Jesus' Cleansing of the Temple: A Call to Holiness and Mission
Explore Jesus' cleansing of the Temple and His righteous anger against greed and corruption. Discover what this powerful act teaches us about holiness, mission, and the call to make God's house a place of prayer for all nations.
-
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they[a] went out of the city.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
During His ministry, Jesus cleansed the Temple twice. Once at the beginning of His ministry and a second time at the end. All four Gospels contain at least one of the accounts of the cleanses.
When people came to the Temple to worship, there were certain patterns they were engaged in surrounding the Jewish calendar. The Jewish law required that every man should pay a tribute to the service of the sanctuary of “half a shekel,” a Jewish coin (Exodus 30:11-16). It became a matter of convenience to have a place where the Roman coin could be exchanged for the Jewish half-shekel. The money changers provided this convenience but would demand a small sum for the exchange. Because thousands of people came to the great feasts, changing money was a very profitable business.
Additionally, according to the Law (Leviticus 14:22; Luke 2:24), two doves or pigeons were required to be offered in sacrifice. Yet it was difficult to bring them from the distant parts of Judea, which could require days of travel, so a lucrative business selling the birds sprang up. There were other merchants selling cattle and sheep for the temple sacrifices as well.
Twice, we see Jesus, in His anger, overturn the tables of the money changers. He condemned them for having turned God’s house of prayer into “a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). As He did so, His disciples remembered Psalm 69:9: “Zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.”
It can be difficult to imagine Jesus, whom John the Baptist proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29), with a whip of cords flipping tables over. However, be reminded that Jesus isn’t merely a lamb; He’s also a lion, and in this setting, the lion was roaring.
Holy anger burned in Jesus. However, it was a jealous anger rooted in the one who holds all supreme authority. But with that in mind, you may be logically wondering about the modern church. In light of what this unfolds:
What about local churches that have bookstores?
What about local churches that sell books, Christian trinkets, pictures, and t-shirts?
What about local churches that sell coffee?
As a coffee lover, thank God they do! However, let’s clarify something. There are two indictments of Jesus cleansing the Temple:
They were charging exorbitant fees.
They were a stumbling block to the nations.
Jesus was angry that people were being taken advantage of through high profiteering. However, that wasn’t the only reason for Jesus’ righteous anger. The sellers were set up in the Court of the Gentiles, where the nations were invited and welcomed to worship God.
“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:7 (emphasis added)
Jesus’ anger stemmed from how they prevented the nations from coming to God by their actions in the Temple. Instead of being a blessing to the nations, the Jews had become a stumbling to the nations. This understandably made God, encapsulated in skin, angry. Through the nation of Israel, God was working to bring the light and knowledge of Him to the world. Thus, when Israel obeyed God, He blessed them, but when they disobeyed God, rejecting Him, He cursed them.
William Carey, the father of modern missions, said, “I went as a missionary to India to save the nation of England.” He recognized the principle that we see in our passage. When God’s people move in conjunction with what God’s doing, the light that shines the brightest afar also causes the light of God to shine locally at a greater wattage and radiance.
For years, God’s people had prevented the nations from coming to worship God. The only place in the Temple reserved for the nations was occupied by greed and corruption. Jesus didn’t cleanse the Temple in hateful anger but out of holy love. The Israelites prevented the nations from coming to God, thus preventing them from being saved from their sin and God’s wrath. Thereby, through their actions, they were condemning the very nations Jesus came to save to hell.
When the Normal Becomes Abnormal
In the classic Simon and Garfunkel song, “The Sound of Silence,” Paul Simon wrote these lyrics:
Hello, darkness, my old friend / I’ve come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping / Left its seeds while I was sleeping /
And the vision that was planted in my brain / Still remains /
Within the sound of silence
Paul Simon had this to say about those lyrics, “It wasn’t something that I was experiencing at some deep, profound level—nobody’s listening to me, nobody’s listening to anyone – it was a post-adolescent angst…”
Consider Paul Simon’s words for the church: Are we listening to the words of Jesus?
