JOHN 2:13-17 PODCAST
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” John 2:13-17
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” John 2:13-17
The Lord Jesus went to Jerusalem because the Passover was to be celebrated. The Passover was an annual event commemorating the night when the angel of death passed over the homes with blood on the doorposts (Exodus 12).
This is the first of two times the Lord Jesus went into the Temple to drive the greedy out (see also Matthew 21). It was in the outer courts where the animals used for sacrifice were being sold. This was the only place in the temple non-Jews were allowed to come and pray or offer sacrifices. They did this because this was the only way to be forgiven of one's sin.
The money changers were there with their "proper" coin for paying the temple tax was the Tyrian shekel, which had the purest silver in it. This coin had a picture of Hercules on one side, and the royal eagle on the other, neither of which would have failed to offend devout Jews. Nevertheless, these were the coins that the Jewish authorities required for the tax.
The law of Moses required sacrifices of oxen or sheep or pigeons. Many worshippers would have come a long way and would not have brought their sacrifice with them. So this made these animals readily available for purchase. Everyone over nineteen had to pay a temple tax. But it could be paid only using Tyrian coins (because of the purity of their silver content), so foreigners had to exchange their money for acceptable coinage. Because they had a monopoly on the market, the money changers charged an extremely high fee for their services.
While making a whip of three leather cords, which took some time, the Lord Jesus was able to size up the situation which was nothing short of price gouging. The money changers had grossly over-priced the animals. When the Lord Jesus arrived, the temple didn’t resemble a place of worship; it looked like a shopping center.
When the disciples saw Jesus actions, they remembered something God gave in the Old Testament. In Psalm 69:9 David wrote, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Jesus was consumed with a great desire for people to be able to worship His Father.
The reality is the Lord Jesus came to replace the sacrificial system, He came to reconnect us with Himself. When He died on the cross, mankind was no longer required to make a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. We no longer need a sacrifice of any kind to be made right with God, because God sent His Son to be that sacrifice.
"Love was compressed for all history in that lonely figure on the cross, who said that he could call down angels at any moment on a rescue mission, but chose not to - because of us. At Calvary, God accepted his own unbreakable terms of justice."
Philip Yancey
