Overturning Tables with Jesus (John 2:13-17)

Children's Lesson (click here)

I. The Sights, Sounds, & Smells

If we go could back in time two-thousand years and visit the outer court of the Temple in Jerusalem, I think we would be impressed by its size. With the Temple itself and its inner courts situated about two-thirds of the way across that outer court, the rectangular size of the court itself would be comparable to about twenty-six football fields. This large area was known as the “Court of the Gentiles”, since non-Jews were welcome to honor the God of Israel in this space. 'God fearers' like Cornelius (Acts 10)(sympathetic Gentiles who had not formally converted to Judaism... Cornelius, for example) may have come from Caesarea to worship in this very court.

But during a holy feast like Passover, this large court would have been very crowded, with many thousands of people occupying the space. Why so many Jews in this Court of the Gentiles? Because this court had also become the site for at least two worshiper-targeted services. The first service was money-changing. The obligatory Temple tax could only be paid with Jewish coinage, and so, pilgrims from around the Roman Empire would often need to exchange their foreign currency. The second service provided by vendors in this court was the selling of animals that could be used in Temple worship; that is, as sacrificial offerings. Now, if people made a living from doing this, it meant there was some profit to be made, maybe from charging a convenience fee on top of an animal's fair value, or a less than reasonable exchange rate.

Now close your eyes for a moment and try to imagine what a space like this would look like and sound like and smell like. Do you have some sense of it? Good. Hold on to that as we look together this morning at chapter 2 of the Gospel of John.

II. The Passage: “Zeal for Your House” (2:13-17)

So with those sights and sounds and smells in mind, look with me at verses 13-17 of John 2...

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [14] In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. [15] And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. [16] And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” [17] His disciples remembered that it was written [in Psalm 69:9], “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Given everything we've talked about so far, is it easier to appreciate the scope of what John is describing for us here? I hope so. Now, just because the Temple court was as large as it was, it doesn't mean all of it was occupied by this commerce (or what Jesus calls “trade”). It's more likely these vendors were set-up in a particular portion of the court. But given the timing of this event, and the different kinds of people and animals who would be there, and everything that was happening as indicated in the text, it should be pretty clear that what Jesus did here was very public, very chaotic, and very provocative.

So why? Why in the world, at the beginning of his public ministry, does he do something like this?

Some of you may remember that John's Gospel is the only one of the four Gospels that records an incident like this at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all describe a Temple-court purging taking place on the Monday of Holy Week, that is, during the week that ended with Christ's crucifixion. So does John have the timing wrong? Most likely, no. The Gospel of John, written well after the other Gospels, seems to assume that its readers are aware of that well-attested Holy Week incident. As he often does, John wants his readers to know there was also an earlier incident, a similar one, at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. But again why?

Let 's do two things with this text this morning. Number one, let's talk about why Jesus was being like this, and number two, let's talk about being like Jesus in light of this. So let me suggest three reasons for the actions of Jesus here:

First, Jesus was getting their attention. Why? Well, in Acts 3 Peter confirms that Jesus was the prophet that Moses foretold in Deuteronomy 18. As a prophet, Jesus, through his frenzied actions, was, in all likelihood, carrying out a prophetic sign; just like the Hebrew prophets who came before him: Isaiah walked around naked for three years, Jeremiah smashed a clay pot before the elders of Israel, and Ezekiel attacked a tiny model of Jerusalem, and walked around among the exiled community chopping at his freshly cut hair with a sword. Those are just a few examples. Jesus was and is the smartest person who has ever lived. That means he knew his actions were not really going to change the culture of commerce that had grafted itself onto First Century temple worship. No. This Prophet is getting their attention. This also means that...

Second, Jesus was sending a message. Like the prophets of old, Jesus had a message to communicate. That message is clear in v. 16: “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” The people, and especially the leaders, had lost sight of the sacred-ness of the space. The noise of their transactions was drowning out (or at least distracting from) the divine purpose of God's house. The Temple, which more than anything in Israel called the people to a radical God-centeredness, had become far too man-centered. So Jesus here is sending them a message about... the unhealthiness of their worship. But... it's bigger than that.

Third, Jesus was declaring his authority. At this point, no one knew anything about Jesus. But after this incident, things began to change, with both the crowds and the religious leaders. In terms of the crowd, 2:23 tells us that “many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.” But before that, starting in v. 18, we read about how the religious authorities confronted Jesus as he (or after he) purged the Temple court. Notice the question they ask in v. 18: “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” That's a question about His authority. And as vs. 20-21 make clear, the sign He points them to will be his resurrection from the dead.

