13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” 18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. 23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. (John 2:13–25)

Have you ever been in a church service, or perhaps watched one on a screen, where you grew increasingly bothered by what you saw? Maybe at first it was discomfort, then it grew into disturbance, then even disgust and outrage.

In some ways, I hope you have had experiences like that, not because I wish the pain of that on you, but because it is a good sign if you have had the discernment and the negative reaction to bad worship. Sheep know good grass and the voice of the Shepherd. Goats eat anything and follow anyone. If you are a real Christian, a follower of the true Messiah, then you will have His heart for true worship.

Jesus wanted pure worship for Israel. Israel was the chosen nation, but Israel certainly didn’t follow God perfectly, as we remember in the Old Testament. And by the time Jesus comes, religion in Israel is very sick. Real worship of God is rare. True worshippers are in the minority. Probably most people are just worshippers by convenience or culture – doing some religious duties so as to stay within what society expects, not range too far from the norm. Most people don’t have much reality in their religion, it’s a dead ritual, or a mindless duty. And when Jesus comes and miracles begin happening, crowds are wakened out of their slumber and start clamouring for miracles, for signs, for exciting religion. But all of this is sickness. They don’t want Him; they want a show.

Jesus comes to show them what real worship looks like, and it is not dead formalism, nor profaning His name. Messiah comes to show signs, not for sign seekers, but for Saviour-seekers.

It feels like not much has changed. Vast numbers of those who would say they are believers, Christians are really just into a cultural religion, a once-a-week, or for some twice-a-year church appearance. Nothing much is real in their faith, no heartfelt prayer, no profound awakened understanding of God in His Word, no soul-searching repentance and then relief at forgiveness. Just a run of the mill ritual, having no idea how profane that worship is.

And then, for some of them, they hear about something miraculous down the road, and they are excited to go and see the show. They become itchy to see healings, demons cast out, people falling down in the Spirit, people speaking unknown tongues, people getting miraculous direct revelation from God. They love the signs, and stay glued to the signs, never looking to what the signs are supposed to point you to.

Today in John’s Gospel we will see Jesus the worship warrior. We will see Jesus contending for true worship, for pure worship, devoid of fleshliness, and free of carnal sign-seeking. Jesus is going to go after God-centred worship. This will once again show us that He is the true Messiah. But it will also show us what it means to follow Him, to truly believe in Him. If Jesus really is your Saviour, if you really are a Christian, then you should find what He is fighting for to be something you long for.

Here we learn again the Jesus is the Messiah of true worship, and we test if we are the people who belong to Him. Our account today is the story of Jesus going to the Temple, and unfolds in four scenes: the place this happened, what Jesus did to purify it, the challenge that then came to Him, and then the proof of what Jesus did.

I. The Place of Profane Worship

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.

It was the time of Passover, late March, early April. Passover was one of three feasts that Jewish males were required to present themselves at Jerusalem for, the other two being Pentecost and Tabernacles.

John records three Passovers, this one, the one in chapter 6, and the one which took place at the time of His crucifixion, which is one of the ways we know that Jesus’ ministry was around three and a half years.

Jesus, being in the north in Galilee, would have to head south with all the other pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is at an altitude of 2500 feet, about 750 metres above sea-level, so that is why it says He went up. It was a bit of climb.

The Passover was the feast that commemorated Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt. Some Jews chose to use it as the feast at which to pay their annual tithe, others used it as the time for their ritual purification alongside the actual celebration of the Passover meal and the feast of Unleavened Bread that followed. What that meant is a huge number of pilgrims needing an equally huge number of sacrificial animals.

Since most Jews did not live in Jerusalem, they had to travel to get there, as Jesus did. But many Jews did not even live in Israel, but were part of established Jewish communities in Egypt or Rome or Greece, or many other parts of the empire. And you can imagine that these pilgrims did not travel over sea and land with animals in tow. No, they would hope to buy an animal once they got to Jerusalem. And even if you did live near enough to bring your own, there was always the danger that it wouldn’t pass the test of ritual purity. There were qualified examiners or inspectors at the Temple known as mumchim, who would charge a fee to inspect your animal. You could avoid all that, by simply purchasing one of approved animals sold within the Temple-enclosure. And if you have ever been in a place where a certain place is the only restaurant in the airport, and you are forced to buy from them, you know how high the profit margin is.

So this is why you have oxen, sheep and doves being sold in the Temple area. The Temple enclosure was more than the actual Temple were the incense was presented and in which stood the Holy of Holies. The enclosure included a massive court, 300 by 450 metres. It was in this area, the Court of the Gentiles, where undoubtedly all these animals were available for purchase.

