Lenten Perspective: My Father's House

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My Father's House

In the temple [Jesus] found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.  Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle.  He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here!  Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"

John 2:14-16 (NRSV)

Won't find me practicing what I'm preaching
Won't find me making no sacrifice
But I can get you a pocketful of miracles
If you promise to be good, try to be nice
God will take good care of you
Just do as I say, don't do as I do

From "Jesus He Knows Me" by Genesis

In the Gospels, we read that Jesus, at some point in His earthly ministry, creates a ruckus at the temple in Jerusalem.  He barges into the temple, turns over the tables of the people who are exchanging currency and selling animals for sacrifice, drives everyone out, and condemns what has become of the temple.¹  This story is found in each of the four Gospels, but one telling of the story, the one found in John's Gospel, is a bit different from the other three.  Sometimes I like to compare different versions of stories in the Gospels in order to discover what messages different writers are trying to convey.

When I compare John's telling of Jesus' Cleansing of the Temple to Mark's version of the story, which is thought to be the first one written, three major differences stand out to me.  The first major difference is in the time at which the event occurs.  In Mark's Gospel, Jesus clears out the temple toward the end of His earthly ministry.  In John's Gospel, Jesus clears out the temple toward the beginning of His ministry.

The second major difference is in what Jesus says when He clears out the temple.  In Mark's version of the story, Jesus echoes the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'?  But you have made it a den of robbers."²  In John's version of the story, Jesus says, "Take these things out of here!  Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"³  In the former, Jesus condemns not the activity in the temple but rather the hypocrisy of the people in the temple, suggesting that the temple has become a place where criminals hide.  In the latter, Jesus condemns the activity in the temple, suggesting that the place of worship has become a place of business.

The third major difference is in how the religious leaders react to Jesus' demonstration at the temple.  In Mark's version of the story, the religious leaders try to find a way to eliminate Jesus.⁴  He has been a thorn in their side for a while, so they want Him out of the way permanently.  In John's version of the story, the religious leaders merely confront Jesus and question Him.  He has just shown up on the scene, so they want to know why He is doing what He is doing.  They ask Him where He received the authority to do what He just did and ask Him to provide some sign that He does indeed have this authority.  Jesus replies, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."⁵

John tells us that, when Jesus speaks of destroying the temple and rebuilding it in three days, He is not referring to the structure He just cleared out but is instead referring to His own body.⁶  Bascially, He is comparing Himself to a temple.  Specifically, He is referring to His future crucifixion and resurrection.  In the Gospels, the Cross is always in the background.

John, in his telling of Jesus' Cleansing of the Temple, seems to be trying to make some statement about the state of temple and about the nature of Jesus Himself.  As Jesus clears out the temple, He declares that His Father's house has been made into a marketplace, suggesting that the temple is no longer serving its purpose as a dwelling place for God.  When He is questioned by the religious leaders, He refers to His own body as a temple, suggesting that He has become the house of God, that He is the place where God now dwells.

Jesus was critical of His own religion in His day, and I think that, if He were to return to the earth in the flesh, He would also be critical of the Christian religion of our day.  He could rightly call the Church a "den of robbers," as it seems that religious leaders are exposed for their lack of integrity on a regular basis.  He could rightly tell us to stop making the Church a marketplace, for many people make a lot of money off His name.

The word religion is derived from the ancient Latin word ligare, which means "to bind" or "to connect."  The purpose of a religious institution is to reconnect people with God and with each other.  Sometimes religious institutions fail to do what they were founded to do and start serving entirely different purposes.  When, through human failure, God no longer seems to be present in our places of worship, we must not give up on God altogether.  Instead, we must fix our eyes on Jesus, for, when we look at Him, we see God.


Notes:

1. This perspective is based on Mark 11:15-18 and John 2:13-22.
2. Mark 11:17 (NRSV); Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 7:11
3. John 2:16 (NRSV)
4. Mark 11:18
5. John 2:18-19
6. John 2:21-22

Expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple was painted by Andrei Mironov in 2012.  The image is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.  The artist is in no way affiliated with this blog.