There are a lot of things that I’m confused about and even more things that I don’t understand or know. Having said that I do want to attempt to expound on an area that I don’t have a complete understanding on and I hope that you will show me some grace if I’m not as clear as you would like or expect me to be. In fact, to some degree, I hope to write in such a way that causes not only my unsure realities to be exposed but maybe to allow the reader to see somethings from a different perspective as well.
One of the most quoted passages is found in John 2:13-22. This is the passage in which Jesus takes a whip and drives out the animals from the court of the Temple. He then flips the tables of the money changers and proclaims that His Father’s house is not a marketplace.
If you have never studied this passage I would encourage you to give it some thought. As you do so pay attention to the setting into which Jesus entered and seek to apply it to our lives today. Let me give you some things to consider and I’ll leave it with you.
First of all, the presence of God is no longer found in a building. The “church” is not the house of God but rather it is the people of God. We know this but it is such a difficult concept to grasp – well, not really, it is just easier to trust our efforts than it is to trust God’s promises – that we constantly find ourselves confusing the to/too/two. If Christ dwelling in us is the presence of God then I believe that the courtyard of the Temple would be our own material and experiential lives.
Secondly, and for me this is where it is easy for me to miss the forest for the trees, the restriction on the presence of God is something that Jesus and God take very seriously. I say easy to miss because it is very easy to become distracted with various theories and prognostications as to what exactly was happening in the courtyard. Were the priests really charging an exorbitant rate for the exchange of money? Was the High Priest condemning the animals brought for sacrifice and demanding that the individual purchase an “approved” animal? These are all theories that I have heard taught and they may or may not be correct.
This is where I begin to veer a little of course and just want to point something out that is fairly easy to overlook. You may or may not be familiar with the fact that there were actually 4 courts the led to the Temple. This was the outermost court and anyone was able to enter and mingle in this courtyard. It was crowded; it was loud; it was obnoxious – and it offended Jesus.
It offended Jesus because the Temple was to be a place of reverence and worship and not a place to hear the calling of the herders or the clink of money being passed. Translate that to today and apply it to my life; your life. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that we are extremely consumer oriented as believers. We are for a cause, against a cause, angry with a cause, hoping for a cause and if I’m not careful my life begins to sound like an animal marketplace. Having spent a little bit of time in animal marketplaces I can assure you of one absolute truth – they stink.
I’ve got a challenge for us; can we take a little bit of time, just a little quiet time and enjoy the presence of God? Can we stop being a consumer of the newest item of rage or praise and just enjoy some quiet time alone in presence of God? I’ll close with a verse that has been a source of comfort for me many times over the last few years: Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. James 4:8a
Clearing the Temple
Seek Understanding 
Really good piece. I look forward to these every week. Very thought provoking. It for sure seems that Jesus is doing away with the concept of a physical temple. The temple of course, as you said, being the place where God’s presence resides. Now the presence of God resides in the hearts of His followers. The whole issue of course has become one of great struggle for the Jews and their relations with Muslims.
I think one likely key to the passage is Jeremiah 7. How can the presence of God exist in a place where people mistreat others. What Jesus is doing would be seen by the people in that time and place (and eventual readers) as relating to the Jeremiah passage in some profound way.
The 4 gospel writers allude to the OT in passage after passage. And they often do it it ways we would not likely pick up on, because we aren’t as familiar with the OT scriptures. This is something that as a lay person with no seminary, bible college, or theological background that I’ve only just began to pick up on.
In America we are so accustomed to reading everything as simply a journalistic or historical account. And as a result we lose some of the meaning that the NT would have had to second temple Jews and the early Christians.