John 2:13-22

When you think of Jesus, what images come to your mind? Could it be the image of Jesus as the good shepherd carrying a little sheep in his arms? Maybe Jesus healing a leper or a blind man? Jesus teaching his disciples or Jesus hanging on the cross? What is true is that all these images show us Jesus with a peaceful face and tender eyes.

But, have you ever imagined Jesus as portraited in the gospel of John 2:13-22? A whip in his hands, and overturning tables? We do not often think in this image of Jesus. The event we heard this morning has been recollected in the four gospels. For the scholars it means that it was real and important event. There is only one difference. The synoptics gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) place this even at the end of Jesus ministry but the gospel of John places it at the beginning.

Another difference between John and the Synoptics is that John does not call Jesus ‘miracles,  miracles, instead, he calls them signs. Consequently, according to John the cleansing of the temple was a sign. For John, Jesus was acting out symbolically God’s judgment on the temple. The priests, Annas and Caiaphas, and most of the religious leaders with them had sold out to the Romans. King Herod had transformed the temple from a place of worship in to one of the wonders of the World. His allegiance was not to the God Israel, but to Rome. He even placed a large golden eagle, a symbol of Roman power, over its gate.

For Israel, Passover was and still is an important celebration of freedom. They celebrate the moment when they were rescued by Jehovah and were brought to a land full of honey and milk; they also celebrate God giving the law to Moses. So, Jesus picked this feast to clean the temple to send a sign to Israel. And the sign was: I am here to liberate my temple which right now is a “prisoner” of men and their sinful practices. Jesus picked the day when they celebrate God giving his law to Moses, to remind them what the Old Testament says about the temple: This is God’s house not a marketplace.

The cattle and sheep sellers were allowed in the temple to facilitate the journey to all the pilgrims, so the pilgrims did not have to carry animals for the sacrifice on their trip to Jerusalem. They were selling all the animals – according to some historians- fifteen times higher than the regular price. They were not serving God’s people instead they were taking advantage of them. They were there to make money for themselves; the money changers were also taking advantage of all the pilgrims.

Now, does this scripture have anything to tell us today? I ask this question because the temple does not exist anymore, it was destroyed in the year 70 A.D. We do not offer sacrifices anymore; we do not have to exchange money for our offering. Is it this scripture out of fashion.?

My Old Testament professor used to say: “when you got questions about the bible, go to the bible.” So, I went to the bible and found some scriptures that I believe are related to this event. Matthew 24:1 and 2, Jesus prophesied the destruction of the temple, “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; everyone will be thrown down.”  Matthew 27:51 says that when Jesus died the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And 1st Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

From these scriptures we can conclude that after the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed, it was replaced by a spiritual temple. Therefore, Jesus cleaning the temple still talk to us, the spiritual temples, even when the physical temple of Jerusalem does not exist anymore.

Let us go back to Matthew 27:51, Here is described how the curtain of the temple that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place was torn down. This is a pivotal event for the interpretation of our text today. I have heard two interpretations of this passage: One says that because of this we, all Christians can enter the holiest place because we all are priest. Before Jesus death only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy place to intercede for the people. Now thru Jesus we do not need an intercessor, we can come directly to God. We do not need a human mediator. We have Jesus to mediate for us before the Father in heaven.

Second interpretation says that the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom for God to leave the temple, his dwelling place and He came out to dwell within his people. God had found a new house, a new temple. “or do you not know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”Paul says in 1 Corinth 6:19. God has a new temple now, which is every one of us. Do we have to present sacrifices in this new temple now? Let us see what the book of Romans 12:1 says: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, -and sisters, I would say- in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

Now, knowing that we are God’s temple and that we too have to present a sacrifice, I believe John 2:13-22 has a message for us today.

Jesus is here and he still requires from us to clean his temple, to clean his place of dwelling. That place of dwelling is our heart, our body. The temple in Jerusalem was full of false worship. The Priests did not expect this feast to celebrate God’s wonders, but to celebrate business; it was full of self-interest. Money changers and cattle sellers were there to make money; The temple in Jerusalem was no longer, a place for holy assembly, but a place for exploitation, place to abuse and take advantage of their fellow brothers.

Now, how is God’s temple today? And by that, I mean our life. Does God feel comfortable living in me? Is he please with our worship? Is he receiving our adoration?

Jesus used a whip and his own strength to clean the temple in Jerusalem, now he is using his love and the power of the Holy Spirit to clean our lives.

The leaders in Jerusalem forgot the purpose of the temple; they forgot that it was a house of prayer, and forgot whose house it was. Since we are the new temple of God let us not forget our purpose. And what is that purpose? Ephesians 2:10 tell us about our purpose. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”  When Paul says that we were created in Christ Jesus, he means, we belong to him, we are a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

This new creation is the result of the cleansing power of Jesus’ blood. As new creation we must do good work. We must continue doing the good work of Jesus. And with our good work we can and will overcome evil.

Besides Ephesians 2:10, 1 Peter 2:9 reminds us about our purpose, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

We were created to declare the praises, to celebrate what God has done in our lives as individuals and in the life of us His chosen people. Let us celebrate what God has done in us, and what he is doing thru us; and also, let us celebrate what he is doing in the lives of our brothers and sisters and thru the lives of our brothers and sisters.