Cleaning House
John 2.12-25
What gets you worked up? What gets you excited? Some people get excited over ballgames. Some get worked up over political issues. Others are energized by work. I know some who get excited over things such as cars or trucks. Such individuals work diligently to keep their car or truck washed and waxed at all times. They want it to be detailed properly. They want it to look good. They want it to smell good. And they get agitated when it does not.
* New car, parking in the back of Wal-Mart parking lot (not a worry now, I own a mini-van and there is nothing sporty about a mini-van). But I used to be one of those who got worked up when my vehicle was dirty.
* Cantaloupe juice story—my brother got “worked up” b/c I was transporting cantaloupes in the back of his 78 Celica.
What gets you excited or agitated or worked up?
In our text today, we read about an occasion when Jesus got worked up. He got agitated and angry. That’s right, Jesus got angry. Now his anger was not a sinful anger b/c He was angry for the right reason. He had a legitimate reason to be agitated. Let’s read about this incident together.
After the water into wine miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee and a brief visit to Capernaum, Jesus and his disciples went to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
The Jewish Passover celebration commemorated the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, when the death angel passed over every home where the blood of a lamb was applied to the doorposts of the home (Ex. 12-13). Passover reminded the Jews of the time the angel “passed over.” It also initiated the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so the entire celebration lasted over a week.
Passover attendance for Jewish males 12 and over was compulsory. On the 10th day of Nisan (March/April), a lamb w/o blemish was taken to Jerusalem and on the 14th day, between 3-6 pm, the sacrificial lamb was killed. Passover was a sacred holiday for the Jewish people. It represented the very essence of who they were—God’s chosen people.
It is difficult to imagine how Jesus must have felt when He approaches the temple and finds it filled with merchants and money-changers. You might ask, “What were they doing there?” Multitudes of people flocked to Jerusalem during Passover. People from all over the world traveled to the holy city for the celebration.
The purpose of these merchants and money-changers was two-fold. One, many of the people did not bring animals with them for sacrifice, so they purchased animals there in Jerusalem. Second, all Jewish males and proselytes were required to pay a half-shekel temple tax in the coinage of the temple (taxes were prevalent even in the first century, the worship tax). Furthermore, foreign monies bearing the image of a pagan deity or ruler were unacceptable; therefore, the money changers would exchange their coinage for a small fee.
In days gone by, these activities took place outside of the temple, but now the merchants, animals, and exchangers have moved inside the temple courts. The sacredness of the temple has been bartered for profit and convenience. And as Jesus approached the temple, he becomes angry at what the temple has become.
Remember, Jesus visited the temple on at least one previous occasion. When he was 12 years old, he accompanied his parents to Jerusalem. It was on that instance that he confounded the Jewish scholars and teachers with his OT knowledge. The temple of Luke 2 was a place to worship God and study His word, but nearly 20 years later, it has become a place of merchandise and exchange. Indeed, the temple needs cleansing. And that is exactly what Jesus does.
John tells us that Jesus makes a scourge of cords and drives away the animals and merchants. Also, he overturns the tables of the money changers and commands the profiteers to get out of the temple. “Stop making My Father’s house a place of business,” he orders. Jesus took this desecration personal.
We have here one of the more uncommon images of Jesus in the NT. Here we find Jesus angry and aggressive as he drives out animals, overturns tables, and creates a scene. This picture of Jesus (found in all 4 gospels) challenges the soft-spoken, feeble, and weak image of Jesus that we often imagine. He is the opposite. He is angry, aggressive, and powerful.
As a matter of fact, this incident brings to the disciples’ minds a quote from Ps. 69.9: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus is consumed with zeal for his Father’s house and it displays itself in his actions.
* This lets me know that sometimes it is okay to get angry when the things of God are being defiled or desecrated. Sometimes anger is appropriate. We need to have some righteous zeal about the things of God. When the Bible is attacked and belittled, it should anger us. When sacred images of our Lord or certain events like the Last Supper are mocked or desecrated in the name of art, it should make us angry. When the blessed name of God or Jesus Christ is cursed, blasphemed, or used as a byword, it should fill us with righteous indignation. Sometimes it is right to get angry as Jesus did over the desecration of the things of God.
