John 2:13-25. Mark 11:15-16. Luke 19:45-46

The cleansing of the Temple, is recorded in three of the four Gospels. In John it happens in the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, in the other two, near the end.

Several commentators think they are seperate events. (Me… ?)

The most complete accounting, is in the book of John, and happens shortly after Jesus turned water into wine.

Straightaway, we find the Religious upset with Jesus, (the word of God).

When Jesus saw the moneychangers, He did not just start turning over tables.

He first, fashioned a scourge, (a wip), and then proceeded to Cleanse the Temple.

(This was not spontaneous rage, this was the Deliberate, Passionate, Zeal of the Lord).

He drove the sacrificial, sheep and oxen, from the Temple. These were animals the wealthiest would purchase for sacrifices.

He turned over the sellers tables, scattering their profits, on the floor.

Then He came to those selling Doves. It tells us He upset their seats, not tables, He did not scatter money, but told them:

“Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”

Why the difference? The Doves and other fowls, were the sacrifices of the poor.

Those who sold them, were making the least profit, He didn’t release the birds out of their cages. (He allowed the sellers to take the birds, from the Temple, themselves).

Jesus, in His Righteous Zeal, still had compassion on those who were worthy of compassion.

Now we find the Religious, questioning His Authority, His motives for His actions.

“What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?”

The Religious, always want a sign. They know, what they know and refuse to believe there might be more to learn.

They believe, they have cornered the market, of Godly Revelation.

Jesus answered: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

He was speaking of His death and resurrection.

He was revealing the Spiritual, they were locked in on the Natural. His Disciples, understood, after He Rose from the Dead.

He did many miracles, while in Jerusalem, that were not recorded.

Many believed on His Name, when they witnessed these miracles.

Jesus had received words of wisdom and knowledge, from the Spirit, and knowing their hearts, did not invite them to follow.

Saints, we should be seeking to be proficient in the Working, of the Gifts of the Spirit.

The Lord sends them for the building of His Church.

When we refuse, to seek, to desire, to understand, God’s gifts, His tools, we fail to build His Church.

We have a powerless Gospel, ineffective, unworthy, of His Presence, a gathering of Rituals and Ceremonies, a quiet, slow death.

Jesus gave us life. We need to share the Gospel, in Spirit and Truth. Amen

John 2:13-25 (KJV)

13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.
17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21 But he spake of the temple of his body.
22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Mark 11:15-18

And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;

16. And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

17. And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

18. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine.

Luke 19:45-46

And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;

46. Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves.