“He told those who were selling doves, ‘Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!’” (v. 16)

The gospels give us two distinct accounts of Jesus’ ruckus in the Temple.

We’re very familiar with the later one, wherein He castigates the religious enterprise for missing prayer—and missing the point.

John’s is a little different.

John highlights Jesus’ fury, as He levels it against the Temple marketplace. Instead of being the home for right offerings and heartfelt worship, it has become the headquarters for dealing in religious goods and services. Here, you can trade a little of what you’ve got from the world so that you can check the box of religious requirement. No need to come prepared and penitent. Just come with cash.

Jesus sees it, grieves it, and drives its perpetuators from the premises.

The lesson:

Make sure your church is more than a dispensary of “good Christian personhood.” Remain minded, organized, and determined for worship. Offerings are part of the picture, but they are offered in complement with prayer and singing and proclamation and repentance. The church has to care about more than “nickels and noses.” And we’d better worship like it, lest Jesus clear our courtyards in righteousness, too.

— Tyler