FIRST CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple by El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos), 1571-76

Spring 27 A.D Passover

Jerusalem

John 2:13-25

And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting. 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.

And said unto them that sold doves, “Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.”

And his disciples remembered that it was written, “The zeal of your house has eaten me up”. [Psalm 69]

I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my own mother's sons for zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. Psalm 69:8-9

Let’s picture what it may have been like in Jerusalem when Jesus arrived. He came for the Passover. Passover was an important and sacred time for the Jews, but it was also a feast. It had its solemnity, but also its celebration, much like out Esther time. Different churches practice various ceremonies leading up to Resurrection Sunday. This can include for some walking the Stations of the Cross. There may be a Maundy Thursday, with foot washing and reenactment of the Last Supper. Some people have a vigil through Good Friday. Sunday morning will be filled with joyful song. 

Surrounding the worship services are also secular traditions. Families get together for Easter dinner. There are gifts of Easter Baskets, Easter egg hunts, parades and parties. Over the passage of centuries these secular traditions have come to often overwhelm the sacred. For far too many people going to church service becomes an obligation to get out of the way before the festivities can begin. I have a feeling the Passover Week of Jesus’ time had acquired a similar patina.

I’ve read that the main street to the Temple was lined with vendor booths. It reminds me of when my children were young and we would take them to the Philadelphia Zoo. Hawkers selling balloons, stuffed animals, hot dogs, soft pretzels and other bric-a-brac or foodstuffs lined the street from the parking lots to the zoo entrance. Another image I get are the streets around Wilmington’s Rodney Square filled with lunch wagons and souvenir hustlers during the annual jazz festival.

 There were many people coming to Jerusalem for the week, which means there is money to be made. Out-of-towners were coming who needed lodging and meals. The main street to the Temple was noisy, crowded, and full of tempting smells with a carnival atmosphere. But this was all going on outside the Temple. This was the place for such activity if such activity must be done. Jesus entered the Temple at the Court of the Gentiles and found it not much different than the street scene.

So why are these merchants here?

It probably began with good intensions, but what is the old saying? “The road to Hell is paved with good intensions.” 

The Jewish people of those times were required to make various animal sacrifices, for instance sin offerings (which Christ was to be and replace). Depending on circumstances and sometimes the economic status of the person, cattle, goats, sheep and birds were used. These animals had to be unblemished. 

You can imagine it was not always easy to secure an unblemished animal for this purpose, let alone drive or carry it several miles. At some point, some priest probably had the great idea to supply these goods so people didn’t have to do all that work. Unblemished livestock was provided at the Temple by breeders or sellers contracted by the priests to provide the service and people could simply pay a fee and then offer that purchased beast. (Recall in Luke 2:22-23 Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple after the purification period was over and offered a sacrifice of two birds. They probably purchased these Turtledoves or Pigeons from such a service.)

Because of the devious hearts of men, this soon became a money making proposition. Vendors overcharged for the animals and thus padded their profit at the expense of the people. There may have even been kickbacks to the priests. However, the corruption didn’t end with high prices on such animals.

There were also moneychangers in the Court of the Temple. We seldom use that term today. There was a time when the term was used for bankers and even today we often go to the bank to change money. If I were going to Italy I might go to my bank and exchange some U.S. dollars for lira. An exchange rate would be posted and the bank would give me that equivalent amount and change me a fee for doing so.

The moneychangers of that day were performing a similar service certainly. They were probably busier than usual during Passover Week because so many tourists flooded the city that needed local money. The exchange rate was at the discretion of the moneychangers and they took full advantage of this.

There was another bounty for these men. The people were required to pay a Temple Tax. This tax could not be paid in common lucre. It had to be paid with a special Temple coin. The moneychangers sold these coins and they often charged far more in exchange than the coin was worth. The Court of the Temple had become a place for the fleecing of the worshipper. This is not what God intended.

Jesus was God and he drove these thieves out of His house.

There are some who believe this instance is the same one spoke of in the other Gospels at the beginning of the Passion events. I do not. I stand with those who accept there were two such occurrences, one at the beginning of His ministry and one at the end. These served different purposes. The cleansing at the end of his ministry was used to further agitate the authorities to fulfill His mission and put him to death. The cleansing here at the start was to tell them he had arrived. What a spectacular announcement for drawing people’s attention.

Then answered the Jews and said to him, “What sign show you to us, seeing that you do these things?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Then said the Jews, “Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you rear it up in three days?”

But he spoke of the temple of his body.

When therefore he was 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 when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles, which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself to them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man for he knew what was in man.

“Then the Jews…” meaning the authorities demanded what authority he had to do this.

I guess they did!

