Third Sunday In Lent
JOHN 2:13-25 (Exodus 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17; Psalm 19:9-11; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25)
The setting for the cleansing of the temple is the first Passover of Jesus in Jerusalem. There will be two more during his public ministry. The other three gospels place the cleansing of the temple at the end of Jesus’ ministry, thereby making it an immediate cause for Jesus’ arrest, trial and ex- ecution. John places the cleansing at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry for his own theological rea-sons. There were two main pillars of Judaism: Torah and temple. John needs to establish these same pillars as the pillars of the Christian movement, since he considers Christians the “true synagogue.” In his first chapter he proclaimed Jesus the “Word of God,” the final and perfect Torah (teaching) of God. The first pillar of the Christian movement has therefore been establish-ed. In the cleansing of the temple John depicts Jesus proclaiming himself as the temple. The temple of the Lord in Jerusalem had been destroyed a quarter of a century earlier by the Roman army. Debate was going on about rebuilding the temple. No need for that, says John. Jesus is the new temple and the perfection of the Torah, thus establishing the two pillars of the real Judaism (the Christian movement) before proceeding with the rest of the story.
Now the details of the cleansing. “In the temple area he found those who sold oxen, sheep, doves and money changers sitting there.” The “temple area” is not the temple itself, but the various courtyards around the temple. The activity Jesus came upon was in the Court of the Gentiles. It was a legitimate activity. The animals were needed for ritual activity in and beyond the temple. The lambs became Passover Lambs. Other animals were needed for various sacri-fices. The money changers had a necessary function. When pilgrims came to Jerusalem for the three great pilgrimage festivals, Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Tents, Booths), they took the opportunity to pay the annual half-shekel temple tax. This tax had to be paid in coins without engraved images. The silver coinage of the city-state of Tyre was acceptable for this purpose. The money changers supplied these in exchange for other coinage.
So why did Jesus attack these providers of necessary supplies? Some commentators presume there was price-gouging, but there is no evidence for that in John’s version. The attack on the temple should rather be seen as aimed at those on whose watch it happened – the high priestly clique that oversaw and controlled whatever was done in the temple. The story of the widow’s mite in Mark 12:41-44 implies that the religious establishment was robbing the poor of all they had. Jesus dealt with the situation, although more fiercely, as Old Testament prophets before him had dealt with abuses centered in the temple. See Jeremiah’s anti-temple outburst in Jeremiah 7.
The other three gospels recognize the motive of robbery of the people in their versions of the temple cleansing when they quote from Jeremiah 7:11calling the temple a “robbers’ den.” John states Jesus’ motive by a quote from Zechariah 14:21, “You shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” Were the high priestly families taking a commission on sales? As noted above, the other three gospels place this episode at the end of Jesus’ public ministry where it belongs historically. In those gospels Jesus’ attack on the temple was a proximate cause of his arrest and execution. Although John places it at the beginning of the public ministry, he recognizes its connection with Jesus’ death when he notes that Jesus’ disciples later (after the Passion, death, and resurrection) remembered the words of Ps. 69:9, “Zeal for your house has consumed me.”
The temple hierarchy could not tolerate this invasion of their territory and business. They confront Jesus while recognizing that what he did echoed verbal attacks of Old Testament prophets on a sacrificial system based on animals, Isaiah 1:11:13; 66:1-3; Psalm 50:9-14.
So they challenge Jesus, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” What Jesus had done was extremely daring. The people believed he was a prophet and he acted as a prophet would act.
What proof would he give of having some divine commission to act against the temple? Recalling that the temple was no longer standing in the nineties of the first century when John composed his gospel, and that there was an ongoing debate about rebuilding the temple, the Johannine Jesus answers appropriately, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” John resorts to a favorite teaching device of his, the straightman who asks a dense question, which allows John to clarify what was meant by Jesus’ above quote.
The temple hierarchy’s challenge to Jesus continues. The temple in which he and they were standing had been under construction for forty-six years. How would he destroy it and rebuild it in three days? (Herod the Great had begun rebuilding the temple in 20 B.C. It was not completed until the early sixties A.D. It was destroyed in 70 A.D. in the Roman/Jewish War.) John explains from his Christian point of view, “He was speaking of the temple of his body.” As noted above, John had taught in his first chapter that Jesus was the ultimate, perfect Torah (teaching, revelation) from God. Now he proclaims Jesus the ultimate, final, perfect Temple of the Lord. Torah and Temple were the foundations of the Judaism of Jesus’ time. Jesus has now been proclaimed the Torah and Temple of John’s time and of all time. John adds, “The disciples remembered that he had spoken in this way, and came to believe the Scriptures and the word Jesus had spoken.”
