You probably already know that there are four different gospels telling the story of Jesus in the Bible. While the gospels all tell Jesus’ story (God’s son born as a human, come to heal and redeem the world), there some similarities and some differences between them. Each gospel tells the story in its own way. These accounts were formed from stories that spread through word-of-mouth as followers began to try and make sense of the whole amazing experience. Eventually, they began to write them down. The characteristics and priorities of the different communities where each gospel was written shape the questions addressed and the ways each tries to explain the life and teachings of Jesus.
This week’s story is in all four gospels (that’s not always the case). Jesus visits the temple and causes a disruption about the money changers and animal sellers. He overturns the tables where Roman money is exchanged for Jewish coins, drives out the cattle and sheep, and commands the sellers of birds to take them out of the temple, saying, “Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” Confronted by the religious leaders, Jesus quotes scripture then talks about the destruction of the temple and raising it again in three days. The narrator explains that in retrospect, the disciples realized much later that he was talking about the “temple of his body” and believed.
The temple in Jerusalem was the center of religious life for the Jewish people of Jesus’ day, a very important place for worship and sacrifice. Money changers were on site so people who needed money in the temple for offerings or to purchase animals for sacrifice could convert Roman coins (that bore the image of Caesar and the claim that he was divine) into Jewish coins without Roman images or slogans. Animal sellers provided cattle, sheep, and birds for the sacrifices at the temple. Jesus complains about their presence at the temple, even though money changers and animal merchants are essential to the functioning of worship there.
Jesus stands up against the religious observance at the temple in Jerusalem – God isn’t just at the temple – Through Jesus, God is in the world in a new way, for Jesus is God in human flesh. After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, the spirit comes and fills the followers of Jesus, bringing God’s presence into the world even more and more as Jesus’ story spreads.
The temple was destroyed by the Romans less than 50 years after Jesus died and was raised from the dead. John’s community remembered Jesus’ reaction there and his words that foretold his own death and resurrection. It was no longer possible to seek out and honor God at the temple. Through Jesus and the spirit, God is present in our lives and the world even without it. In Jesus, God has come close. We may be reminded of God’s power and presence in magnificent buildings created to honor God, yet we know that God is everywhere.
Peace,