The Encourager
“Cleansing the Temple”
Cleansing the Temple
by Jeff Curtis
In John 2:13-3:21, Jesus cut short His initial visit to Capernaum to attend the Passover feast. The Passover feast commemorated God’s “passing over” the Israelites in Egypt who had the blood of a lamb on their door posts (Exodus 12:1-28). No doubt, Jesus had attended this feast since He was twelve years old (Luke 2:41-42), but this was the first Passover of His public ministry. This was also Jesus’ first public appearance since His ministry began. It began in a dramatic fashion, with His cleansing of the temple.
Temple commerce had resulted from the coming of Jews from all over the world for this major Jewish feast days (Acts 2:5, 9-11). Each Jew was required to pay a yearly temple tax of half a shekel. Jewish authorities based this on Exodus 30:13, even though there is no indication that this was to be a permanent requirement. Temple authorities would not allow this tax to be paid with foreign coins, so money changers were needed. Again, each Jew was to make certain animal sacrifices during the feast days. Most who came from other lands couldn’t bring animals with them, so they had to buy them when they arrived. And so, originated as a service to world travelers, but they had deteriorated into a moneymaking scheme controlled by the priests. The transactions were evidently carried out in the court of the Gentiles. There are two Greek words for temple. One referred to the sacred part of the temple. The other referred to the temple complex as a whole, including the court of the Gentiles. The latter word is used here.
The first public act of Jesus made a statement concerning His zeal for God’s house and God’s will. As He drove out the merchandisers, He said, “Stop making My Father’s house a place of business” (John 2:16). Later, on a similar occasion, He would say, “It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den” (Matthew 21:13).
Jesus’ first public act also made a statement regarding His God endorsed authority (Matthew 3:17; 7:29). Upset, the temple authorities challenged that authority. The New Living Translation reads in John 2:18, “What right do you have to do these things?’ the Jewish leaders demanded. ‘If you have this authority from God, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.’”
For those willing to see and believe, Jesus would give many signs during His ministry (John 2:23), but the most significant miracle would be His resurrection (Roman 1:4). So, He answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). He was speaking of the temple of His body (John 2:21), but His enemies misunderstood Him (John 2:20), thinking only of the physical temple of marble and gold that surrounded them. This statement of Jesus made an impression on them. Their misinterpretation of the prediction was brought up at Christ’s trial (Mark 14:58) and at His crucifixion (Matthew 27:40).
While Jesus was in Jerusalem, He did His first public miracles (John 2:23). We are not told the nature of those miracles, but they would have included healing the sick (Matthew 4:23). (There is no indication that, at this time, Jesus was casting out demons was a new manifestation of Jesus’ power.) This group of believers began to grow (John 2:23), but Jesus knew their faith was not substantial (John 2:24-25). The Living Bible paraphrases verse 25, “No one needed to tell Him how changeable human nature is!”