There was another obligation. Every Jewish male was required to pay the Temple tax, and they had to pay it in the form of recognised a half-shekel. But most of the Jewish pilgrims did not use Jewish shekels. They were using Roman denarii, Persian money, Tyrian, Syrian, Egyptian, and Greek coins. So that meant you needed the money-changers, the shulchanim. In fact, they opened their stalls in the month of Adar, the month before Passover in every country-town for ten days. Then they closed up and headed to the Temple itself to meet the arrival of the first pilgrims coming in.

They charged a fee on every half-shekel they exchanged. And they charged a fee for all the money the pilgrims would exchange to buy their animals, and perhaps pay for their accommodation and food while there. Coins in the ancient world were not standardised, people often clipped off the edges to get a bit of gold or silver or copper for themselves, sometimes the coins were mixed with other metals to fraudulently make them heavier. That’s why money changers had their scales and balances to weigh the coins. Enough of them were scoundrels, with false balances, loaded scales, designed to always cheat the customer into paying more.

So at the table of an Eastern money changer, you can imagine the scene: weighing the coins, deducting value because of the weight, arguing, bargaining.

So picture this scene right there in the Temple precincts: people shouting and quarrelling over prices, people exploiting each other and charging premium prices, amidst all the noise and smell of a place now crowded with kept animals. Nothing about the scene would have struck you as reverent and holy. Nothing would have struck you as turning the hearts of Israelites up towards God. It was all commercial, and all businesslike, and even savoured of exploitation and even of violence.

Edersheim tells us that in the Talmud, we read about a curse which a distinguished Rabbi of Jerusalem (Abba Shaul) pronounced upon the High-Priestly families (including that of Annas), whose “sons [were] treasurers (Gizbarin), their sons-in-law assistant-treasurers (Ammarkalin), while their servants beat the people with sticks.” If that kind of shameless profiteering and even bullying of the people was going on, it helps us understand the Lord’s actions.

II. The Purification of Profane Worship

15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.”

The Lord determines to clean out this profaning of the Temple. This is the first time Jesus does this; He does it again in the last week of His life, when He came to Jerusalem to be tried and crucified. These are different events, because here the questions from the leaders are different, and this is clearly at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

To do that, the simplest approach will be to get the animals out, and the traders will follow, and then disrupt the money-changers so they set up somewhere else.

Notice that this is planned by the Lord, not a fit of rage. If you take the time to make a whip of cords, then you are not in some kind of blind rage. You are completely in control of yourself. He constructed a kind of lash made of ropes.

Now this whip is for the animals, not the people. Those who herd and drive cattle tell us that larger animals respond only to some sort of lash or to barking dogs. To move oxen, and larger sheep, Jesus is going to lash them like a herder and get them moving. Those selling them will no doubt chase them down, and have to re-group elsewhere. But make no mistake, Jesus is forcefully expelling these people and their animals. I have no doubt the traders were simultaneously bewildered, angered, but also convicted and shamed into chasing down their products and selling them elsewhere.

Not only did Jesus drive out the animals and their sellers, but He poured out the money in their various vessels, and overturned their tables. I can picture the scramble as coins go sprawling and scattering over the paved floor, sellers trying to scoop up their winnings, before someone else does, not a few people trying to recoup what they lost at the changing table with a quick scoop amidst the chaos, people trying to get up and get out without being trampled by animals or other people rushing out. Once a stampede begins, everyone heads in the same direction.

And as He does this, He teaches. He does not just drive them out without explanation, as if He is a madman. He tells them, “Take these away! Do not make my Father’s house a house of merchandise!” This is Jesus’ Father’s house. It’s a place for prayer. It’s a place for sacrifice, atonement, worship. It is not a place for people to make a profit. It is not supposed to be a den of thieves. Jesus did this with such authority, and such control, that the Romans did not arrive as if this had become a riot or a disturbance of the peace. But yet, there is such clear, calm, emphatic force, that no one opposes Jesus.

Now it is not that it was evil to provide a money changing service. Nor was it evil to sell the required animals, or even to provide a service to examine and approve the animals. All these things, strictly speaking, became necessary.

The evil was what we call profaning the Lord’s house, profanation. We don’t hear that term too much anymore. To profane something is to take something consecrated to God, and to debase it, treat it as common, ordinary. It comes from the Latin profanum, which literally means “in front of the Temple”. Even in pagan Roman worship, when you came to a temple, you took your shoes off in front of the Temple, because shoes both literally picked up the grime and dirt of the streets, but also represented the grime and slog of everyday walking and living. So you left them in front of the temple to literally and symbolically say, I am leaving behind the dust and grime of ordinary life to enter a sacred space, a set apart space.