Well, as we shall see throughout John’s gospel, Jesus’ actions cause an immediate response by the religious leaders. *If you start doing things differently or create religious chaos, you are going to get the attention of the religious elite. So they come to Jesus and they want to know: “What sign do you show us as your authority for doing these things?”
Jesus’ actions have a messianic flavor (as illustrated in the response of the disciples), so these religious leaders want to know, what authority do you possess to carry out such actions?
Notice their concern here: they are not concerned as much about what Jesus did as they are about who did it. The cleansing did not bother them as much as the fact that Jesus did not have their approval. “Who are you to cleanse the Temple?” “Who gave you the right to do this?” The religious leaders primary problem with Jesus was an authority issue. “Give us a sign that validates who you are.”
* If a policeman pulls you over for speeding or breaking the law it is one thing, but you do not want an ordinary citizen pulling you over. They were more concerned about the who than the what.
* Do you ever have an authority issue with Jesus Christ? Who gives you the right Jesus to invade my life? What gives you the authority to make demands on me? Give me a sign to validate your authority. Show me something to prove who you are and what you are asking.
I love Jesus’ response here. He does not accommodate their request for a sign by pulling out His resume or papers to validate who He is. He does not perform some spectacular miracle on cue to try and persuade them that He is the Messiah. Instead, he confuses them even more. “You want a sign. I will give you a sign. Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it back up.”
Now we know thanks to John’s post-resurrection perspective that Jesus is not speaking of destroying the literal temple, but rather he is talking about His own body--that He will be destroyed and then raised back to life. It is not the Jerusalem temple but the human body of Jesus that represents the presence of God.
He is the fulfillment and representation of the OT temple. He is the living abode of God and in this “temple” the ultimate sacrifice would take place. He would die and be raised back to life within three days. Jesus is the fulfillment of the OT temple. Not only would he cleanse it, but He would replace it. He would fulfill its purpose.
But the Jewish leaders have no idea what Jesus is talking about (and neither do the disciples at this point). What we have here is something we find throughout John’s gospel, i.e., Jesus is speaking at a spiritual level and his hearers understand him at a different/physical level. We will see it in ch.3 with Nicodemus, in ch.4 with the Samaritan woman, in ch.6 with the crowds, and in other instances in the gospel.
We can observe this confusion by the Jewish leaders’ response: “It took 46 years to construct this Temple, and you are going to raise it up in 3 days? Are you out of your mind?” They miss it. They miss Jesus’ testimony of his death and resurrection. And only after the resurrection of Christ do his followers remember and understand what he was saying. They were looking for signs, but they missed the primary sign—Jesus Himself.
Chapter 2 concludes by telling us that there were many in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus based solely upon His signs, but Jesus did not entrust Himself to them. In other words, Jesus knew their hearts. He knows the difference between superficial, outward artificial faith and genuine faith. He knows what is in us.
Many claimed to believe in Jesus b/c they saw the miraculous events taking place, but Jesus knew what was in their hearts. He knows those who truly embrace Him as Savior. He did not come as a magician, but as a Savior. And those who embraced him b/c of the miracles, He did not entrust Himself to them. They missed it.
What life lessons do we gather from this story?
1) Do not misuse the Lord’s sanctuary.
Two gross errors were being committed by these merchants and money-changers:
a) They were using the temple for convenience.
They were making it convenient to purchase animals. They were meeting the needs of the people at the expense of the temple’s sacredness.
Now, do not get me wrong, I am for convenience. We live in the day of convenient stores, of drive-through windows, of pay-per-view movies. We live in the day of remote controls, oven timers, and microwaves. It is all about convenience. A friend of mine used to say that if you invent something to save people 5 minutes, you will become a millionaire. Convenience.
Yet, the Lord’s sanctuary is not a place strictly for convenience. Indeed we want our church to be accessible and convenient for people to come. But we must never exchange the sacredness of the Lord’s house for convenience sake. I know too many churches that are sacrificing sacredness for convenience. Sometimes the Christian life is inconvenient according to this world’s standards.
It is inconvenient to be at church at 9 on Sunday for SS. Sometimes, it is inconvenient to be faithful to church, or tithe, or to serve in one of the ministry capacities. Serving Jesus is not always about convenience. It is about commitment.
b) They were using it for commerce.
