NOTES for Joh 2:13-22
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.