Explaining Jesus’ Righteous Anger for paper Apr 24

John in his gospel records an incident that is very uncharacteristic of Jesus. “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” John 2: 13 – 16

So we see something of Jesus here that is quite uncharacteristic. He becomes angry, very angry. And proceeds to disrupt the whole scene shouting “Get these out of here, how dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” By the way, we aren’t talking about Jesus driving out a couple of animals from the courtyard.  During the Passover thousands of lambs as well as oxen and pigeons were slaughtered in the temple.  So you see the temple courtyard would have resembled a huge animal market. And as Jesus cleared all of these out, it was the maddest and angriest anyone had ever seen Jesus. We may think of anger as sin, but Jesus never sinned. His anger was a righteous anger. So why was Jesus so angry? After all the money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals provided a valid and helpful service to those who came to worship in Jerusalem. And it was something that God himself had put in place.

In speaking of the future location of the temple God put this principle in place. “But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish.” Deuteronomy 14: 24 – 26a

Jesus was not angry because of what they were doing, but because of the way and the place in which they were doing it. There are three reasons to explain Jesus’ anger.

First the pilgrims who came to the temple from all over Palestine and the countries beyond could not make their financial offerings with their local currency. They had to exchange it for special money used in the temple. The priests authorized money changers to provide this service in the temple area. However, these money changers, with the priest’s permission, gouged the pilgrims by charging them exorbitant rates for the service they provided.

Second the sellers of sacrificial animals demanded outlandish prices for their animals, 10 or 20 times what they could be bought for elsewhere. Even if a person brought his or her own animal from home or purchased it in the city marketplace, the temple inspectors, appointed by the priests, invariably rejected it as being imperfect. The worshipers, particularly the poor, were being taken advantage of and all in the name of religion!

Thirdly, all of this business activity was going on right in the temple, in the Court of the Gentiles. This was the only place in the temple that was open to Gentiles for prayer. With all the bartering, animal noises, and general confusion, what chance did a Gentile have to find a quiet place conductive to worship. Apparently the inconsideration being shown to the Gentile worshipers was the primary reason that Jesus became so angry. In parallel accounts Jesus quotes from Isaiah and Jerimiah in explaining his actions. “Is it not written: My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a den of robbers.” Luke 11: 17

Jesus came that all nations could be saved. In the temple little or no consideration was given for “all nations” to worship in the area specifically designated for them, the court of the Gentiles.

So we can say Jesus became very angry because the transactions Jesus observed had clearly lost their holy (and very practical) purpose of assisting distant travelers in presenting worshipful offerings and he could see the greed, gouging, cheating of those who brought their own animals, and the inconsideration shown to the Gentiles. In his righteous anger he drove all this corruption from the house of his father shouting “how dare you turn my father’s house into a market. And his disciples remembered from Psalm 69 “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Blessings!