The Turning Over of the Tables in the Temple
Confronting Dead Religion: Jesus Turning Over the Tables (Cleansing of the Temple)
All four Gospels record Jesus cleansing the Temple
- Matthew 21:12–13
- Mark 11:15–17
- Luke 19:45–46
- John 2:13-17
“There He is. In the temple again. Causing trouble. Speaking very different from other preachers. Speaking with authority about sorrow, anxiety, sickness, and death. Penetrating the dark corners of human existence. Shattering illusion. Make no mistake about it; this is a dangerous man.”
Malcolm Muggeridge, Jesus Rediscovered
At the time of Jesus the usage of the Temple had fallen into…
- A Perversion of Its Purpose
- An Abuse of Its Authority
- A Mere Facade of Spiritual Life
“When Jesus steps into the temple, He claims it as His own. This is not the act of a reformer from the outside, but the rightful King reclaiming His Father’s house.”
Sinclair Ferguson
Jesus embodies, fulfills, and exceeds all the purposes of the Temple:
- He is Immanuel—God with us.
- He is the Lamb of God who takes away sin.
- He is The Great High Priest who has torn open the curtain and invited us all in.
“Dead religion has all too often become the mainstay of the status quo and of oppression, but a living faith in God is the automatic refusal to accept the world as it is and a restless quest to make it what it should be under God and one day will be again.”
Os Guinness, Carpe Diem Redeemed