Why was Jesus being like this? Because he was getting their attention; because he was sending them a message; because he was declaring his authority. And when, a few years later, he would rise from the dead, these leaders would again be left without excuse concerning his identity and message; concerning his diagnosis of their unhealthiness. Was Jesus looking to simply reform Temple worship? To do better at the smells and bells; with the lamps and lambs? No. As he would tell a Samaritan woman two chapters later, “the hour is coming” when Temple worship will be irrelevant. In fact, Jesus told her, “the hour is coming, and is now here when true worshipers will worship that Father in spirit and truth,” regardless of location (4:23). As we talked about earlier, and as we discover in the other three Gospels, Jesus would come back to this prophetic sign at the end of his public ministry. Why? Maybe he carried out these very public, very chaotic, and very provocative actions all over again in order to remind them of this sobering fact: in the three and half years of his public ministry, things had not changed. They stood condemned.

III. A Zeal for True Worship

Okay. Having looked at why Jesus was being like this, let's take a few minutes and think about being like Jesus in light of this. As his disciples, we are called to be like Christ. In the words of 1 Peter 2:21, He has left us “an example, so that [we] might follow in his steps.” But how? There is something so radically unique about this incident in terms of Christ's ministry, it's hard to make sense of what you and I are called to take away from this. There really is nothing else like this incident in the Gospels. And that fact, along with the prophetic nature of Jesus' actions, should cause us to go very, very slow when thinking about a practical application.

Though some have tried (even recently) to use this temple court purging as a biblical rationale for religious or political violence, or to justify their attention-getting antics and promote their tainted message, we have not been called to deliver prophetic signs, as Jesus did here. And we have not been called to such severe, earthly action in light of such outward, earthly worship. That kind of worship is done and gone. Therefore, I think we're forced to ask, “Is there any way in which we can imitate Jesus in light of this incident?” I believer the answer to that question is “yes”. Like Jesus, we are called to have a zeal for true worship; for what Jesus described as “spirit and truth” worship. But in light of Jesus' example, where should our zeal break out?

Jesus gave us a clue when he talked about a different temple in John 2:21. It was “the temple of his body”. Amazingly, the NT goes on to confirm that every child of God can speak of the temple of his or her body. Why? Because as Paul asked in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?” Now, we could talk about how together we are a temple of the Holy Spirit (many verses describe that reality--1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:22; 1 Peter 2:5), and in talking about that, we could talk about zeal, we could talk about bold, spiritual action in light of compromise and corruption in the church (e.g., the Reformation).

But I'm convinced, brothers and sisters, that the context in which our zeal for true worship should break out far more often is within the temple of your own heart. You, believer, temple of the Holy Spirit, what are the money-changers in your own temple courts? How has your daily worship become about you and not God? Is lots of religious activity in your life keeping you from seeing your true, spiritual condition? Believer, is the stunning reality of the presence of God inside you getting lost because of transactions, transactions in which you are ultimately seeking your own profit, and not first the glory of God? In what areas might God be calling you this morning, not just to face such issues, not just to deal with such issues, but to be zealous; and I'm talking about having a whip-making, livestock-driving, coin-dumping, table-overturning, scene-making kind of zeal.

Please hear me. I'm not focusing on the specifics of what Jesus did. I'm focusing on the intensity of what Jesus did; the intensity of His zeal for true worship; for God his Father. What fuels that kind of intensity? Love and gratitude, inspired by a clear view of God through Christ. The ultimate purging for the purpose of true worship did not involve some kind of rage from Jesus. It involved rage directed at Jesus. On the cross, Jesus suffered defeat in order to arm us for true victory. He was the target of fleshly zeal, in order to empower us for godly zeal, by once and for all dealing with our corruption. May that inspire us, brothers and sisters, to zealous, inward action. Don't go soft on your sin. But storm your courts with Jesus. Pray and invite Him into your courts. He has temple-purging experience. Ask him to purge you. And cooperate with Him. In light of God's word, in light of the reality of indwelling sin and the work of sanctification that God is doing in us, shouldn't we regularly be overturning tables with Jesus? Ask God to help you see those courts clearly, and in humility, but with zeal, let's use the divine tools he's given us, and let us encourage one another daily. You are, disciple, are now the “Father's house”. May that amazing truth inspire us to holy, intense, Spirit-empowered action.