Paul even uses this term about the Lord’s Supper. He tells the Corinthians that the way they were treating the Lord’s Supper was treating it like it was any supper, any feast, and so they were profaning the Lord’s body.

There was no problem with changing money, with selling animals, or even with making a profit. The problem was turning a sacred place and moment into a common, ordinary, and even seedy one.

In fact, it is more in the how than in the what. How this was being done was destroying reverence, destroying humility, destroying focus, destroying respect.

In the New Testament, we no longer have a Temple in Jerusalem. But once in Christ, Paul tells us that both individually, and corporately, we are the Temple of God. When God’s people assemble together in the name of Jesus to worship, we are living stones that make up corporately a Temple to worship God. And it is still possible that the worship of God can be profaned.

It can be profaned when churches and preachers again turn it into a place of merchandise, selling blessings and health and wealth with their seed offerings. That profanes the house of God.

It can be profaned when churches and preachers turn it into a form of entertainment, amusing people with catchy visuals, cute motivational talks, slick performances and consumable pop music.

It can be profaned when churches and preachers disobey the explicit instructions in the New Testament of what should be done in corporate worship, and who should preach, and who should pray.

It can be profaned when churches and preachers turn it into the worship of a celebrity preacher, and congratulate themselves and honour their size and popularity.

In fact, you can profane the worship of God anytime you turn it into a man-centred affair, a pragmatically-driven affair, something other than seeing God in His Word and responding to Him appropriately.

And the more you love God, the more offended you will be by profane worship. It will distress you that people name His name and desecrate His worship. It should incense you that people claim to enjoy God while enjoying a composite quilt-work god made up of grandfather-Santa Claus-boyfriend-therapist-life coach-buddy rolled into one.

Jesus is so zealous for the pure worship of His Father, that He is willing to face opposition, willing to face off against traders and religious authorities, willing to be thought mean and cruel, willing to be criticised for His actions.

And Jesus does not veer into the ditch of sinful anger and viciousness, nor into the ditch of cowardly exasperation or indifference. This is righteous anger: a controlled, meek, demand for change that has the authority to bring about the change it demands.

When the disciples see Christ’s authoritative control, they are reminded of the text that says “Zeal for your house has consumed me”. Righteous zeal and love for God completely occupied Jesus so that He called for an enforced holy worship at the Temple.

How is your zeal for the pure worship of God? Zeal doesn’t mean we go into churches whose worship we disagree with and overturn their keyboard and kick over their drumsets. We don’t have to disrupt. Remember the Temple belonged to the Lord, so the Son of God was cleaning out His own house, chasing out uninvited guests exploiting His Father’s house. That’s not quite the situation you and I have with our own church or with any other.

By zeal, the Bible does not mean a feeling of excited enthusiasm. That may come and go.

Biblically, zeal is very close to the idea of diligence. Paul pairs them closely in Romans 12: not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; (Romans 12:11). In other words, your zeal for God’s worship will be seen in how diligent, how disciplined your labour is to make sure that you worship reverently, that you help others to, and that you yourself pursue it with diligent labour.

III. The Person of Pure Worship

18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Now comes the reaction. The Jews, which again refers to the religious leaders, the Judeans, ask for a sign. Notice, they don’t even reprove Him for what He had done. It is as if everyone understands this needed to be done. Everyone knows the wrongdoing was what was going on before, not what Jesus did. But what they are asking is not, “What do you mean by doing this?” What they mean is, since you have cleaned out the Temple like a religious authority, prove that you are such an authority. You are acting like Messiah, like the fulfilment of Malachi 3:1 “the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant”. So if that is you, show us a sign.

We keep seeing this in the ministry of Jesus.

Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? (John 6:30)

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” (Matthew 12:38)

Now here is the strange double-edged theology of signs. On the one hand, they can convince you that Jesus is the Christ. After all, the book of John is a book of seven signs, seven carefully arranged miracles that are designed to convince you that Jesus is the Messiah. Signs can work that way, to persuade.

On the other hand, signs can feed an unbelieving heart and make it even harder, because it tickles a carnal desire to be amused and amazed without repentance. Sign-seekers are not usually interested in what the sign point to, they want the sign for itself.

