Cleansing the Temple

With this week being the week we celebrate the Holy Week leading to the great Resurrection Sunday, I felt it necessary to write. I wanted the write each day corresponding to each topic the events that originally took place over two thousand years ago. However, I was compelled to stop and focus on this one topic; the cleansing of the Temple. I guess I never realized that this took place after the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem and before His crucifixion. I could not help but think of the “Temple” today. I placed the word Temple in quotes because I know that the true temple today is the body of the true believer (1 Cor 6:19). What I am referring to as the temple today is the building we call Church.

The triumphant entry fulfilled Zech 9:9 causing the multitude to recognize Him as the promised Messiah. A few days later, this same multitude that shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” would shout, “Crucify Him!” As the true Messiah, it is interesting to note the first place He goes. The people wanted Him to overthrow their oppressors and give them all of the Promised Land ruling them with righteousness and peace. Certainly He had the power to do that, but He didn’t. He could have gone to Herod’s Palace where Pilate resided during visits for the Passover. He could have gone to the Hasmonean Palace where Herod the Great lived. He could have gone to the Council House which functioned as a law office. Perhaps He could have even gone back to the pools of Bethesda to heal some more people. Where does He go directly? - To the Temple.

In order contrast the original temple to the temple during the Holy Week, we need to back all the way up to 1 Kings 8:27-61. Once the temple had been set up and the Ark of the Covenant was set in place, Solomon blesses the Lord, prays a prayer of dedication to the Lord and then gives a benediction to the people. Both temples were very elaborate and impressive, yet what took place inside was very different. Solomon’s desire was for the Lord to be worshiped in the temple and for the people to repent. Solomon recalls the Lord’s words, “My name shall be there.” (in the temple). He asked the Lord to watch over the place day and night and then asks Him to “Listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.” (1 Kings 8:30 ESV). I love the picture Solomon paints of what should take place in the Temple of the Lord. The temple should be a place of prayer, confession, repentance, sacrifice and forgiveness.
Now let’s look at what took place in the temple during the Holy Week. I’m sure there were prayers, confession, repentance and sacrifice, but forgiveness had departed. Why? The temple had become extremely corrupt. It was a system that angered the Lord greatly. Scripture tells us that Jesus singlehandedly threw out the moneychangers, overturned their tables and did not allow any man to carry anything out of the temple (Matt 21:12:17, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-48). What were the moneychangers doing? People would travel from distant cities to celebrate the Passover. Upon entering the temple, they would present an offering for sacrifice to the Lord. To travel these distances was difficult during that time so what they traveled with was thought out very carefully. They didn’t want to take too much of value with them because outside each city thieves and robbers would hide waiting to prey on weary travelers. At some point, the custom of purchasing a sacrifice at the temple gates would offer a solution to this problem. The moneychangers would convert the foreign money into Jewish money (with a small fee of course) so that the traveler could purchase something to sacrifice. The moneychangers offered all kinds of animals required to satisfy all kinds of sacrifices. This angered the Lord and He threw them out saying to them, ““It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”(Matthew 21:13 ESV).

Jesus quotes Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Both are great passages and I hope this compels you to read them. However, The Spirit reminded me of the passage in John 10:1-21. This passage focuses on Jesus as the Good Shepherd, but it is also about those who are thieves and robbers. These thieves and robbers are those who try to enter the sheepfold by some other means than the true door (Jesus). In verse 8, Jesus says, “All those who came before me are thieves and robbers”. This is a hint to those who pretend to be from God and offer their followers life and life more abundantly, but they steal, kill and destroy instead. The true shepherd is always pointing to the door. The Door is Jesus who laid down His life and took it up again. He laid it down on His own accord, He has authority to lay it down and He has authority to take it up again. Without this door, no one will enter the “Sheepfold”.

I wondered what the moneychangers look like today. While cleansing the temple, Jesus points out that they have made His house a den of robbers. The den refers to a place where robbers go to plan their next crime and to store their ill-gotten treasures. Surely this is what was happening in this temple and I am convinced it is still happening today. In the typical evangelical church today, you will find many things that do not point to the door. We have brought in all kinds of media, books, programs and methodologies that steal, kill and destroy people rather than pointing them to the door. The shepherd that allows this into their church is what John chapter 10 calls a hired hand. He is not a shepherd at all. He actually sees the “wolf” and flees. He may not physically leave, but He bows out of the way rather than standing firm in the door. He does this ultimately because he cares more about “the numbers” or about the “givers” or about the “wow factor” than he does about the sheep. The moneychangers cared solely about the money. Rather than the temple being a place of prayer, they made it a den of robbers. Their schemes and plans did not bring prayer, confession, repentance and forgiveness. It only brought a strong rebuke from the Lord. I wonder what Jesus would do if He entered our church today. Would He see it as a house of prayer or a den of robbers?