The famous Southern Steps led up to the temple, the holy place where God’s presence dwelt. Jesus and his disciples ascended them and entered the temple to celebrate events like Passover. During his final week, Jesus climbed these steps and caused uproar as he drove out the traders who were making illegal profits from those who attended the temple for worship. He famously declared that this place was a house for prayer, not a hideout for thieves.
‘“My Temple will be called a house of prayer.” But you are making it a hideout for thieves!’ (Matthew 21.13 GNB)
Jerusalem’s first temple was built under King Solomon about 3,000 years ago and destroyed by Babylonian invaders four centuries later. A new temple followed at the end of the sixth century BC. It was expanded, 500 years on, by Herod the Great, who ruled Judea on Rome’s behalf and has become notorious for trying to kill the baby Jesus.
The Law of Moses prescribed three annual visits to the temple for specific festivals. So, Jesus would have repeatedly climbed the Southern Steps to the temple. But unlike the countless pilgrims around him, he challenged the temple practices of his day.
Jewish pilgrims would buy sacrificial animals and change ‘unclean’ Roman coins for local currency to pay temple tax. Shrewd businessmen set up shop in the temple, overcharging the pilgrims and getting in the way of worshippers who tried to enter the temple. This is why Jesus turned their tables over and whipped the sacrificial animals out of the temple court.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Eli Wiesel said ‘The opposite of love is not hate; it’s indifference’. The thought of Jesus flipping tables and driving out people from the temple can be hard to get our heads around. Jesus is love, after all – meek and mild, a cross between the Dalai Lama and Tom Hanks, right? Can love act this way?
Jesus’ anger here is a mature and healthy response to a specific form of abuse. Not all anger is like this. But Jesus’ anger boils up from a tender, compassionate heart that longs to protect the vulnerable and uphold the purity of God’s house.
It’s precisely because Jesus is love that he responds like this. Really, we should be concerned if Jesus had let the corruption slip. Anger can result from love, because love makes you want to do something about injustice and pain.
Let’s be like Jesus. Let’s not be complacent when it comes to God’s house and world.
Do you need cleansing? Do you need God to fill you with his fierce love that does something about wrong in the world? Turn to him today.
Read on to find out more about the Jesus and the temple
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