Question:
How many times does Jesus “Cleanse the Temple, overturning tables and chasing out moneychangers? And what does it all mean? How do we apply this to Church today?

Response:
I will begin my answer by placing the question in one of its Scriptural contexts:
Luke 19                                                                                
28After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples…36Then the crowds spread out their coats on the road ahead of Jesus. 37As they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38   “Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
      Peace in heaven
          and glory in highest heaven!”
39But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
41But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to cry. 42“I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from you. 43Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you. 44They will crush you to the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.”
45Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants from their stalls. 46He told them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a place of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

Today we welcome Him with palm fronds. Next week we crucify Him with drawn swords. Today we applaud and cheer. Next week we will jeer and arrest Him. For now, He is the King of the World! Soon, however the thorns will crown Him King of Golgotha. For now, His disciples can’t get close enough to Him. They fight over who has earned the right and the left positions of honor. Within the week, however, this legendary teacher will stand alone, with plenty of room on both His right and His left. For these faithful followers will have all left.

Jesus enters into Jerusalem riding a colt as did his ancestor, King David. He is making a clear statement and He is making His stand. He is plainly proclaiming he is as was David before Him, Israel’s king. But will these crowds (who sing His praises today) accept His kingly rule tomorrow? Today the loud Hosannas fly! This expression taken from Psalm 118:25-26, means “Please, LORD, please save us. Please, LORD, please give us success.” Today they promise eternal allegiance to Jesus by saying, “Bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD!”

But there’s a problem with crowds. Everyone is caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment. No one has thoughtfully considered what in the world are they really doing, nor the price they might have to eventually pay. The crowds are indeed following a “kind of Jesus”. But unfortunately, it is not the “Jesus of the Bible”. And even though this mass was hysterically shouting His adoration, these same people would be calling for His crucifixion in just a few days. The crowd who now adored Him would soon shout “Crucify Him!”

Do you wonder who was in the crowd? Who were these people? Max Lucado suggests, “They were just regular people. Regular folks like you and me with bills to pay and kids to raise and jobs to do. Individually they never would have turned on Jesus, but collectively (they’ll end up wanting) to kill him…They suffered from mob blindness. They blocked each other’s vision of Jesus.[1]”

Lucado hits the target point blank. “Mob blindness” allows the crowd to see whom they want, not the Jesus who is.

What “Jesus” are you following? What “version” of Jesus is playing on your life’s screen today? Do you “blindly” pursue a vision or version of the Savior unrecognizable in the Scriptures? Are you counting on the Church to provide you the “Authorized View”, the perfect portrait of the Lord Christ? Well if your understanding of Jesus rests solely on Church teaching but with no personal experience, then you should take warning from the mistakes made by the religious leaders in Jesus day.

In Luke 19: 39-40 The Pharisees (the “Church leaders of Jesus’ day) said regarding the crowds’ praises, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

Here, Jesus laughs at their assertion that the public praise is undeserved. He admonishes the religious leadership, saying if people are silent, all creation will rock on! Matthew reminds us this, too, had been predicted in Psalm 118: “The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’S doing, and it is marvelous to see.” (Psalm 118:22-23).

Here, Jesus claims He is that “rejected stone”, rejected by the builders…Let’s see now; who were the ‘builders’? The religious leadership! You see, being “religious” and being in “Leadership” does not automatically make you right! It was these very “builders”, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people” (Luke 19:47) who convinced the crowd to turn on Jesus.

Lucado once again notes, “The religious leaders (turned on Jesus). Not surprising. Disappointing, though. They are the spiritual leaders of the nation. Men entrusted with the dispensing of goodness. Role models for the children. The pastors and Bible teachers of the community. “The leading priests and the whole Jewish council tried to find something false against Jesus so they could kill him.”3 Paint that passage black with injustice. Paint the arrest green with jealousy. Paint that scene red with innocent blood. [2]”

 As a result of following their leaders, the Lord wept over Jerusalem, and was forced to prophesy its coming judgment, saying, “I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from you.

43Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you. 44They will crush you to the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.”(Luke 19:42-44).

Tragically, this was fulfilled in graphic detail in AD 70 when the Roman General, Titus, burned the city and destroyed every stone of that Temple.

Again I repeat, if your understanding of Jesus rests solely upon Church teaching but contains no personal experience, you should be afraid, very afraid. Align your personal experience and the Church’s teaching, both with Biblical support. The Bible and the Bible alone is the sole authority in matters of faith and how we practice our faith, correcting both Church teaching and personal experience. If you are not a biblical Christian you are no Christian at all. If the “Jesus” you follow isn’t the Jesus of the Bible, He is no “Jesus” at all.

You, see, the Jesus of the Bible, immediately following the Triumphant Entry went directly into the Temple for a QUICK “LOOK AROUND”. Mark 11:11 tells us, So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. He looked around carefully at everything, and then he left because it was late in the afternoon.

The very next morning Jesus returns to Temple Mount. And the crowds, who once adored Him, began to abhor Him.

Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants from their stalls. He told them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a place of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” (Luke 19:45-46)

Someone wisely noted that the crowd, hailing Him yesterday, would begin hating Him today. Their “triumphantly processing Jesus” disintegrated right before their eyes. The real Jesus, the One clearing the Temple terrified them.

Twice in His three year public ministry Jesus clears the Temple. John 2 records the first occurrence; the other Gospels record this cleansing during His final week. Jesus literally bookmarks His ministry with a passion for the place of worship.

If worship is this important to God, the Son, how dare we relegate it to secondary importance, squeezing it in if nothing else comes up. People will arrive on time for golf and the theater. But are we so passionate about God?

My Temple will be a place of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves, Jesus exclaims! His allusion is to those dens and caves located just outside Jerusalem where robbers hid themselves while waiting to steal from the innocent.

A House of Prayer for All Nations, says the parallel passage in Mark 11:17.  Jesus, not being a Levite, could only enter into the outer courts of the temple area. Notice the diagram on the PowerPoint. The religious leaders backed the sin in the Temple Courts.

First, the money-changers.
Money-changers provided a useful service. Jewish people from other parts of the empire or even from different towns in Galilee would have local currencies that needed to be converted to some standard for use in the Temple. Money-changers exchanged it for their own, much they do at International Airports all over the world today. This, in and of itself, is not evil. 

Next, the merchants.
Merchants, too, provided a useful service. One was not to bring sacrifices from long distances but to follow the more convenient prescription of Moses’ law: buy the sacrifices in Jerusalem. The provision of the merchants, in itself, was also not sin. So why did Jesus throw a Temple tantrum? Why the righteous indignation? Was the Temple receiving a “kickback” from the sellers and money-exchangers? Probably. Was it wrong for the stalls to locate entirely within the Temple Mount area, assuring Temple custodians a monopoly on the income? Absolutely! As one Pastor notes, “It’s not difficult to see what angered Jesus. Pilgrims journeyed days to see God, to witness the holy, to worship His Majesty. But before they were taken into the presence of God, they were taken to the cleaners. What was promised and what was delivered were two different things.…(In essence, Jesus is saying,) ‘You cash in on my people and you’ve got me to answer to.’” (Lucado)

The IVP Bible Background Commentary notes, however, “The issue is not whether there should have been moneychangers (or merchants); it is whether it was valid to turn much of the outer court into a place emphasizing commerce rather than worship. With hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at Passover, the merchants’ strip in the temple must have been quite large.”

Indeed it filled one particular court - the Court of the Gentiles. The only place where non-Jewish believers were allowed to worship within the Temple structure was entirely devoted to the marketplace. Their WAS no more room for the Gentiles. But in stark contrast, note what God had commanded concerning the Temple and Gentiles:

And my blessings are for Gentiles, too, when they commit themselves to the LORD. Do not let them think that I consider them second-class citizens... 6“I will also bless the Gentiles who commit themselves to the LORD and serve him and love his name, who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest, and who have accepted his covenant. 7I will bring them also to my holy mountain of Jerusalem and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer. I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices, because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations. (Isaiah 56:3, 6-7)

Jesus, God in the flesh, cannot remain silent in the face of such injustice. Risking the fury of the crowds, Jesus takes a stand. God takes a stands alone against blatant prejudice. He quotes Isaiah saying, My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations…ALL nations. Not just Jewish people, ALL people who are willing to turn from their sin and trust God to save them. ALL who will commit themselves to the LORD.

Jesus addresses the greatest sin of the Temple. It is the religious people’s ethno-centricity. When you believe your race or ethnic group or nation or family is superior to others, more acceptable to God, then God needs to overturn your tables and to cleanse your life.

Jesus says, My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations. And the crowds turned on Him for it. Within the week even Jesus closest friends would turn on Him, betray Him and crucify Him. As Joan of Arc said when she was abandoned by those who should have stood by her, “It is better to be alone with God. God’s friendship will not fail me, nor God’s counsel, nor God’s love. In God’s strength I will dare and dare and dare until I die.”[3]

It’s time for each person who names Jesus as their Lord to ask: which “Jesus” am I following? Am I following the “Jesus” of the crowds, the One who makes me feel good but Who’s message I do not comprehend or appreciate? Or am I ready to take my stand, positioning myself against the crowd, shoulder to shoulder with Jesus, both of us filled with passion for our Father’s House, a House of Prayer for ALL nations?

Thomas a Kemps writes, “Jesus has many who love His Kingdom in Heaven but few who bear His Cross. Many follow Jesus to the Breaking of the Bread, but few to the drinking of the Cup of His Passion. They who love Jesus for His own sake, and not for the sake of comfort for themselves, bless Him in every trial and anguish of heart, no less than in the greatest joy.”

Today, I invite you to renew your stand. Stand with our Savior against injustice. Stand with the Lord against prejudicial ethnic preferences. Stand with Christ, bringing All Nations into this House of Prayer we call the Church.

[1]Lucado, M. 1992. And the angels were silent . Multnomah: Portland, Or.

3 Matthew 26:59.

[2]Lucado, M. 1992. And the angels were silent . Multnomah: Portland, Or.