To these kind of sign-seekers, Jesus never capitulates. Instead, He says here what He will say again later in His ministry: the only sign that an unbelieving generation will get is the objective fact of the empty Tomb. The resurrection of Jesus, which He also calls the sign of the prophet Jonah – three days and three nights in the grave – is the only permanent sign for those who are after signs for the wrong reasons. And interestingly, Jesus never personally appeared to anyone except those who had believed in Him. It’s as if the empty tomb stands there with possible ambiguity: rejecters can still find some way to explain it away.

Here Jesus uses the image of the Temple. Tear this Temple down, and I will rebuild it in three days.

It is interesting that Matthew and Mark never record Jesus saying these words, but they record His enemies referring to this statement at His trial, and at the crucifixion. They usually present a garbled version – saying that Jesus said, I will destroy the Temple, when He didn’t say that.

Of course, the religious leaders can’t believe what they’re hearing. First of all, the sign seems unfair. They’re already upset that Jesus is disrupting their commercial business in the Temple. They’re not going to demolish the Temple just to see Him perform this miracle. But second, it sounds like high arrogance, a laughable claim to be able to rebuild what has taken years to build.

But Jesus is doing what He often does, speaking of another reality behind the literal words. The spiritual insightful see the meaning, the hard-hearted only the surface layer. He was really talking about the Temple of His body and the sign of the resurrection.

How is He the Temple? In one sense, this is true of every believer and of Jesus, our Author and Head. We are all said to the Temple of the Holy Spirit. To kill Jesus is to destroy the Temple of the Holy Spirit. In a second sense, Jesus is the focal-point of everything the Temple stood for. By His life, death, and resurrection, Jesus Himself becomes the High Priest, the Ark, the Sacred Veil, the atoning sacrifice. Jesus replaces the Temple, which is why the veil of the Temple was torn in two the moment He died. He becomes the means of access, and in that sense, becomes the ultimate Temple of God. So to kill Jesus, would be to tear down the ultimate Temple of God.

As one pointed, out, it is ironic that these Pharisees and Sadducees eventually brought about the sign they asked for. They tried and killed Jesus, bringing about this very sign Jesus spoke about. And furthermore, once they put Jesus to death, the veil of the Temple was torn in two and so it actually doomed the physical Temple to destruction.

After the resurrection, the disciples believed the Scripture and the word Jesus spoke. The sign functioned for them: it grew and encouraged their faith in the written Word of God, and in the spoken words of Jesus that they recalled.

How signs function for you reveals your heart. If you are looking for miracles to amuse you, or if you are looking for God to perform when you tell Him to, or if you are looking for reasons not to believe, then no true sign will convince you. In fact, so as to not further harden your heart, God will leave you with just one sign to ponder: the empty tomb of Jesus.

But if you are seeking God, honestly wanting God as He is, willing to accept His verdict on you, and His assessment of you, then signs will function to point you to their source: the living God.

John gives us then a conclusion that shows how this worked out in Jerusalem.

IV. The Proof of Pure Worship

23 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, 25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

Many believed in Him. That sounds good, right? They believed in His name, when they saw the signs. But verse 24 tells us that Jesus did not necessarily believe in them. The word for believed in verse 23 and commit in verse 24 is the same word in the Greek. They believed in Jesus, but Jesus did not believe in them. Why? He knew all men, and He knew that men respond to signs in these two ways. He didn’t need instruction or testimony to tell Him what people were like, because He knew what was in men.

He knew some men want to use God for their own benefit. They are the same ones who profane worship. They want religion, and signs and miracles for selfish gain. They may appear to believe, but it is superficial belief, carnal belief, belief like Judas, belief like Simon the sorcerer. It has no root, and no real life. It is a shallow, flighty, enthusiasm about Jesus that has never died and risen, never repented and believed, never bowed the knee to Him as Lord. And so, in a very real way, every time that person names Jesus and prays and sings, it is a kind of profanity. That’s the one kind of “believer”: false worship and sign-seeking. But the sad thing is, Jesus doesn’t believe in that kind of believer.

But then there are those who have died to self. They want Jesus for all He is, whether it seems pleasant or not. They want all of Christ, not some of Him, they want Christ not only as Saviour, but as Lord, King and Master. What does Jesus do for these ones?

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. (John 10:14–15)

That’s the other kind of believer: not a sign-seeker, but a Saviour-seeker, not a false worshipper, but one who worships in Spirit and in truth. Jesus believes in that kind of believer, and commits Himself to him or her. Which are you? Ask yourself, do I want the signs, or do I want the Saviour? Do I want surface, ritual worship, or sincere, real worship? It’s the difference between eternal life and eternal perishing.