So He made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.He made a whip of cords and drove all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money and overthrew their tables.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;and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew their tables;
8 sermons cite this verse
… In Jesus' name, amen. John chapter 2, verses 13 through 17. The Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and the money changers sitting there and making a whip of cords. He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. Clearly, Jesus was not happy with what was taking place in the temple. Of all the amazing things Jesus did, though this is not a miracle as miracles are understood, it is one of the most surprising stories of Jesus' ministry. Almost seems out of character until we understand that it is completely in keeping with His concern for the worship of God, the glory of God, and that he might be the central place in all true faith and religion. He's not happy with what the temple has become, the animals, the commerce, the money changers. As we'll see, it isn't so much that someone might have, say, a book nook. …
… and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip of cords and drove out all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle. And he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold dubs, he said, get these out of here. Stop turning my father's house into a market. And his disciples remembered that it is written, zeal for your house shall consume me. There's Psalm 69 right there at the end. David's zeal, his hunger is for the presence of God, but Jesus is the better David. David went to bring the ark of the presence into the city, but Jesus walks into Jerusalem as the presence of God in flesh. David's hunger fades, but Jesus's zeal consumes him. He overturns the tables that are set with greed. And I can tell you this, I have personally lost my hunger for God because I have chosen to sit down at the buffet table that the world sets full of greed and try to satisfy myself with what it can offer. …
… and the money changers doing business. And when he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And he said to those who sold doves, watch this, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise. Now, if they knew their Bibles, they would have known. He's quoting the Old Testament. That should have sent fear up their spine. Then his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of your house has eaten me up. Absolutely stunning. Jesus quotes the Bible. He acts out the Bible. Why? Because at his first coming, he's fulfilling Bible prophecy. And the same will be true for the nation of Israel, for Jerusalem in the great second coming. Malachi chapter three, verse one. Malachi three, one. Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before you and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. …
… what's he say? He was talking about the temple of his body, that he is the true, he's the fulfillment of the temple. And here's a little kind of a side note, which I think is just absolutely fascinating. Remember, Ezekiel saw this vision of the temple from the right side of the temple flowed this water that gave life to everything, abundance, saved the world. You know, in virtually every depiction of Jesus on the cross, when he's pierced by that soldier's lance he's pierced on the right side and so we know this we know that from jesus that when the soldier pierced him what flowed out flowed out blood and water which is the sign of what is a sign of the eucharist and a sign of baptism and the recognition of like this is just incredibly incredible incredible jesus is meant to be the new temple and jesus is right that place where god's presence would abide and a place that God would save the world. …
… complicated relationship that we are to have with the world. Because as verse 15 reads, all of us are thinking that feels at odds with John 3.16. He starts out first, John 2.15, with do not love the world. And we're like, what gives? Because John 3, 16 says, God so loved the world. Which is it? Make up your mind, please. Well, it's complicated. And that's why Jesus prayed for us in John 17. I pray, Father, that they would understand they are in the world, but not of the world, right? So when we talk about the world, we have to acknowledge there's a distinction from, A, the created world. God's not saying don't love the Milky Way. God's not saying don't love, you know, the Grand Canyon or the Great Barrier Reef. God's not saying don't love Belize or the Bahamas, right? Certainly, God loves the world in the way he created it. It brings him glory day in and day out, and we are to enjoy loving the world that he gave to us. He's also not saying don't love the people of the world, because that would be John 3, 16. …
… moneychangers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, and He poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. And to those who were selling the doves He said, "'Take these things away. Stop making My Father's house a place of business.'" And His disciples remembered Psalm 69, 9, zeal for your house has eaten me up. That was righteous indignation. And Jesus started His ministry in Jerusalem with a blast of that righteous indignation. There's an interesting account in Mark 3 that shows the anger of Jesus in a different way. He entered into a synagogue, Mark 3, verse 1, and a man was there whose hand was withered. He had some kind of deformity in his hand. And the Jewish people were watching him to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. Now there was no law, of course, in the Old Testament that somebody couldn't get healed on the Sabbath. …
… Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts, he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changers, and he overturned their tables. To those who sold, he said, get out of here. How dare you turn my father's house into a market? And his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house consumes me. Now, there's a lot of bad news in here, and I'm the one to break it to you. Here is Jesus, loving Jesus, meek and mild Jesus. He comes into the temple, and immediately he gets very intense. He gets very serious. Here is Jesus Christ, gentle, meek, and lowly, who said, turn the other cheek. But in the temple, you see him terrible and wracked, literally cracking the whip, driving people everywhere, starting a riot, a big commotion. What's going on? Why is it that when Jesus gets into the temple, he suddenly gets so serious. Well, now, an aside, just an aside, but an important aside. Jesus is not explicable. He's not at all easy to understand. And that should be very reassuring. Do you know why? You see, it should be reassuring because he surprises us all the time. He contradicts our expectations all the time. He acts in ways that we cannot understand. He upsets us. He crosses our biases. That should be reassuring, because that's one of …
… We're presently in the second chapter, and this morning we're going to begin at verse 12 and read through verse 25. John chapter 2, verses 12 through 25. After this he went down to Capernaum, he, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they did not stay there many days. For now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the money changers doing business. When he had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen, poured out the changers' money, and overturned the tables. And he said to those who sold doves, Take these things away. Do not make my Father's house a house of merchandise. And then His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house has eaten me up. So the Jews answered and said to Him, What sign do you show to us since you do these things? …