John 2:14-17 14And he found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting. 15And making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen, and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, 16and to those selling the pigeons, he said, “Take these things from here; do not make my Father’s house a market.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
What Jesus found in the temple during the Passover did not make him happy. The temple had become a market place where people were selling animals used in the sacrifices. The order of animal types goes from very expensive, like the oxen and sheep, down to what a poor person could pay with the pigeons. The motive behind these activities seems to be convenience. It was nice just to bring money and buy the sacrifice on the spot. It required little effort from the worshippers. Part of the problem was also that the sellers were making a profit. There were also moneychangers who provided the nice service of exchanging foreign money for the half shekel in Tyrian coinage that every male twenty years or older had to pay. The money changers also made a profit by marking up the exchange rate. The system seemed to work well for both foreign worshippers and the local merchants, but somehow, they had neglected the most important part of prayer and worshipping God.
Jesus’ response has often been characterized as righteous anger. The word “anger” does not occur in this passage. A better word to use might be “cleansing.” Jesus did not criticize the merchants for what they were doing but where they were doing it. Some type of market was needed for all the pilgrims entering Jerusalem, but it should not have been done in the temple. Jesus did the cleansing with a whip he made right on the spot. He did not ask lightly for them to leave but drove them out. The abject desecration required radical cleansing. Jesus disrupted every aspect of the market. What he did could have been in fulfillment of Zechariah 14:21, with its emphasis on impure worship.
Jesus’ words in verse 16 apply to all the types of animals, but they are pointed more specifically to those selling pigeons, the cheapest of the sacrifices. This verse is the first time in the Gospel that Jesus addresses God as his Father. John does not record at this point any response from the Jews about this claim, but the controversy will come later in 5:17-18.
The description of the temple as Jesus’ Fathers house has significant theology behind it. Coming out of Old Testament theology, the temple was considered the place to meet God. The Holy of Holies was the most sacred place to meet God. Although the ark of the covenant had disappeared with the Babylonian destruction of Solomon’s temple in 587 B.C., the Jews continued with the second temple to treat the inner sanctuary as the most holy place to meet God. Jesus’ statement shows that the whole temple complex was God’s dwelling, and therefore, it was holy because it had been dedicated to God. The holiness and purpose of the temple and its various courts had been lost by allowing it to become a marketplace.
The disciples witnessed the whole event. Their thoughts were drawn to Psalm 69:9 which is quoted in part in verse 17. Zeal comes directly from the Greek and means intense interest and focus. When something disturbs this focus, jealousy can result. In the case of religious zeal, the focus is on what one believes about God. In this case, the disciples observed Jesus responding to the desecration of the temple, with an assumed jealousy for God’s position as the supreme Holy One of Israel. They had not yet understood the relationship between Jesus and the God of Israel. The critical point of the story is that the people had replaced worship of God and the deep convictions of ancient Israel about God’s holiness with convenience. Their sacrifices had become a matter of ritual and checking the box rather than the whole-hearted conviction about God’s presence with his people.
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