Oxen and Sheep and Pigeons, oh MY!

Good morning!

The central portion of John 2, verses 13-22 deal with what is commonly called "Jesus Cleansing the Temple".

John begins by explaining when this occurred.   Jesus and His disciples had gone up to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Passover, which you may know is one of the holiest, if not THE holiest of Jewish "feasts" (sacred celebrations) held by the Jews.  If the book of John can be interpreted fairly chronologically, and I believe that it can more so than other gospels, this occurred shortly after Jesus' baptism and the wedding at Cana.  We will see, going forward in the book of John, that Jesus' earthly ministry was punctuated by six major feasts of the Jews, which chronologically can be translated to an earthly ministry of just over three years.

So, what is happening here?  The Jews were required at Passover to sacrifice a lamb, have a ceremonial meal, and go through many rituals.  This feast pre-figured Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice for us.  That is why He is called the Lamb of God and why He allowed Himself to be crucified at the 3rd Passover of His earthly ministry.  Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, estimated that in Jesus' day, approximately 200,000 lambs were required to meet the ceremonial needs of the Jewish population for Passover.  (He probably exaggerated, but let's just agree that it took an awful lot of them.)

Oxen and doves were constantly required for sacrificial purposes, not only at Passover.
Supposedly, in the name of "convenience", the Jewish priests made these animals available in the outer courts of the Temple, the court of the Gentiles, which was less "holy" than the more inner courts. And, to make things even MORE "convenient", the priests allowed "human ATMs" to operate there as well.  There was a temple tax imposed on each family annually, to pay for the maintenance of operations such as this (Exodus 30:13), and well....some families did not bring the correct change. How thoughtful of the priests!  {Where's my sarcasm icon....}

The truth of the matter was that the priests were engaged in a business venture.  It was, as we often say in English, a "racket".  They were "racketeering"!  You see, the priests were getting a "cut" from the profits the money-changers and the animal vendors made in profit.  Jesus thought that this was despicable because it perverted the purpose of the Temple.  So, he drove the 4-legged animals out of the court, told the dove keepers to take their caged birds out from there, and turned over the tables of the money-changers.  In so doing, He admonished the astonished priests against making God's house a place of business.  In other accounts of this event (Matthew 21:13 and Mark 11:17), Jesus said , "My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers."  

Matt. 21:13 NIV

Jesus here lists one characteristic of the physical building in which we should worship.  He says that the place of worship should be a house of prayer.

I remember from my youth, we used to have a mid-week service on Wednesday nights.  It was called "prayer meeting".  Usually, though, prayer was not the central focus.  There was some singing, a short sermon, and sometimes a church conference at the end.  In fact, in my lifetime I cannot remember any church services where the sole emphasis was prayer.  Let's consider that a moment.
Do you think that this has anything to do with a decreasing number of converts to Christianity, here in America?

I hope, Believer, that you take time to pray to God throughout your day.  In fact, our resplendent walk should be characterized by frequent prayer, an ongoing conversation with God.  As Paul said, we should "pray without ceasing." (1 Thess. 5:16) However, God has made it plain that when His people pray together, whether in a church building or not, there is great power unleashed in the spiritual realm.  I would submit to you that we need to do more praying, as individuals and as we gather together in our local Christian fellowships.

Notice in verses 18-22 the Jews confronted Him:  "Who do you think you are?"  or

"By what right do you do these things? Show us a sign that you have the authority to do this."  In a manner that we will see repeated over and over, Jesus said something cryptic in response to them.  At the time, neither they nor the disciples understood it.  Jesus said, (vs. 19) 

"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."  

The Jews responded that it took 46 years to build this temple and, by this time, what Bible scholars call "the second temple" was over 350 years old.  The Jews did not see it going anywhere.  The disciples recognized after His resurrection that He was referring to the temple of His body, although He certainly could have destroyed the physical buildings of the Temple and rebuilt them instantaneously, had He wanted to do so.

John goes on to say in verses 23 to the end of the chapter that Jesus did other {unrecorded here} miracles during this first Passover of His ministry {Matt. 21:14 says that Jesus healed the blind and the lame there at the Temple} and garnered to Himself many disciples, but that the timing was not right for Jesus to turn Himself over to the authorities at this time.  John is writing this after Jesus' last earthly Passover, three years after this one, and had a new perspective.  It was at Jesus' last Passover that He did allow Himself to be claimed by the authorities and gave Himself up for us.  John comments that Jesus understands people very well and knew of what they were capable.  So, He did not directly declare Himself to be Messiah during this cryptic conversation with the Jewish priests. That time was not yet.

Father God, help us to examine our hearts about our behavior in Your ordained places of worship, whether that be in our own prayer life or in our corporate worship during the week.  I pray that Your Spirit will convict us to have so much zeal for Your house that it eats us up, as was the case with Jesus. May we be so on fire to share the grace of Jesus with others that it is the central focus of our worship, and our walk.  If we are robbing people or You, Lord, in Your house, please show us where we need to make a change.   In Jesus' name, amen.