The Gospel of John | Cleansing the Temple – John 2:12-25
God’s dwelling place will be purified by the hand of God so that we all might be able to approach Him in His strength.
It is not long after the wedding at Cana that Jesus and the disciples must go to the temple for Passover. Given the importance of this event, the temple would be highly busy this time of year as it was required for people to come and offer sacrifices during this time of year. Many people from all over Israel would be making the journey to the main temple. Yet, for the purpose of passover, the temple, and the chief priests, each had drifted from its initial purpose. The temple should have been a place open to all people to offer their sacrifice before the Lord. Instead, many sought to take advantage of the influx of people for personal gain. The chief priests, rather than dealing with the greed of those in the temple courts challenged Jesus’ authority as He did the right thing in His own home. God’s dwelling place will be purified by the hand of God so that we all might be able to approach Him in His strength.
Jesus would clear the temple, challenge the high priests, and declare openly His intentions to die for the sins of the people. The disciples would later recall the words of the Psalmist “For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.” (Psalms 69:9, ESV) Throughout this Psalm, there is a recurring theme that one who is greater will bear the reproach and the dishonor that another is rightfully owed. The disciples would later understood that this encapsulates the mission of Jesus Christ. He would come to bear our dishonor and our shame in order that we might be cleansed from our unrighteousness. Jesus rightfully could have ruled from the throne room of God, yet chose instead to become fully man in order to be with His people. The house of God, though, in whatever context it may be, will need to be cleared of its impurities. Christ will died on the cross for our sins and rise from the dead for our glorification and our hearts, which were once against Him, will return to Him in His strength and for His glory.
Clearing the Temples
The money changers had set up a system of exploitation of the people only trying to serve the Lord. Offerings to the temple would have needed to be the appropriate kind of money and the money changers offered a service of currency exchange, but at an exorbitant fee. Furthermore, those selling animals for sacrifice would do so at outrageous prices with less than desirable product. The Levitical law dictated that the animals be blameless and spotless, yet, it is highly likely that the creed of the people overtook their sensibility selling expensive low quality goods to the people. God intended the temple system as a means of blessing to the people to atone for their sins and to be the seat of God’s presence in the earth. Now, with those who sought profit over the needs of the people, the system crippled the faithful. Where the temple sought to free people from the shackles of sin, those who offered their sacrifice only became more burdened by the financial cost.
The clearing of the temple has often been used to discuss the idea of “righteous anger.” This is not incorrect either. Jesus forms a whip and drives the money changers out, flipping the tables, and scattering the animals. Jesus’ outrage, though, comes from the flagrant disregard of the purpose of the temple and the complacency of the priests to allow this system to continue. Our attempt to approach God ultimately puts everyone on level ground together. We all cannot rightfully approach God by our own merits and no one person was significantly better than another. With the money changers and the complacency of the priests, the religious system heaped burdens on the poor that they simply could not bear themselves. Those more acutely aware of their need could not approach God (despite the numerous times the law mentioned caring for the poor and weak). Forgiveness of sins became a thing of greed. As the dwelling place of the Lord, this type of behavior could not peacefully coexist with a Holy God.
Paul would later explain to the church in Corinth that our bodies are the temple of the Lord, His tabernacles and dwelling place (more on that below). As God dwells within us, the sins and impurities of our lives must be dealt with first. The sin that once ran rampant in our lives cannot continue to inhabit the dwelling place of the Lord. God will deal with our sin in some form of another. Our decision comes whether we will do our duty as priests and ministers and willfully allow Jesus to clear the impurities from our life or whether we will resist Him. Removal of sin never comes without difficulty and pain. We once clung so dearly to sin and now must allow God to drive it from our lives and set us up in righteousness. Furthermore, God is righteously angry at our sin, so angry that He would offer Jesus Christ to die for our sin so it may be dealt with once and for all.
- Why does Jesus clear the temple of the money changes and merchants? What does this tell us about the purpose of the temple?
