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.” John 2:15–16
All four Gospels speak of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple. However,
there is a difference between the way this event is portrayed in
the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and in the way it is
portrayed in John’s Gospel. John’s Gospel places this event at the
very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry during the first of His
three annual trips to Jerusalem for the Passover. This was His
first attempt at cleansing the Temple. Jesus was also less severe
in John’s version of the story, stating only that the moneychangers
had turned His Father’s House into a “marketplace.” In the three
Synoptic Gospels, this event takes place at the very end of Jesus’
public ministry, less than a week before Jesus’ death when He
returned to Jerusalem for the last time. In those versions, Jesus
was more severe, stating that the moneychangers had turned His
Father’s House into a “den of thieves” and not just a
“marketplace.” In commenting upon the differences between John’s
version and the Synoptics, Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas
believe that they are two different occasions when a similar act of
cleansing of the Temple took place.
The Jewish Temple, at the time of Jesus’ public ministry, was the
place people traveled to each year for Passover to offer the
sacrifice of a spotless lamb in commemoration of the first Passover
in Egypt when God set the Jews free from slavery. During this
annual celebration, Jewish families who traveled to Jerusalem would
purchase a lamb for sacrifice. At the appointed time, they
slaughtered the animal in the courtyard of the Temple and then
presented it to the priest who gathered some of the blood and
sprinkled it on the altar, and then removed the skin, organs and
fat to be burned in sacrifice. The meat was returned to the family
and roasted on a pomegranate branch so that they could feast on it
as they recalled the saving action God granted their ancestors in
Egypt. Today, we see the Jewish Temple as a symbol and
prefiguration of Christ, the New Temple Who is also the priest and
the Lamb of Sacrifice. Recall, also, that at Jesus’ death, the veil
of the Temple was torn in two, opening it up to the whole world so
that all may share in the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God. We are now
invited into this Holy of Holies to share in the new life of grace
accomplished by His Sacrifice. Since the grace of this Sacrifice of
our Lord enters into each and every heart that believes, to cleanse
and purify, then every person receiving this grace becomes a new
dwelling place of God, a member of His new Temple, the Body of
Christ.
When Jesus came to the Passover feast and witnessed the buying and
selling of these animals in the Temple, He drove them out with much
zeal. It was clear that this holy celebration of the Passover had
become less of a celebration of faith and more of a marketplace for
profit. Jesus’ action is also a symbol of the zeal with which He
now seeks to cleanse the temple of your soul. At first, when sin
and disorder pervade our souls, our Lord may take the approach of a
gentle rebuke, as He did in His first cleansing of the Temple in
John’s Gospel. If we persist in our sins, then our Lord will become
more zealous in His cleansing as He was in His final attempt to
cleanse the Temple the week before He died.
Reflect, today, upon this twofold cleansing of the Temple in
Jerusalem by our Lord and apply Jesus’ sacred actions today to your
own soul. Are there new sins that you have fallen into recently
that require a gentle rebuke from our Lord? Are there sins that
Jesus has been revealing to you for years now that you obstinately
persist in? Allow Him to rebuke you in love and to cleanse you so
that His saving Sacrifice as the Lamb of God will indeed purify
you, and allow His judgment and wrath to “passover” you this
Lent.
My cleansing Lord, You cleansed the Temple of Jerusalem not
once, but twice. Your zeal for its purity of worship was clear.
Please come and make my soul Your dwelling place today and cleanse
me of all sin. Please help me to especially see any ways that I
have remained obstinate in my sin, and please cleanse those sins
with much vigor. Jesus, I trust in You.
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Featured image above: Christ Cleansing the Temple, via flickr
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