The Lord’s house is not a place of commerce. Its primary purpose is not to make or flaunt money. We are all familiar with recent religious organizations that seemed to have nothing but the all-mighty dollar in mind. There are many modern day temple merchants.
Now, I believe in doing things right and first class. I believe that our facilities should be nice. We should be wise stewards with God’s money. I believe in tithing and giving to your local church. But we can never let money or excess be what drives our ministry. Do not exchange sacredness for commerce.
God’s house is a place for prayer, brokenness, contrition, worship, study, and praise. It is not a place that should be desecrated with the bellowing of cattle and bleating of sheep. It is not to be a noisy commerce center. When we come to the house of the Lord, we come for the purpose of gathering to worship, not conduct business. Come with the proper motives. Jesus is concerned about pure worship.
In all actuality what was going on in the Jerusalem temple was merely a reflection of the shallow religion inside the temple. The temple was being misused because it was not respected.
Now, let me make a point here. In the NT, we are taught that we are the temple of God. The OT temple has been replaced by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. We are the temple. And yet there is still a danger of polluting or contaminating the temple for the sake of convenience or commerce. We defile our temples with our fleshly lusts and cravings. We allow sin to rent space in our hearts and contaminate them. And it is a reflection of shallow religion.
We need to have our temples cleansed, our houses cleansed. And just as Jesus was angered by the defilement of the Jerusalem temple, even so He is grieved when we allow the temple to be polluted and defiled thru sin in our lives.
I am thankful that God will not leave us alone until the temple is cleansed. And indeed, we need to have our hearts and lives cleansed before God. So the challenge not to misuse the Lord’s sanctuary is actually a challenge to keep our own hearts pure before God.
2) Do not misinterpret the Lord’s sayings.
The religious leaders entirely missed Jesus’ prophecy regarding His resurrection. They misread or misinterpreted the His sayings b/c they were looking for outward signs instead of inward transformation. Signs are great, but they can be shallow.
There are many people who are searching for signs. They read the Bible or other religious material searching for some miraculous sign to reveal the truth. They are searching for human certainty.
The religious leaders made the mistake of looking at the temple itself and they missed what Jesus was really saying. They were focused on the building. “How can you destroy and reconstruct a temple that has taken 46 years to build?”
Let me remind you of something. Christianity is not about buildings. It is not about a church building. It is not even about a philosophy of life or a belief system. Christianity is about relationship. It is about believing in the good news that Jesus Christ has died and rose again for our sins.
Do not misinterpret the sayings of Christianity. If you believe that Christianity is about coming to church, or reading your Bible, or being baptized, then you are misinterpreting the sayings. Christianity is about relationship. It is about repenting of your sins and placing your faith in Christ. Do not misinterpret the sayings.
3) Do not mistake the Lord’s salvation.
The concluding verses of chapter 2 are very sobering. What we have in these verses is shallow faith. We have people who saw the signs, who witnessed the outward, and they believed in Jesus outwardly. They wanted to partake in the miracles. They believed that Jesus was capable of healing the sick. They wanted to enjoy the outward manifestations and benefits of following Jesus, but they never truly believed on Him in their hearts. Their faith was superficial. They were mistaken as to what salvation truly is.
And as a result, John says, “Jesus never entrusted Himself to them.” What a sad statement. Their faith was inadequate b/c it was not in Jesus Christ the Person. Again, it is about relationship. Many marveled at the signs and wanted to have part in the miracles, but few truly believed.
Examine your heart this morning. In what are you trusting? I have had people tell me, I know God b/c he kept me safe in a terrible accident or b/c a sick friend or relative was made well. They believe in the signs but they have failed to embrace the Person. Do not mistake events or miracles for genuine faith or salvation. Jesus is not looking for approval of the magnificent or spectacular but for genuine conversion.
Do not misuse the Lord’s sanctuary, you are the temple of God. Do not be content with shallow religion.
Do not misinterpret the Lord’s sayings with shallow signs.
Do not mistake salvation with shallow faith.
The temple cleansing is about 1) authority; 2) purpose, 3) honor.
Jesus Christ is the authority. He has come to replace shallow religion.
The things of God are to be used for His glory. Our purpose is to worship.
We need to honor and hold sacred the things of God.
Do you need a house cleaning this morning? What cobwebs are dirtying your temple? What dust clutters your rooms? Surrender to His authority and allow Christ to cleanse your temple.
