John 2:12-17

For Your Information!

My commentary states"John stresses the deity of Christ. He gives us 7 miracles that serve as signs that Jesus IS the Messiah. In this section he records Jesus describing himself as the bread of life, the water of life, the light of the world, the door, and the good shepherd. John provides teachings of Jesus found now where else. This is the most theological of the 4 Gospels.


"After the wedding he (Jesus) went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
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 out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!'

His disciples remembered that it is written: 'Zeal for your house will consume me.'

The place of worship is not a

place to sell merchandise

The purpose of the temple was to worship God during Passover & the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Religious leaders did not seem to care that the courts was so full of merchants, which made it very difficult for others who traveled from afar to worship. No wonder Jesus was angry!

Since the foreigners needed currency exchanged and were also required to make animal sacrifices for sins, there was an opportunity to profit. Jesus was also angry at the dishonesty and greedy practices of the money changers and merchants, but MOST of all it was the mockery of God's house of worship that made Christ explode.