Jesus Cleans House Series

As an 18-year-old Nova Scotian farm boy, Quincy Collins wanted adventure, so he decided to join the Navy. When he reported to the naval base in Halifax for his interview, he took a cab that dropped him off at the front gate.

Explaining to the guard at the gate why he was there, the guard looked at him and asked, “What is your sin?”

Being a good Baptist, Quincy knew what sin was. But he just stood there, his mind completely blank except to think, “What do my sins have to do with me joining the Navy?”

The guard repeated the question once again and Quincy said nothing. Finally, in a much louder voice, the guard barked, “What is your SIN—your Social Insurance Number?”

Red-faced, Quincy quickly pulled out his wallet and gave the guard the information on his new I. D. card.

As things turned out, Quincy did not join the Navy that day. However, fifteen years later in British Columbia, he was able to tell military families all about sin—as a Navy chaplain (Quincy Collins, Christian Reader, Vol. 34; www.PreachingToday.com).

What would you say if someone asked you, “What is your sin?” Some could identify their sin right away. Others would have trouble answering that question, especially those who have lived as Christians for a while.

Such people can run on the hamster wheels of their own routines and rituals that they neglect to stop and examine their own lives every once in a while. They blow past the opportunities to reflect on (or even notice) the sins that hinder their effectiveness as God’s soldiers.

That’s how the religious community in Jesus’ day operated. For years, they had followed their own routines and rituals, which blinded them to the gross sin they were committing right in the Temple complex itself. Then Jesus shows up.

If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to John 2, John 2, where we see what happened in that First Century Temple and what can happen when He shows up in your life, as well.

John 2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days (ESV).

After Jesus turned water into wine, He went home for a while. Then, it was time for Jesus to leave.

John 2:13-14 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there (ESV).

It’s not like these things were done in secret. It’s just that people stopped noticing the merchants and money changers. It had become so much a part of their routine, they looked past it all.

For many years, people would make their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem at Passover to make the required sacrifices. Since many of them came from great distances, as a convenience, they could purchase their sacrificial animals right there in Jerusalem. They had five markets to choose from: four on the Mount of Olives and one in the Temple complex itself in the court of the Gentiles.

William Barclay says, “Nearly everyone who came to the Temple brought an offering. You could buy doves outside the Temple, but the [priests] had appointed Temple inspectors and they would be certain to find a flaw or fault in any animal brought [from] outside. They would say, ‘Just buy one from our Temple stalls. They have already been inspected.’ The difficulty was that outside a pair of doves might cost as little as four pence (a day’s wage), while inside they might cost as much as 180 pence (45 days wages)” (William Barclay, Life of Christ).

Caiaphas, the high priest, had set this market up in the Temple to unfairly compete with the traditional markets on the Mount of Olives, and he got filthy rich, as a result.

More than that, there were money changers in the Temple. Everyone was required to pay a yearly “Temple Tax.” Only they could not use their Greek and Roman coins, because they had a king’s head on it—an idolatrous graven image. So they had to exchange their common currency for special coins. The problem was the money changers charged exorbitant rates to exchange the money—a whole day’s wage! Then, they often cheated their customers in the exchange of coins.

On top of it all, this wild market prevented Gentiles from having a place to worship the True and Living God, because all this took place in the court of the Gentiles. The court had become a thoroughfare. People loaded with merchandise were taking shortcuts through it from one part of the city to the other with over a quarter of a million animals involved. One historian noted that “at Passover in AD 66 the worshippers required an estimated 255,600 lambs” (William Lane, IVP Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel According to Mark, 1974, p. 406).