Templegate: Jesus Cleanses The Temple

Happy Easter to all of you, and we are so glad you are here this morning.

Ever since Watergate that took down the 37th President of the United States, scandal and corruption stories often end with the word” gate” as a result. There was Nannygate, Deflategate, Grannygate, and Spygate. I invite you to find John 2 with me this Easter Sunday morning as we focus on Jesus’ actions at TempleGate.

A Nebraska woman was arrested just one month ago because she used a gas pump glitch to get over $27,000 in free gas. A 45-year-old woman discovered that if she swiped her rewards card twice, the gas pump went into demo mode and gave out free gas. Not only did this lady use it herself, but she also had another woman pay her $500 for 10 fill-ups. In all, 510 times in six months, with multiple swipes on the same day. It’s also estimated that 7,413.59 gallons of gas were pumped, bringing total losses to $27,860.27.1 From gas pumps to payoffs of police officers, corruption has always been an insidious problem.

And lest you think corruption is isolated to pay-offs in remote towns in Nebraska, Eric was only 13 years old when he delivered a plain white envelope containing a $50 bill to the chief of police in Paterson, New Jersey. While the chief wasn’t there to accept the “gift,” it was only a couple of hours later that Eric’s father and his business received an order for 50 staplers. 50 staplers were more than enough for the 20 employees at the police station. Eric tells the story better than I could, “The money wasn’t a ‘bribe.’ It was a ‘Christmas gift’ (which, under city law, was also illegal). Most public officials liked my father. They realized that he could not afford to give as much in ‘gifts’ as our major competitor, who owned a much larger store and was wealthier than my father. A sign of good faith, a little spending money, was all he needed to get far more city business than the competition. Yet he knew that if he forgot the holiday, business would not flow our way.”2

I want to tell you a story about corruption that ends with a resurrection. Corruption has always been a problem. Our story is three years before the first Easter, and it is a story of religious corruption. It involves power and corruption, and at the center of it is Jesus Himself. While corruption concerns us, I want you to watch for a powerful prediction and a promise where Jesus tells us, “I will rise,” that not only solves corruption but gives us tremendous hope.

Today’s Scripture

“The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’

So the Jews said to him, ‘What sign do you show us for doing these things?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people nd needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:12-25).

Jesus makes a specific prediction of His death and resurrection on Friday, April 7, 30 AD. He would be crucified around three years later on Friday, April 3, 33.3

Today, we are going to look at probably the most angry that Jesus ever got. This is probably the most shocking picture of Jesus in the New Testament when He literally cleaned house. In the middle of Jesus’ anger, He shows the purpose of Easter.

1. I Will Not Have It

“And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, ‘Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.’” (John 2:14-15).