Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading

Intro

All four Gospels contain an account of Jesus cleansing the Temple.

John’s is the most detailed and descriptive, although the chronological ordering is a bit different.

One thing though that is reinforced in our minds moving from John 1 to John 2 is that Jesus really is the promised one from the Old Testament.

John 2 expresses this vividly for us.

With the exchange of water into wine, we see how the ceremonial cleansing by water, tied to the old order, is replaced with a new one.

The wine being the life giving shedding of his blood.

But also what we read shows us how the old sacrificial system will be replaced as well.

The temple could be, and would be destroyed.

But not the temple that Jesus would rebuild.

Not the temple of his body!

But we also read of what true worship looks like.

One commentary summarized it as such,

“Worship is not commercial activity; it is connecting with the Father in spirit and in truth through Jesus Christ the Lamb.”

Body

The Passover was a very important time in the life of a Jew.

This was when all of the Jews would come together for the highest festival and worship.

This is the most important one.

It is a reminder of how they were set free and delivered from bondage in Israel.

It was a time during the Feast of Unleavened Bread because they left with such haste from Egypt.

It is a seven day festival that culminated in this one event.

The entire festival was leading up to this one point!

Similar to how Advent has as its high point Christmas, Lent has Easter, and the average calendar has my birthday on Oct 13.

The Passover was the pinnacle of this festival.

The Passover sacrifice was not a little thing.

In fact, when this is first conducted in Exodus 12 it was incredibly important.

Lives were at stake if it was not observed properly.

It meant that every family must gather a one year old male sheep or goat and...

“at night they were to eat it broiled whole, with bitter herbs and unleavened bread; and as they ate they were to be dressed for the road with girded loins, sandals on the feet, and staffs in hand as if in haste, for it is a “Passover offering [pesaḥ] to the LORD.”

-​The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Unleavened Bread and Passover, Feasts Of

This was important, because if they did not do this, their firstborn child would die because of their disobedience and rebellion to God.

God made a way, and they chose to reject it.

But this annual celebration, which we read hear in John’s Gospel, was not meant for the Jewish people to save their sons.

No, this celebration was obedience to God who had commanded that this occur annually as a memorial (Ex 12:14)

So, this was important in the life of a Jew.

And since Jerusalem had the temple, the place where they believed God dwelled, they all would flock to Jerusalem.

It was full of people, one scholar notes that the borders for the city of Jerusalem were extended to accommodate everyone.

And it was required at this time for the Jewish people to pay the temple tax.

But Jewish sojourners could not pay with their foreign currency, marked with idolatrous imagery, and so they had to exchange it into the Tyrian coinage.

But not just Jews, the Romans would also have to send legions of soldiers to ensure that peace was maintained in their empire.

So for crowd control, maybe even for safety, there were many soldiers there.

One more note, Gentiles would be everywhere as well.

Think of them as the tourists.

They wanted to see this festival and maybe even to make a bit of money.

You have a lot of people here.

World Cup (Super Bowl)- You had fans flocking to see their idol…errr team, the Jews.

The police force had to be ramped up to keep people safe, Romans.

And then you have a bunch of tourists just coming to see the festivities, the Gentile world.

You have a lot of people here gathered together and so you know what would be the smart thing to do? Uber people around, open up an AirBnB, maybe even offer “local” tours.

You want to make some money.

And that is what we see here.

In the temple complex, which was meant to be the open area where everyone was allowed to come enter, they are restricted from being able to go in and pray.

To worship God.

​In the Jerusalem temple, the complex included the sanctuary (the holy place and the holy of holies), at least 4 courtyards (for priests, Jews, women, and Gentiles), numerous gates, and several covered walkways.

-The Holman Christian Standard Bible

So in the outer court, the sounds of contrition and wailing and prayers are now replaced.

Instead of solemn dignity and the murmur of prayer, there is the bellowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep.

Instead of brokenness and contrition, holy adoration and prolonged petition, there is noisy commerce.

Scattered across the scene, what do you see and hear and smell.

Animals, loud conversations and negotiations, money is being exchanged because you have people from all over the world coming to one city and so they need to be able to buy things.

And the people of God needed to present their offering and to pay the temple tax.

The place of God, has become a marketplace and this displeases Jesus.

More than just displeases him, it grieves and angers him.

Jesus hulks up.

He has what we generally always lack when we are angry, sinlessness.

He is angry, but without sin.

Application on anger

He overturns the tables and, this reveals a bit about the power and authority of Jesus.

One man starts to clear the entire temple complex.

We do not necessarily need to respond the same way, but we should be upset with some of the “religious” things we see in churches, on the radio, and on the television.

vs 15 “After making a whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen.

He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables.”

Hyperbolic, yes.

In no way is it just Jesus standing there by himself.

But we see the anger of Jesus.

He is mad and this earthly, temporary wrath he his pouring fulfills prophecy (Psalm 69:9).

Now this situation needed to be handled carefully, the Jews did not want to be thought of causing a riot and also the religious leaders understand that Jesus has just disrupted their enterprise and sacrificial system.

You can imagine that if you are cashing in and someone stops you, you are going to push back a little.

The Jews come against him and just ask, “With what authority do you do this?”We get another one of those moments where we scratch our heads thinking Jesus you must not have heard the question.

He responds by saying, “Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days.”

Now the religious leaders do not get understand at all the meaning behind Jesus’ words.

They are reflecting on how it has taken, at that point in time, nearly 46 years of temple construction.

It won’t be complete for a couple more decades later on 63 AD, unfortunately to be destroyed in 70 AD (Started in ~20 BC).

But they think he is referring to the temple building.

And so they ask for a sign and they misunderstand him.

And that would have been a sign would not it have been?

Let’s say that the religious leaders did challenge Jesus and destroy the temple and he rebuilt it all in three days, that would have been an enormous sign to them.

But there was no way they would have done that.

But do you know what he is really saying?

He foretells his death and resurrection as the basis for his authority.

He is saying He is God.

That is the authority he carries.

He has authority over life and over death.

He has authority over all things.

Why can Jesus drive out the money changers, because it is his house!

He makes the rules!

Turning the outer courts into a market effectively prevented worship for non-Jewish people.

Jesus’ quotation of Isa 56:7 in the Synoptics underscores His desire for the temple to be a “house of prayer for all peoples.”

Jesus is angered by the commercialization of temple worship, which created an obstacle to true worship.