Time To Cleanse Your Temple?

May 2nd, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Mark 11:15-19 Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; 16 and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. 17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” 18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening came, they would go out of the city.

Jesus strolled back into town the day after He first arrived and simply looked into the temple. Jerusalem was teeming with people for the annual Jewish Passover feast, so Jesus might not have even been noticed at first. Pilgrims traveling from all over came to make the necessary sacrifices at the altar, but because they were not permitted by Jewish law to bring their sacrificial animals from far away, the merchants in the temple provided them for a price. This practice was not only beneficial but biblical. Merchants, however, began to take advantage of people, and this is what Jesus took exception to. Trade was controlled by the priestly nobility who profited greatly at the expense of ordinary pilgrims. Some of these folks needed their currency converted for use in the temple, but the charge for doing so in some cases was up to 25%! And those who needed to purchase a lamb for the sacrifice were sometimes charged ten times the amount it would normally cost. Truly the temple courtyard was filled with corruption.

In addition to this, some folks, loaded with merchandise, were taking shortcuts through the temple area and using it as an access road from one part of the city to another. This brought further confusion and chaos to an area that was supposed to be devoted to prayer and worship. Mark makes special note, however, of those who sold doves, for the dove was one of the few sacrifices that the poor could afford and that God allowed them to offer in their poverty (Lev 14:22). But they too were being victimized by the greedy merchants. So Jesus went on the attack.

Jesus cited two texts as the basis for his attack on the temple merchants. The first is Isaiah 56:7 where he reminds them that God’s temple was to be a place of worship for all nations. The second text he cited was from Jeremiah 7:11, where Jeremiah condemns the notion that the temple provides protection for the Jews in their sin. On the contrary, God would destroy His temple (Jer 7:3-15), and this He did at the hands of the Romans some 35 years later. Jesus was furious over the fact that God’s temple was being used as a place to profit instead of worship.

Food for Thought
Though our bodies are called the new “temple of God” (1 Cor. 6:18-20; Rom. 12:1-2) we still worship in buildings we call church and “houses of prayer.” These are simply buildings, however, for they are not like the Jewish temple where God’s presence was in the days of Jesus. The place where God’s Holy Spirit dwells, and where He Himself is present, is in the body of Christians. We are the temple of God. But just like the temple that Jesus angrily cleansed of its corruptions, our bodies too become corrupted when we fill our minds with filth, selfishly pursue immoral pleasure, and fail to use our bodies for God’s glory. It was Martin Luther who came to hate the indulgences of his day—the supposed buying and selling of God’s grace. His disdain for this practice ushered in the Protestant Reformation and moved people back to the study of the Scriptures. We too should cry out today for Christ to expose our sins and cleanse us just like He did in the temple that day. Only then can we truly reap God’s eternal blessings.