He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money-changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
“Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”
It is probably an understatement to say that the only reason this passage doesn't shock us more than it does is because we are used to hearing it. This was Jesus, who himself praised meekness, who said he was gentle and humble of heart, who was now driven to violence. His disciples must have been unprepared for this as well. Indeed they must have been properly shocked. Imagine how it would be to see a wise teacher and miracle worker now give vent to anger. Here was the one identified as the lamb of God now chasing others with a whip, flipping tables, and making demands. The disciples had to ask themselves what would account. They did, and found their answer in Scripture.
At this the Jews answered and said to him
Jesus did not suddenly allow his passions to overwhelm him. The anger which he expressed was righteous anger. The Court of the Gentiles was so filled with noise and commerce that it could not truly become a house of prayer for all peoples (see Isaiah 56:7). Even in cleansing the temple he was still meek in the sense that his strength was still perfectly under control, focused, targeted, and directed, used in the right measure and proportion. He did indeed have a personal attachment to this place where man was meant to experience the presence of God, an attachment deeper than anyone could yet guess. Because they didn't understand this connection they questioned his right to purify the temple. They did not realize that above all others it was precisely Jesus himself who had the right to do so, that it was his Father's house, and that he more than anyone understood the purpose of it. He above all could best put it back on the path toward fulfilling that purpose.
“What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
Jesus cared immensely that people by able to enter unhindered and undistracted into relationship with God. He was zealously opposed to any who would hog access on the basis of race, nationality, or social class. He was not interested in a system that favored a professionally religious class while excluding the average individual from the streets. If Jesus was so zealous for the temple, how much more must he be zealous to see that we not put obstacles between others and he? This is not all, for our own hearts individually are now the temples of his presence. The power of the Holy Spirit poured out in the life-giving water of baptism means that the potential for us and our Church to be filled with the fullness of God (see Ephesians 3:19) is unequaled. It is this for which Jesus longs and toward which his zeal is now directed. In the face of this knowledge a bit of holy fear is certainly an appropriate response.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple,
God will destroy that person;
for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.
The blessings that are now possible in the Church and in our hearts cannot be understated. Jesus does us a great favor when he does not suffer us to put obstacles between ourselves and his presence. Even if it means he is in our business, meddling in what we imagine to be our own affairs, not gently, but with a whip of cords, even then it is an immense mercy. It is not easy to receive, but if we receive it we can live more and more for the purpose for which we were made, the praise of the glory of God (see Ephesians 1:12), worship in Spirit and truth (see John 4:24). In what ways are we distracting others with noise and worldly preoccupations? In what ways have we allowed ourselves to become thusly distracted? May Jesus in his mercy chase out these distractions! They may not leave our hearts willingly, but he is strong enough to show them the door. This will not leave us with a vacuum but rather it will clear the way for a flood of grace.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.
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