Jesus Clears the Temple of Passover Merchants
Context of the Gospel (John 2:13-25) 7:20 – 8:35
The Jewish Passover occurs each spring (March/April) by celebrating/commemorating the Exodus (Easter for us).
The context for today’s reading is the Jewish Passover. Jesus comes to the Temple and does not like what he sees, which is merchants set up everywhere in the Temple grounds.
The merchants were providing a legitimate service that enabled pilgrims traveling from afar to purchase their animals for the Passover sacrifice. Tens of thousands came to Jerusalem each year, and they couldn’t very bring animals with them for long journeys. Furthermore, Jews were not allowed to pay the required Temple tax with Roman coins, which had on it the Roman Emperor’s image, so they would have to be exchanged for Jewish shekels. Merchants provided this service as well.
Q: Why did this activity in the Temple area make Jesus angry?
The main problem was that the merchants’ tables were set up in the temple grounds; specifically, the Court of the Gentiles. This space was for prayer. It was “holy” (set apart for prayer). Jesus loves the Temple so much he can’t stand seeing this. It is also suggested that the merchants were gouging the pilgrims, which would be another source of Jesus’ ire.
(Picture of Herod's Temple Grounds)
Reading from the Gospel of John 2:13-23
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and 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 thy house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
Q: Does it surprise you that Jesus would experience anger?
Jesus was fully human so yes he would experience anger. Now this may surprise you but anger in and of itself is not a sin. In the normal use of the term, anger is bad because of the way humans typically experience and exhibit it. But as the CCC says, anger itself is neither good nor evil (#1767 and #2302). It can be noble if it is directed toward maintaining justice and correcting a vice. Anger is a passionate desire to set things right in the face of a perceived evil.
Noble or righteous anger should meet two criteria: a) the cause of the anger must be due to a violation against laws or love of God, not a violation of one's own desires or preferences; and b) the anger must be measured and never with viscous or selfish intent.
Notice that even if we experience sinful anger (self-righteous anger), we still feel some injustice has occurred. That is the danger - whether the cause is personal or Godly. Some call anger the devil’s playground, because it is so incredibly easy to push humans over the edge.
Another example of Jesus getting angry was when he entered the synagogue in Capernaum and saw the man with the withered hand (Mk 3:1-6). The self-righteous waited to see if Jesus would heal the man so they could accuse him of violating the Sabbath. Jesus looked at them with anger and asked: Is it wrong to do good or save a life on the Sabbath? Then he healed the man.
Here are a couple of scriptural references on anger:
“Be angry but sin not.” (Ps 4:4)
“Be angry yet do not sin; and do not let the sun go down on your anger; give no opportunity to the devil.” (Eph 4:26-27)
Returning to the story, Jesus is angry at the pollution of his Father’s house. It appears the money changers may also have been making a handsome profit, which would have been particularly troublesome for the poor (the reference to the dove merchants). But mostly I believe it was because people were being robbed of the opportunity to worship.
Q: The reading refers to “The Jews” twice. Weren’t Jesus and the apostles also Jews?
Yes, at this time it was referring to the “Judeans.” (see map)
Q: Why did the Jews reference “46 years” for building the Temple?
Recall that the first Temple was built by Solomon a thousand years before this, and it was spectacular. It was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587BC. The second Temple was built about 75 years after the Babylonian Exile, but it was just a shadow of the first. The Jews believed that the Messiah would rebuild the Temple to meet/exceed its past glory.
Along comes Herod the Great, who was an illegitimate, puppet king of the Romans. He undertook the enormous task of making the Temple better than Solomon’s Temple in the hopes that the Jews might see him as their rightful king, maybe even as the Messiah! (Herod was a megalomaniac.) This Temple expansion began 46 years before the time of Jesus’ encounter in today’s reading.
Q: The Jews asked for a sign (justification) for doing these things. Jesus answers 3 days, why?
A sign: The Temple is where God is. Jesus is now identifying himself as the true Temple, which is far greater than the worldly Temple. Jesus is saying that HE is the only sign they are going to get.
Three days: As for the three days, they will indeed destroy this Temple – Jesus’ body – and he will indeed raise it on the third day.
Next week: Jesus and the Bronze Serpent!
Maranatha!
Ron
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