John 2.13-22

CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

(John 2.13-22)

'Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both sheep and cattle. He also poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables.’ John 2.15.

They must have thought he had gone bananas!

One minute, Jesus is just part of the crowd of pilgrims going into the temple at Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of the Passover.

The next minute, he is ranting and raging about his Father's house having been ‘turned into a market place’, turning over the tables of the stall holders and waving a whip of cords up in the air.

Why then did Jesus blow a fuse when he entered the temple precincts and what is its relevance for us today? So let us look again at the cleansing of the temple by Jesus.

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Take for instance, the money changers.

Every male Jew, over the age of 19 years, was expected to pay a temple tax of half a shekel. That was the equivalent of two days wages.

However, this tax could only be paid in the temple currency which did not bear the head of the Roman Emperor. It was therefore necessary for the temple staff to provide a foreign exchange bureau where pilgrims could change their money.

Obviously a commission was charged to cover staff costs. But a commission, estimated at the value of an average day's wage, was certainly excessive! That was nothing less than daylight robbery. And what is more, the High Priest's family operated the foreign exchange booths.

Not only were they making excessive profits for the temple, they were also taking an excessive cut for themselves, and there was no monopolies commission to police their actions. It has been estimated that the annual revenue from the tax was about £75,000 in today's money, and the annual profit for the money changers was about £9,000. In short, it was a rip off.

Or take the case of the stall holders who sold the sacrificial animals and birds.

Pilgrims to the temple, and there could be up to two and a quarter million at Passover time, were expected to offer a thanksgiving offering. This consisted of an ox, or a sheep, or a pair of doves, depending upon the wealth of the pilgrim.

Now, if these animals or birds were bought outside the temple precincts, they had to pass inspection by the temple inspectors, to ensure that they were perfect, flawless and without blemish. Needless to say, an inspection fee was involved for this service, valued at half a day's pay. And guess what? Few, if any such sacrificial victims ever passed the critical eye of the inspectors!

On the other hand, pilgrims could buy their oxen, sheep or doves from inside the Outer Court of the Gentiles. These were guaranteed to be approved by the temple inspectors. Unfortunately, these cost far more than those bought outside the temple precinct. For example, a pair of doves could cost as little as four pence outside the temple, whereas those bought inside could cost as much as seventy five pence.

Little wonder then that Jesus blew a fuse!

After all, he had gone to the temple to celebrate the Passover Festival. What he found was a thriving business. Pilgrims were being exploited. Personal greed was being satisfied. And all this was being done in the name of religion!

No wonder Jesus exclaimed, 'Stop making my Father's house into a market place!’ No wonder Jesus began to upset the tables of the money changers and the dealers of doves.

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Now some people may well find it hard to accept such a picture of Jesus. They much prefer the ‘Gentle Jesus, meek and mild' of Charles Wesley's hymn.

Some people have therefore suggested that such an incident never happened, since it appears contrary to the overall picture of Jesus as revealed through the pages of the New Testament.

On the other hand, I would suggest this is in fact the strongest argument for accepting the historicity of the event. It is precisely because it is so much at variance with the overall picture of Jesus, that it must be true. For surely, no one could have made up such a story and got away with it. Furthermore, the early Christians would certainly have never allowed such a story to find its way into the scripture, and remain there, unless it was true.

So whether we like it or not, we are stuck with this incident in the life of Jesus.

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So what does the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem by Jesus mean for us today living almost two thousand years later? And what does this story tell us about God, because the aim of any sermon is to make the unknown God more real, by focusing upon the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, whom we believe, is the image of the invisible God.

I would suggest that we forget about the temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and focus upon the temple of God within each one of us, where God seeks to dwell.

As St Paul reminds us in the first letter to the Christians living at Corinth: ‘ Surely you know that you are God’s temple, where the Spirit of God dwells. Anyone who destroys God’s temple will himself be destroyed by God, because the temple of God is holy and that temple you are’. [1 Cor.3.16]. And again in the second letter he writes: ‘We are the temple of the living God’. [2 Cor. 6.16]

Although, you and I may not be involved in the exchange of money, or the sale of sacrificial victims, nevertheless, we are often guilty of trying to push God out of his temple within us, either consciously or unconsciously, by permitting sin to take root within us.

I doubt if any of us are totally single minded in our devotion to God.

Each of us has brought some sinful luggage with us which needs to be washed away so that God may dwell within us. Luggage which is pushing him out of our lives. Luggage which is distracting us. Luggage which we need to get rid of.

So today, I have good news for you and some bad news.

First of all the bad news. The God in whom you and I believe is not only a God of love but also a God of anger. And nothing makes him more angry than our deliberate sinfulness, sometimes committed in the name of religion. This is something he will not tolerate, as Jesus demonstrated when he cleansed the temple in Jerusalem, almost two thousand years ago.

Secondly, the good news. That anger of God is not born out of hatred but out of love towards us. He wants to dwell in your heart and mine. To this end he offers us forgiveness. He offers to sweep away all that prevents him from dwelling within us.

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So, it is not Jesus who has gone bananas but we - we who think that he will tolerate our sinfulness.

So let us have a moment of stillness, whilst we examine our lives so see what makes God angry with us, in order that we may know his loving forgiveness.