke place it in the last week of Jesus ministry, whilst John places it at
the beginning. Most commentators agree that it was most likely in the week
before Passover; one of the three times annually when all male Jews over the
age of 20yrs, and in a state of purity, were required to make a pilgrimage to
the temple in Jerusalem.
We know from the gospel writers that Jesus spent much of
that week in the temple teaching; indeed, Jesus attests to this in Mark 14:
48-49 48: And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are ye come out, as against
a thief, with swords and with staves to take me? 49 I was daily with you in the
temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.
All four gospels report this vignette so let us review the incident it light of what we know from Josephus and other commentaries. The temple was a busy place, it is estimated it could accommodate many thousands of people. Josephus records that there was a need for an estimated 255,600 lambs at Passover in AD 66 (Josephus, Jewish War, 6.9.3 §424) The high priest, not without contention, had agreed with the merchants and money changers that the outer court, known as the court of the gentiles, could be used as a market. The animals and birds sold for sacrifices were specifically bred for the purpose; Bethlehem was a place in which sacrificial lambs were bred and reared. The monies thus exchanged were a great source of income for the City of Jerusalem and the Temple. The outer court of the temple, which was open to all except women at certain times, was the only place that Roman monies could be exchanged for Tyrian shekels (temple money, which was of pure silver, even weight, and did not bear the emperor’s image.) The rate of exchange and cost of the sacrifice was inflated by the merchants and money changers to increase profits and resulted in much haggling. In short, the outer court was a busy, smelly, and noisy place. Many people were coming and going, (some even taking a short cut through the temple to elsewhere in the city) With the noise of haggling over prices and of animals, (oxen, goats and birds) waiting to be bought or being moved from place to place; it was not a particularly clean place and certainly was not conducive to a sense of holiness or prayer.
Imagine, if you would, that you had left your parents home
on a journey and returned with the anticipation of walking and talking with
your father in the quiet and pleasant scent of the garden, only to find that
those who were supposed to care for the property had turned the garden into a
noisy and busy cattle market; so busy
and crowded that you and your companions were unable even to reach the door to the residence. This was analogous to the situation that
Jesus encountered. His anger was, indeed, justified.
With the outer court God had made provision for the
“righteous gentiles” to buy sacrifices (which were then passed up through the
other courts for offering by the priests) and a to have a place to worship Him.
It was the lack of reverence and respect for both God and People that angered
Jesus and resulted in him turning over the tables and chasing the merchants,
moneylenders, and animals from the temple. Afterwards, Mark records Jesus going
on to teach the people Mark 11:17, KJV: "And he taught, saying unto
them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of
prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves."
Thus, we see that, although the Jewish people are special to
God, He was, and is, God of all who would worship Him. Jesus confirmed this
following His resurrection as recorded in both.
Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19-20 KJV
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature.
John 3:16 KJV
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
- Barbara Edgecombe Green