JESUS: “‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’” Acts 1:8
JESUS: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Mark 16:15
JESUS: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
JESUS: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:14
JESUS: “This is what is written: ‘The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised, but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’” Luke 24:46-49 (emphasis added)
I once heard a Discipleship Pastor in a Methodist Church say, “The nations aren’t my thing.” Consider the aforementioned statement as you process that. If church leaders aren’t listening to Jesus, something needs to change.
Years ago, I was invited to lead a men’s Bible study at a church that had recently appointed a very young but very wise pastor. After my teaching, several men approached and asked me to help their pastor. “He’s teaching that we’re supposed to be going to the nations and caring about unreached people groups.” As I process this, I wonder, “Wait, your pastor is teaching you Scripture and inviting you to pray? Something might be wrong if this equation isn’t lining up.”
What was happening was that they were projecting the fact that he was young, as if his youthfulness was leading the church in a strange direction. Contrarily, what was really happening was that at that stage of the pastor’s development of that church, abnormal had been normal for so long that when they began to hear normal, they thought it was abnormal. No one is exempt from falling prey to that kind of thinking, but when we do, something needs to change.
This map represents a massive crisis that we have on our hands. The red represents the parts of the world where the largest critical mass of men and women don’t have access to the love of God through His gospel. That area of the world contains roughly three billion people, and in that majority, most do not know a Christian. There are also very few, in any, churches, and certainly not enough for the Gospel to be heard.
However, the crisis of the hour is that when the church in North America gives money to missions, 97% of the resources go to the areas in green. Only 3% of what the church in North America is resourcing goes to the red.
Something needs to change.
As Jesus taught, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations‘? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers’ (Mark 11:17).” By referencing the Old Testament, Jesus emphasizes what God’s will has always been. As we seek to align our hearts as a church family, this has everything to do with what we’ve included in our mission statement: We exist to glorify God by making disciples of Jesus Christ among all peoples. That means local, national, and global.
How Do We Live Into This?
Let me encourage you and share how you can live into this normality.
Pray
Begin by praying for unreached people groups. As a church, we collectively pray for a new people group every week. The Joshua Project is a great resource for finding new people groups to pray for, and it even includes daily updates.
Serve
You don’t have to know the heart language of another people group to serve in reaching the unreached. Mission organizations need accountants, IT professionals, administrators, and many other giftings. Even something seemingly simple as data entry can help propel God’s mission to unreached people groups.
Go: Short Term
There is no shortage of short-term opportunities. In the coming months and years, Christ Methodist will pursue many short-term mission opportunities in the 10/40 window and around the world.
Go: Long Term
When you hit retirement age, it becomes much easier to go and serve for three, six, or nine months. You can even go for 24 months or longer! But this isn’t limited to a specific life stage or age, as there are many long-term opportunities. Within the Global Methodist Church, there are many synergies around this, and on their website, they have access to mission partners that will equip you for short-, mid-, or long-term missions.
The Harvest is Plentiful
Years ago, my son called me to discuss the band Steely Dan. His mind had been blown by their music, and he was astounded by the musicianship on their albums. I asked him, “How’d you discover this?” He said, “I quit listening to the hits, and I started listening to the whole album.”
Church, don’t be a Christian who just plays your favorite hits; Hear the whole album. Hear the whole truth of what Jesus Christ said to His people. It matters deeply to Him, so much so that He cleansed the Temple twice so the nations would have access to the Good News of God’s love. He bled and died for this truth, and it couldn’t be more clear.
Jesus taught us to pray that the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly and fervently to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers. It should become normal in our church families to pray, “God, raise missionaries out of our nursery, children’s, and student ministry. Raise them from our adults and retirees.” Jesus taught us to pray, and it is normal to pray.
TL;DR
Jesus cleansed the Temple to confront greed and corruption, focusing on the importance of making room for all nations to worship.
His righteous anger was rooted in a desire to restore holiness and mission.
The message for today's church is to align with God's mission of outreach, prayer, and serving the unreached.
Related Reading
How to be a True Worshiper by Rev. Paul Lawler
What is the Church’s Global Responsibility? by Rev. Paul Lawler
Beyond Evangelism: The Deeper Meaning of the Great Commission by Dr. Timothy Tennent