His answer dismayed them. It was laughable. Perhaps they dismissed Him as a crazy man. This may be why they didn’t immediately arrest him. Note they demanded a miracle to establish His authority. Even then they may have been questioning if Jesus was the Messiah and were being a bit caution just in case. They had questioned John if he were the Messiah and by this time there may have been some whisperings getting to these religious leaders about this Jesus fellow.

We find Jesus did perform some miracles while He was in town and there were a few people who believed in Him. Whether any of these miracles were performed before the cleansing we don’t know. Some may have been and this was part of why they asked for a miracle. At least one of the Pharisees among the rulers believed Jesus was some kind of man of God. His name was Nicodemus.

Notice it says, “Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.” The context of the surrounding verses and this statement indicate it was not time for Jesus to be arrested and killed, more evidence that there were two Temple cleansings. He is going to meet with Nicodemus secretly in the night and soon Jesus and his few disciples are going to move into the wilderness for a while. They will not be there long before the danger becomes great enough that they flee back to Galilee.

JESUS IS REJECTED IN NAZARETH

The Cliffs of Mount Precipice, Nazareth

Luke 4:16-30, John 4:44

Nazareth, Galilee

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

We can think of the synagogue as similar to our church. Most of the larger towns of Israel in Jesus time boasted a synagogue. There were around 480 synagogues in Jerusalem alone. Like our churches and synagogues of today there were modest buildings and there were more elaborate ones. The word Synagogue means “a place of meeting”.

There were some differences to our Christian Churches of course. A synagogue service couldn’t be preformed without a minimum of 10 adult males in attendance. A Jewish boy of 13 would be considered an adult male for this purpose. The service consisted of five parts, more restrictive in practice and order, but reminiscent of a typical church service. It would open with a call to service, a recitation of the Shema "Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5) accompanied by Blessings or Berakot. There might be some psalm singing. There was a period of prayer, first a ritual prayer and then silent praying by individuals of the congregation. Finally came the reading of scripture and a sermon explaining what had been read and a blessing to end it.

There was not a priest or preacher as we would think of such a position. There was a synagogue leader selected from the elders by the other men. This person acted similar to a facilitator. The reading and sermons were given by any man who felt called upon and qualified to do so.

In this case that was Jesus.

Now Jesus as his custom was, went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He had probably done this faithfully since he was declared a man. Remember even while still considered a boy he had slipped from his parents while in Jerusalem and sat questioning the men in a synagogue. Also, this was the town where he grew up and he had probably taken part here on other occasions and these members of the congregation were very familiar with him. They would not have expected anything unusual when he stood up to read on this particular occasion, although they may have had more interest in what he was going to say this time. Remember, the people in Galilee had greeted him when he first arrived because they knew of what he had done in Jerusalem. We can be pretty sure the people attending this service were just as knowledgeable of those things. They were probably very curious about him, but they didn’t expect to hear what they now heard.

And there was delivered to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” [Isaiah 61:1-2]

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say to them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words, which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?” (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)

Note their reaction is not immediately one of rejection. They appear to agree with him and to wonder at what he has said, but not to repudiate anything – yet.  Their rhetorical question, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” has not yet been said out of doubt about who he is. That will come shortly, but right now they are looking at him as something of a celebrity, a brilliant hometown boy to take with some local pride. They have not thought it through yet and understood what he has just claimed.

But Jesus, ever confrontational, doesn’t leave it rest there. 

And he said to them, “You will surely say to me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country.”

Jesus knew what was in their hearts and what would come next. Soon they would be demanding signs from him, proof of whom he was rather than accepting on faith. They had probably been aware of the cure of the Roman official’s son, certainly aware of what happened in Jerusalem, and he knew they would begin to ask him to perform such miracles in Nazareth.

And he said, “Verily I say to you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent, save to Sarepta [Zarephath], a city of Sidon, to a woman that was a widow. [1 Kings 17:7-24 Zarephath is about 13 miles north of Tyre, a Phoenician City, now Modern Sarafend, Lebanon.]

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.” [2 Kings 5:1-19]

What has just happened here? I believe a couple of things. First, it has now dawned upon these men what Jesus meant in his reading for they understood Isaiah was talking about the coming Messiah. When Jesus did not expound on the reading, but simply said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears,” he was declaring himself that Messiah.  

Secondly, they were offended at the examples he gave from Scripture. The people referred to as given Elijah and Elisha’s miracles were Gentiles, not Jews. Jesus is speaking of faith in God, not of birthright or ceremony. He is saying he will not give them signs because they should know the signs of the time from Scripture and accept his claim on faith.

