THE GOSPELS: LESSON 12:

JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE

TEXT: JOHN 2: 12 - 25

THE SETTING.

          Jesus and his disciples had moved to Capernaum, which would be an important base of operations for quite a while. Apparently he had moved his mother and at least some of his family there, probably following the death of Joseph. Shortly after moving there, the time for the Passover arrives (early Spring) and they go down to Jerusalem, as they normally did. (Luke 2: 42)

VERSE 12: THE MOVE TO CAPERNAUM.

Formerly, Jesus had lived in Nazareth. Now, Capernaum will be known as “his city.”

VERSES 13 - 17: THE PASSOVER IN JERUSALEM AND WHAT TRANSPIRES

Verse 13: The Passover was “at hand.” When we want to understand what the phrase “at hand” means in the New Testament, here is one clue. Here it means a few days away. Obviously “at hand” refers to a short period of time. We should understand this to better understand things Jesus prophesies later on.

          Devout Jews were supposed to observe the Passover in Jerusalem, and offer sacrifices at the temple. This helps to explain some of what follows. This is found in Exodus 23: 14 - 17. Also note that the directions “up” and “down,” when referring to travel, do not indicate directions of the compass but changes in elevation. The city of Capernaum is about 650 feet BELOW sea level. Jerusalem is 2400 feet above sea level. From Capernaum they obviously had to go UP to Jerusalem.

Figure 1 A cross-sectional view of Herod’s temple in Jerusalem.

Verse 14: In the “temple” there were vendors selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons. There were also “money-changers” doing a brisk business. FIRST off, understand they were not IN the temple, but rather, in the temple courtyard (the courtyard of the Gentiles).

Why were they selling animals? Because the city was full of visitors from all over the known world who came each year to observe the Passover. They were selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons. The oxen (bullocks) and lambs were for the Passover feasts and the doves were for burnt offerings.

Money changers: these were men who exchanged foreign currency into the shekels that the Jews used as their money. They often took a heavy percentage as their fee for this “service.”

Verse 15: Jesus gives them a physical demonstration. He fashioned a whip or scourge out of thin ropes and drove them all (all the sellers and money-changers) out of the temple area. In addition he drove all the animals (except the doves) out and overturned the money-changers’ benches and poured their money on the ground.

Verse 16: Then he tells the pigeon-sellers to “get all this stuff outta here!” In other words, their cages and coops of birds, and everything else associated with the trade.

Jesus actually said, “You shall not make my Father’s house an emporium.” Emporium – a public place for buying and selling, a street-market.

Verse 17: As found in Psalm 69: 9.         The disciples had been studying the scriptures and when Jesus, in a display of righteous zeal, “cleanses” the temple of this profanation, immediately they think of this passage of scripture. The 69^th Psalm is quoted three more times in the New Testament as referring to Jesus.

VERSES 18 - 22: THE JEWS ASK FOR A SIGN OF JESUS’ AUTHORITY 

Verse 18: “What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?” In other words, by what authority do you cast us off the temple grounds? We want to know what sign God gave you to show you should act as his agent here on earth!

Verse 19 - 21: As many other times to come. Jesus is seeking to teach them a great spiritual truth and they are fixated on physical things. What sign does he offer them as proof that he is “God’s Man?” That THEY would kill him and after three days he would rise from the dead! (Vs. 21 – he was speaking of the temple of his body.)

The Jews, of course, thought he was speaking about knocking down Herod’s Temple, which had been under construction for 46 years, so far, and still wasn’t quite finished! This is in 26 AD, for Herod began the temple in 20 BC. Our calendars indicate this is 30 AD, but remember, our modern calendar is actually 4 years off. Herod’s temple (see handout) was not finished until 65 AD, just 5 years before it was utterly destroyed by the Roman and Roman-allied troops.

          We can only marvel at the divine presence Jesus must have had, for ONE MAN to drive out all the merchants without them turning on him and killing or imprisoning him.

Verse 22: John, looking back at this event some years later, when he wrote this book comments how the disciples remembered that Jesus said this and it helped convince them that the scriptures and Jesus’ words were indeed true.

VERSE 23 - 25: SOME UNSPECIFIED SIGNS AND HOW THEY AFFECTED OTHERS

Verse 23: How long did Jews celebrate the Passover Festival? Seven days. So, sometime during this seven days Jesus did “signs,” which caused many to “believe in his name.” From the prophecy of Isaiah 35 (especially verse 5 and 6), one of the characteristics that the people expected of the Messiah was the ability to perform miracles. Obviously, seeing this, many began to believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, prophesied by the scriptures. WE are never told the exact nature of these “signs.” That should not be surprising. See John 20: 30.

Verse 24, 25: But Jesus did not openly declare himself to be Messiah yet, for he understood how fickle and treacherous men can be. Jesus had the ability to know what men were thinking, even before they spoke. (See Matt. 9: 4) They were not yet ready for the bold, unvarnished truth. Many times during Jesus’ ministry he told true believers NOT to spread abroad who he really was. (The leper in Matt. 8: 4; his disciples in Matt. 16: 20; the deaf man in Mark 7: 36; the disciples after the transfiguration in Mark 9: 9; the parents of the girl raised from death in Luke 8: 56; and others.) Until the sign spoken of here, (his death and resurrection) Jesus understood men would NOT REALLY believe.

          Next we will see that after coming to Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus stays around Judea for a while to teach and John the Baptizer tries to clear up the confusion concerning himself and Jesus.

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