You Are There - Jerusalem - the Temple - Jesus Clears the Courtyard

14 In the temple complex He found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and ⌊He also found⌋ the money changers sitting there. 15 After making a whip out of cords, He drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. 16 He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a marketplace!”
John 2:14-16 (HCSB)

Just trying to get a sense of the scene.

Had to have been noisy - the crush of people at Passover, and the animals.
Was probably aggravating to most everyone there. The pilgrims knew they were being ripped off by the merchants. Had to be at least one saying "What? These doves are 5 shekels on the other side of that wall, and you want 50?" And a merchant shouting back "You can't use those in here. You'll offend God."

Jesus taking it all in. Starting to make a whip out of cords. Maybe the first time macrame was used as a weapon.:)

It took some time to do that.

What was he doing? Continuing to watch? Praying to the Father? Was there a point where He had enough and went to work setting things right?

And that "He drove EVERYONE out..."

Does that mean the pilgrims as well? Did He see them as complicit in what was going on there? Through their acceptance of wrong they were aiding and abetting it?

If everyone's getting out of there, it looks to me like it happened in stages as He made His way around the large courtyard. Might have been that there was no one there at the moneychangers table so He flipped it up and spilled the coins. But apparently the dove sellers were still at work.

So then, did the temple authorities have the guts to approach Him in a now empty courtyard? (The term "Jews" there signifies those in opposition to Jesus and in authority.)

18 So the Jews replied to Him, “What sign ⌊of authority⌋ will You show us for doing these things?”

19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it up in three days.”

20 Therefore the Jews said, “This sanctuary took 46 years to build, and will You raise it up in three days?”
John 2:18-20 (HCSB)

Still mulling this part over.

Loving J Vernon McGee's quip.

I tell you, the Lord was rough. There is no question about that. I don't like the pictures we have of an anemic-looking Christ. The artists don't seem to realize who He was.—J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible

Wesley writes: both the sheep and the oxen - Though it does not appear that he struck even them; and much less, any of the men. But a terror from God, it is evident, fell upon them.
—Wesley's Commentary

Yep. You can have your Jack Bauer or Chuck Norris. For putting the fear of God into people, I go with... God.

Oh and don't miss this.

Jesus did not upset the cages of the pigeons. This would have trapped the hapless birds and caused them injury. Rather, He instructed the merchants to remove the doves.—Easy-To-Read Commentary Series, The

The same God whose heart is aflame with anger because of what men have done, is gentle and kind enough to care about pigeons.

Then they remembered, then they believed

Looking ahead to Sunday's text

Third Sunday in Lent: March 15, 2009
Text: John 2:13-22
13 It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem.14 In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money.15 Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables.16 Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”
17 Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: “Passion for God’s house will consume me.”
18 But the Jewish leaders demanded, “What are you doing? If God gave you authority to do this, show us a miraculous sign to prove it.”
19 “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?”21 But when Jesus said “this temple,” he meant his own body.22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.
John 2:13-22 (NLT)

So human.

Once we experience, then we change our previous beliefs and hopefully form our convictions.

The disciples moved past this immature stage in the process of forming their faith. Unfortunately, not everyone does.

How can we work to help people mature quicker?