Jesus is also giving a prophecy here by setting these examples and saying, “A prophet has no honor in his own country.” This is not just a matter of over familiarity because these people knew him from childhood. Certainly, it may have been more difficult for those you’ve been with all your life to accept you as the Messiah easily, but this statement goes to the whole of his ministry and his final crucifixion right until our very modern world. The people of his country, the Chosen People of God, would not accept him and his salvation would go out to the Gentiles before them.

Rather than consider the validity of his statement, they took it as blasphemy and took it upon themselves to execute him there and then. 

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built that they might cast him down headlong.

But he passing through the midst of them went his way.

They probably wondered how he escaped and it never crossed their mind that he had just preformed a miracle in their midst.

One final comment here, it is important to note where Jesus left off reading Isaiah. He read Isaiah 61, 1-2. Here is the full text, finishing verse 2 and adding verse 3.

1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Jesus declares only the first half of Isaiah’s prophecy was being fulfilled at that time. It was the “acceptable year of the Lord”, but not yet the “day of vengeance” or the time when all God’s promises to Israel would be fulfilled. Jesus had first come to save and his countrymen missed it, but the foreigners did not.

PALSIED MAN LOWERED THROUGH A ROOF

The Palsied Man Let Down Through the Roof by James Jacques Tissot, c.1886-94

Matthew 9:1-8; Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-20

Back in Capernaum

And after some days he entered into a ship, and passed over and came into his own city again. He entered Capernaum and it came to pass on a certain dayit was noised that he was in the house.

Jesus made his initial tour about Galilee and gained a good bit of fame as a result, enough so it has become difficult to move about freely. He couldn’t even find solitude in the wilderness; the people followed him there. After several days of this, he returned to his base city, Capernaum. He crossed the sea in a ship, possibly escaping notice briefly. Eventually word on the street grew that he “was in the house”.  This is probably the house where Jesus was living, which many scholars believe was the home of Peter and Andrew. It had to be a house the people associated with Jesus being in town, since it was rumored he “was in the house”.

This is an artist’s rendering of what Peter’s mother-in-law’s house in Capernaum might have looked like. It was probably sketched from the archeological foundation claimed to be her house. Whether Peter and his mother-in-law lived in the same house it is difficult to say, but if not, their home would have probably been similar.

Although the sketch gives the appearance of a large compound, the actual dwelling would most likely be only one of these structures, not the whole complex. Homes tended to be simple affairs with only one or two rooms. The roof was flat and often people sat or slept on the roof to keep cool. Homes were clustered, like this sketch, around common courtyards. The courtyards would contain cisterns where water was carried in daily and stored. The neighbors would all use a common courtyard for such tasks as laundry and cooking.

And straightway many were gathered together, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them and they come unto him. Insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.

We have seen such scenes today, large crowds surrounding a place because some celebrity is there. Back in 1968 during the Presidential campaign, Robert F. Kennedy came to Philadelphia. He was to speak at the Democratic Headquarters on the corner of Fifteenth Street and Chestnut Avenue at noon. Before he arrived, people had crowded into that intersection and all along the adjoining streets. The police could barely keep the streets clear for traffic and people were being pressed into the sides of buildings. It was so crowded that when Kennedy arrived, he couldn’t even get out of the car, but had to stand up in the seat to address the people. There must have been a similar scene at the house. Every part of the grounds around it occupied. Perhaps some early arrivals actually gained entry, but now one couldn’t get close. Jesus probably stood in the doorway to address the mob.

As he was teaching, there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by and, behold, men brought to him a man, one sick of the palsy, lying on a bedwhich was borne of four,and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before him.

And when they could not come nigh to him for the press and could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop. They uncovered the roof where he was and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy layand let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

At the end of the last passage and the beginning of this it was stated that people came “from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.” This was the result of the cured Leper telling people about Jesus and how he cured him. The leper had also went to the temple and told the Priest there. Word spread. The Priest probably sent messages to the religious leaders in Jerusalem.

Remember, Jesus had begun his mission in a dramatic way, driving Moneychangers out of the Temple in Jerusalem during the Passover week. This got the religious and secular leaders attention. Jesus did not hang around in Jerusalem, but basically fled into the wilderness, then through Samaria and settled in Galilee. The leaders in Jerusalem probably dismissed this rebel rouser as just another lone fanatic. He disappeared north, out of sight and out of mind, until rumors and stories about the preacher and his healing began floating south to the capital. Now along those flocking to hear Jesus were the Scribes (doctors of the law) and Pharisees, examining Jesus and his purpose as they had John the Baptist. They may have been dispatched to follow Jesus and report on his activities by their superiors in Jerusalem. Notice these men were “sitting by”, implying they were not active participants, but were observers.

