Jesus Cleanses the Temple and Us

In John chapter 2 is found the account of Jesus’ first cleansing of the Temple. The Prophet Malachi (Malachi 3:1-5) had predicted that the Lord would suddenly come to His Temple to deal with such goings on as were taking place at the time of Christ. And Zechariah (Zechariah 14:21) had foretold that on the day of the Lord, there would no longer be any merchant in the Temple precincts.

It is amazing how blind everyone was at first to the meaning of this event! The Jews expected the Messiah to give them certain signs, and one of the signs the Prophet Malachi prophesied was that the Messiah would suddenly come to His Temple and purify the sons of Levi. The Messiah had just done that, but they did not recognize Him. Instead, they said to Him, "What sign have You to show us for doing this?" Our Lord's answer, of course, was to give them the only sign that would have any meaning to them – the sign of His own resurrection!

So when Jesus overturned the moneychangers’ tables, He was fulfilling Scripture and making clear that the Messianic time of fulfillment was at hand. No more business as usual was going to take place. No more ho-hum approach to religion. It was now time for living out our faith, not just holding a religious belief. Zeal for God’s house consumed the Lord, and He had come to light the fire of zeal in us as well.

Studying these passages of Jesus driving the moneychangers out of the Temple provides for us an opportunity for our own gut-check. Has our religion become cold routine, a mere collection of intellectual convictions and external rituals as had become the case with the scribes and Pharisees? Is our righteousness more a monument to ourselves than to God as in the case of Herod who had built the Temple that Jesus cleansed? Is Christ crucified for us the power and the wisdom of God, or is He merely just a plaster figure hanging on the wall?

The story of Jesus and the moneychangers comes at the beginning of the Gospel of John. From the very outset of His public ministry, Jesus predicted His death and resurrection to His uncomprehending audience. It would be His self-sacrifice that would ultimately lead to a new beginning. And to prepare for that event, He cleaned house.

Each week we gather around the Lord’s Table to celebrate the mystery of redemption that is found in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is time for us, too, to clean house and to honor His self-sacrifice with authentic sacrifices of our own, and to make sure that we are offering out lives as our reasonable and acceptable service to the King (Romans 12:1).

May the Lord bless you!