The Cleansing of the Temple
The story of the cleansing of the Temple is such a singular event that over the centuries, there has not been a consensus about what it means. I have heard preachers say that Jesus, seeing the money changers in the Temple, lost control. That he was not in his right mind and was consumed by righteous anger because he was shocked to see commerce taking place in God’s house. I have heard preachers speculate that in this action, Jesus indicates that sometimes violence is justified if the ends are just. Others think that Jesus’ anger was that poor people were being ripped off. And still others proclaim that Jesus was offended that commerce was being conducted in the Court of the Gentiles, the place where Gentile seekers could gather and perhaps be converted to worship the true God but would be turned off by the bleating sheep and goats, bellowing cattle and squawking birds – not to mention what they leave behind.
The problem with these interpretations is this: as a righteous Jew, Jesus would have been in Jerusalem for the mandatory festivals many times before. The presence of commerce would not have been a surprise on this occasion. Secondly, the exchange rate which enabled the pilgrims to exchange unclean foreign coins for acceptable shekels, was rigorously enforced. And finally, the availability of livestock was a great convenience.
Imagine yourself a Jewish pilgrim coming from Damascus or Alexandria and just as you enter the Holy City, your sacrificial lamb stumbles and breaks her leg. Only unblemished offerings are acceptable. The availability of certified animals for offering was, if anything, considered a modern innovation that was much appreciated by most people. And while Jesus no doubt had a regard for Gentiles – those in the process of converting were called “God Fearers” – Jesus’ focus and mission was to the House of Israel. So, what’s this all about?
I would suggest that this action, like his provocative entry into the city with his followers shouting “Hosanna!” and waving palm branches, the cleansing of the Temple was not a spontaneous act or something done out of rage but rather was a pre-planned, deliberate prophetic act. If “prophetic act” is not clear, think of this as a “visual aid.” But what does it mean?
The meaning is clear in Jesus’ declaration of what it meant. Although John’s language is slightly different, Matthew, Mark, and Luke have it this way: “My house shall be called a House of Prayer for all nations but you have made it a Den of Robbers. That phrase “Den of Robbers” takes us back to the Temple sermon of the prophet Jeremiah.
First though, some context. But buckle up! We’re gonna do a “deep dive.”
The Hebrew slaves, led out of Egypt by Moses, receive the ten commandments at Mt. Sinai. They house the tablets of the Law in a container known as the Ark of the Covenant (how many of you remember the first Indiana Jones movie?)
Entering the promised land, they build a shrine for the Ark at Shiloh. There it will be held safe for 369 years, until the time of Eli. Eli was the high priest who had two corrupt sons who also served as priests. Try as he might, Eli failed to reign in his sons’ sacrilegious behavior and in 1050 BCE, The Philistines attack the city, raze it to the ground, and kill the sons who had taken the ark to the front lines of the battle seeking divine intervention. The Philistines steal the Ark away, but it causes them so much misery that, in time, they return it.
Later, Solomon builds his Temple in Jerusalem. Once completed, Solomon the King tries to enslave the men of the northern tribes to be a permanent army to defend the Temple and his reign. The result is a civil war, splitting the Hebrew nation into 2 kingdoms – the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. This is in 922 BCE. (Are you with me so far?)
Two hundred years later, in 722, the capital of the Northern Kingdom, Samaria, falls to the Assyrians. The ten northern tribes are dispersed and forced to intermarry with the diverse peoples of the Assyrian Empire. They will be known as the Lost Tribes of Israel.
Those in the Southern Kingdom of Judah believe that this disaster befell those in the north because they failed to recognize the primacy of the Jerusalem Temple. The people of the south will develop a certain arrogance as being people of pure blood and pure worship over against the Samaritans of the north and their rival Temple at Mt. Gerizim. (Still with me?)
In 609, God’s prophet Jeremiah stands in the doorway to the Temple and calls the nation to repent. Why? Because the new King of Judea has allowed the people to build shrines to Baal at which children were being sacrificed. In Judea, foreigners were being oppressed, orphans and widows neglected, and adultery, stealing, and murder were being tolerated. But the people claimed that they were safe from God’s judgment because of the protection of the Temple.
Jeremiah cries: “Do not trust in these deceptive words: This is The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord.” In other words, the Temple had become little more than a superstitious talisman and the words – The Temple of the Lord said three times – a magical incantation.
Jeremiah goes on, “has this House, which is called by my Name, become – (wait for it!) – a Den of Robbers in your sight? Therefore, I will do to the House that is called by my Name just what I did to Shiloh. And I will cast out all your kinfolk, all of the offspring of Ephraim.” The offspring of Ephraim refers to the Tribes of the North devastated by the Assyrians.
A lot of history. A little confusing, no? Bottom line: Jeremiah is saying what happened to Shiloh 300 years ago, whose ruins you can still see only 18 miles away. And what happened to the Northern Tribes a hundred years ago, God will do to you if you don’t shape up. Jeremiah was arrested, but escaped death. He will live to see Jerusalem fall to the Babylonians, the Elders exiled and The Temple destroyed in 587 – and the Ark lost to history.
In this historical context, Jesus’ overturning of the stone tables of the money changers and scattering of the livestock, was a public demonstration aimed at the High Priest Caiaphas who served at the pleasure and the bidding of Rome. Jesus’ words and his actions publicly condemn The Temple elites for their oppression of the poor and vulnerable, their callous disregard for the widows and orphans and especially for their collaboration with the Roman occupation.
Jesus boldly shouts: “you are destroying this Temple but I will raise it up by purifying it!” John, writing 70 years later to his community in Ephesus, will make this story an allegory about Jesus’ death and resurrection. But like Jeremiah, Jesus answers the question: what gives us safety and protection? For the priests and elders, it was The Temple and its sacrifices. For Jeremiah and for Jesus, it was living a moral life. And like Jeremiah, Jesus will be arrested. But unlike Jeremiah, Jesus will be executed. But Jesus’ prophetic act will come to fruition: Jerusalem and its Temple will fall to the emperor Titus in 70 CE.
I grew up in what was known as a high Anglo-Catholic parish. I was an acolyte and loved getting dressed in my red cassock and white surplice. I loved being in the procession with all the incense and booming organ and chanting choirs. "Low church for my church was using only one thurible for the incense instead of two!" There were 32 candles at The Altar which had to be lit and extinguished with a certain precision. As a teenager, I thought God cared deeply about all of it. For me, and for all the membership, church was an ends and not a means.
The words of the prophet Amos were echoed in Jesus’ actions that day: “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24)
Unless our worship strengthens us for lives of compassion and charity, these stones – this beautiful sanctuary – should crumble back into the earth for they are of no worth.
What matters here is how we live out there.
Amen.