Jesus Is The Tabernacle
The Pharisees arrive to challenge the authority of the one who fashioned a whip and cleared out of the temple of the highly lucrative business. Their question did not seek the reason for doing what Jesus did but instead issued a challenge to what gives Jesus the right to do it. Jesus’ response both established his authority as the one who reigned supreme over the temple but also demonstrated the means of His restoration. The temple would be destroyed yet Jesus would raise it up in three days. Clearly, the Pharisees had a quasi-understanding of Jesus’ response, but their goal was not to debate Jesus but to discredit Him. They laughably mock Jesus’ answer as preposterous and it seems that, for the moment, the Pharisees have won the exchange and maintained authority. The Christian, though, fully understands that the He is the temple. The purpose of the temple sought to provide a home and dwelling place of God on earth as a means of being with His people. Now, Jesus has become the temple, taking on the form of mankind to dwell among His people in the same way that God tabernacled with the Israelites when they departed Egypt.
This narrative of Jesus in the temple highlight the importance that God’s presence should be a gift for all people, not to the elite or higher class who can afford it. Jesus’ coming to His people torn down the barriers of entry by being the final and perfect sacrifice. Later, we know that Jesus will send the Holy Spirit to tabernacle within us. We will become like Jesus in that we represent God in the world around us. There is a systematic unfolding of the presence of God throughout the course of God’s work in mankind. Following and expressing our love for Christ involves our obedience to the will of God. The Spirit and the sin in our lives stand in contrast to one another and the Spirit, once invited in, will treat our sin in the same way that Jesus treated the money changers, by casting them out. All of this, though, is for our good. As the Holy Spirit removes the sin, we become more like God and He fills us with His righteousness. The conviction of the Holy Spirit will feel like we are being spiritual whipped and chastised but it is for our good. We are healed by the removal of sin from our lives and honored to house the Lord in our hearts.
- How does Jesus fulfill the purpose of the temple to the believers throughout the Gospel?
The Hearts of Men
When left to our own devices, we will tend to gravitate towards sin. Our fleshly hearts desire the things that are not of God. The sin of Satan came from when He felt that He could do better than God. Nothing has changed. The temptation of the devil seeks to make us deny God and set ourselves up as the divine ruler and idol of our own lives. Sin has rooted itself deeply within our hearts and we are slaves to its desires. Jesus did not entrust Himself to mankind because He knew that their hearts sought to rebel against God. The temple showed us how the unredeemed treat the gifts of God. Where God sought to bless and provide a means of salvation for His people, the people sought only to twist the blessings of God into self-serving, greed. Jesus did not entrust His plan to the desires of our heart because our hearts need to be redeemed and cannot be trusted.
In fact, the opposite is more true than not. The effects of sin have fully corrupted our heart. The prophecy of Ezekiel 36:26 will come to pass through the works of Jesus Christ; we will be given a new heart. The hearts of mankind are dead but God will give us a new heart to come alive in Him. Some would think that we nearly need to be cleaned. This gives us too much credit. Our hearts have blackened and died from the corruptive effects of Jesus. But take heart, we will be reformed and renewed through Jesus Christ sending the Spirit to form a new heart and bring us to life again. We entrust ourselves to Christ because we know what is in the hearts of God. We have to come to honest grasps of the desires of our heart. We cannot sugarcoat the fact that our flesh craves rebellion against the Holy and perfect Lord. But, by the grace of God through the work of Jesus Christ, the terminal effects of sin will not be our end and we can enter into eternity, having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Discussion Questions
- What were the people doing in the temple that Jesus was offended by? How did this stand in contradiction to the purpose of the temple?
- In what way does Jesus serve as the temple for the people? What does it mean that our bodies are temple of God and what implications does this carry?
- Do you think the heart of man is inherently sinful? Why or why not?
- Why should we not resist the cleansing of our hearts by the Holy Spirit? How does the Spirit’s willingness to give us a new heart demonstrate Go’s love for us?
- When have you experienced the conviction of sin? What did it feel like? How did it help to bring you to fullness according to God?