In these early days of his ministry, Jesus was obviously being seen as a healer more than a teacher, many, if not most, of this multitude were looking for a cure.  One such person was a man suffering from palsy.

We can’t know the exact nature of the man’s illness. Palsy is a somewhat general term meaning the lost use of some body part. It is usually accompanied by a loss of felling as well. The causes can be various. It could be something from birth, such as cerebral palsy or it could be the result of some trauma or other illness. It can afflict the whole person or be confined to one area.

From the description given, this man was affected at least in his legs and/or feet since he couldn’t walk. He has to be carried by four friends and they came too late to be near Jesus. With a burden of a man and his pallet, they found it difficult to even make a path through the crowd.

Now, some might question if they could not get through the crowd, how could they get to the roof. If we look at the earlier sketch we can certainly picture the scene. The particular house in question is blocked all along the front by this multitude. Jesus is most likely in the doorway. There may be some people inside the house listening from behind him.

But the houses are somewhat adjoined around the courtyards. The men took their friend to the side or rear of this block, hoisted him up and carried him over the flat roofs to the house of Jesus. Here they tore up the tiles and lowered the man through the hole they made.

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, the sick of the palsy, “Son, be of good cheer; man your sins be forgiven you.”

Let’s look closely at this statement. This is the first time we know of that Jesus has said such a thing. He spoke to Nicodemus about salvation, about being “born again”, and he spoke to the Samarian Woman at the well about the need for “living water”, but he has not until now said to anyone, as far as is recorded, “Your sins are forgiven”. Why here, why now and what does he mean?

We must be careful we don’t take this statement out of the context of the situation. There is a danger of pulling individual parts out of Scripture and misapplying them. The danger here is one that many have fallen into, even in Jesus’ day, of associating a serious sickness with a serious sin. Because someone falls sick, we should not assume they committed some sin. Job was the most righteous man around and he fell sick. Some may get a disease as a result of their sins, such as sexually transmitted diseases, but innocent people can get these diseases passed to them by an unfaithful spouse. Some people may sin greatly and remain very healthy in body, while other people may sin little and suffer terrible sicknesses throughout their life. We must show compassion and care for the ill, not condemn them or accuse them of anything.

Jesus is not saying here that the Palsy was the result of sin. (That is not to say it couldn’t have been, only that this is not the point of what Jesus says or does here.) We know we are all sinners, whether we show it in any outward way or not. Certainly, then, this man was a sinner, whether palsied or not.

So why did Jesus say this? It certainly must have surprised the man. It wasn’t what the guy expected to hear; not what his friends had went to such effort to hear. Jesus said this here and now because the Pharisees and Scribes were there and he was about to prove a point and begin an adversarial dialogue that would follow his ministry from this point to the Cross. Whenever Jesus did something, it was to the purpose of furthering God’s plan.

And, behold,but there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, said within themselves, “This man blasphemes. Why does this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?”

Who were these certain scribes? The scribes were the trusted and venerated experts on Scripture. They wore three hats. One, they were the transcribers, the people who copied and preserved the Holy texts. They were very familiar with the writings. Two, they were the Teachers of the Scripture to the populace. It was their duty to interpret the text’s meaning and teach the people what Moses and the Prophets had set down for them to follow. They were responsible for giving the people the moral principles of their religion. Three, they were also the Lawyers who were looked to for settling all disputes, questions or controversies concerning Scripture.

In other words, they were men who knew Scripture inside and out. These were the men in the profession that advised Herod when and where the Messiah was to be born back when the Magi appeared. If anyone in the crowd listening to Jesus should have understood his preaching, it was these certain scribes. But they didn’t.

And immediately, when Jesus knowing their thoughts, perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, “Wherefore think you evil? Why reason you these things in your hearts, for whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, your sins be forgiven you; or to say, Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?

 “But that you may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins,” …

Jesus knew what these men thought. It must have been stunning to these men when he addressed them this way as if he could read their minds.

Jesus says something it is hard to believe these men missed. That is when he said, “but that you may know that the Son of man…” These experts in Scripture must have understood that term immediately. Although the term “son of man” was used to mean human being, it had a precise meaning these men would have been familiar with. It came from Daniel 7.

Daniel was given a vision of history. In this vision he saw the rise and fall of the great empires. He was also shown the rise of the Antichrist and the fate of this final dictator. Daniel saw Christ given dominion over all by God.

I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7:13-14

They must have caught the assertion by Jesus that he was this person predicted by Daniel.

…(then he said to the sick of the palsy) “I say to you, arise, and take up your bed, and go your way into your house.”

And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelledinsomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, which had given such power to men saying, “We never saw it on this fashion.”

But did the scribes witnessing this also glorify God?