NOTES for Joh 2:13-22
13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, |
14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: |
15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; |
16 And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. |
17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. |
18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? |
19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. |
20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? |
21 But he spake of the temple of his body. |
22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. |
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The delicate point in the situation is that animals are needed in the temple for daily sacrifices, and money exchange is needed for the temple tax, which had to be paid in sacred shekels and not in 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 candle counters in the courtyard?
In response to the indignation of the Jews, the Lord Jesus speaks not only about the order that must exist in the 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 and not in part, but truly, having forever become flesh: a human being named Jesus. In His presence sacrifices and offerings lose their meaning, for the sacrifice is the whole life of Jesus. Even today He abolishes and makes unnecessary all our "religious constructions," our "sacrifices and offerings," performed not for Him and not for His Temple, built on the third day after Golgotha: on the first paschal morning.
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