NOTES for Joh 2:13-25

The irony of the situation is that animals are needed in the temple for the daily sacrifices, while currency exchange is needed for the temple tax, which must be paid in sacred shekels rather than ordinary money. Of course, the place of trade and the house of prayer could have been separated spatially, but how many churches have you seen with their candle counters out in the courtyard? In response to the indignation of the Jews, the Lord Jesus speaks not only of the order that must prevail in His Father's House, but also shows that from now on the center of God's presence is not here. He is the Divine Word, and His body is the true Temple in which God dwells not figuratively or in part, but truly, having become flesh forever—a man named Jesus. In His presence, sacrifices and taxes lose their significance, for the sacrifice is the whole life of Jesus. Even today He abolishes and makes unnecessary all our “religious constructions,” our “sacrifices and taxes,” when they are performed not for Him, not for His Temple built on the third day after Golgotha—the first Paschal morning.