How To Cleanse A Temple

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,

Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, 

as well as the money changers seated there.

He made a whip out of cords

and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, 

and spilled the coins of the money changers

and overturned their tables, 

and to those who sold doves he said,

"Take these out of here, 

and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."

His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 

Zeal for your house will consume me.

Oh boy! Now he's gone and done it.  Before he was just a would-be messiah but now He has made himself an economic nuisance to the high priest and his family who either owned the concessions or was being paid a "fee" from the sellers and money changers for the privilege of serving the temple attending public.  After all, you had to have animals to sacrifice and the animals had to be free of any defect to be worthy to be sacrificed on Yahweh's altar and all such animals purchased on temple grounds were guaranteed to be acceptable.  Also, if you wanted to donate to the temple, you had to donate in temple shekels and not the money of the world that most likely had been contaminated along the way.  Certainly, one could not expect the money to be changed for free, there had to be a fee, it was only right, wasn't it?  So what right did this ridiculous man have to drive man and animal out of the temple?  

Actually, the business of talent acquisition for the bloody sacrifices of the altar and for the donation of the proper coinage was supposed to take place in the court of the Gentiles which was the outer court of the temple quite separate from the inner court where the business of the worship of God began in earnest.  The temple concessions had invaded this inner court and in effect desecrated sacred ground.  Jesus, as a good Jew probably had a lot of support for what he did from the ordinary people but he really upset the priestly family of Annas and Caiaphas who now more than ever wanted to be rid of this Jesus fellow. 

But how does this Jesus square with the meek and humble Jesus we usually see Him as?  We know Jesus as asking the children to come near so he could bless them.  He was kind and forgiving to the lady caught in adultery.  He was generous to the family who ran out of wine in Cana.  Here we see a different side of Jesus.  God is all loving and all merciful but He is also a just God who brooks no nonsense when it comes to widows and orphans and who did rain down destruction on the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah.  To sell animals inside the very house of God would rile Jesus up because He knew how glorious and holy the Father is.  He knew that this sale inside the temple was an insult and he would stand for no insult to the Father.   

This incident represents, I believe, a turning point in history.  Prior to this the high priest and his cronies would have been satisfied to have Jesus ridiculed with scorn and ridden out of town on a rail but now He had gone too far and He could not be allowed to make the high priest look weak in the eyes of the people.  The stage was being set for the Temple crowd to have their revenge.  Funny thing is, they thought it was their idea! 

Here is an idea for you on how to pray for the poor souls in a unique way.  Open your newspaper to the obituary section and pick a name at random and pray for that person by name.   Remember too to pray for your beloved dead.  Don't let your love for them end at the grave.