John's account of Jesus' demonstration in the temple: violent or nonviolent?

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Summer, 2003 by Mark R. Bredin

The Sellers

John does not mention the "buyers." Jesus is attacking those who sell and thus perpetuate a religious system that separates the lay people from the priestly classes. The buyers are victims of a complex institution that is responsible for plunder, violence, poverty and greed. The sellers are those who live off the people's need to participate in something that had become meaningless. Nehemiah condemns merchants and sellers, proclaiming that they should not even stand near the walls of the holy city (13:20-21). Ezekiel provides a twenty-seven-verse attack on sellers in chapter 7. The wrath is upon all their multitude (v 12). None of them shall remain, not their abundance, nor their wealth (v 11). John surely considers Ezekiel 7 when he singles out the sellers and merchants for Jesus' attack. These are people who Ezekiel tells us "profaned my treasured place" (v 21).

The Consequences of Jesus' Actions

John thinks about this incident after some years of reflection in the light of both Jesus' death and resurrection and the destruction of the temple. The respondents are those who mocked him, pierced him and proffered him only vinegar. They are the enemies that the Psalmist laments over, of whom Zechariah 12-14 prophesies, and who slay the "Lamb of God." They do not see themselves in this light, but John does. They believe themselves to be the custodians of Judean practice, to be those who are responsible for its development and survival under Roman power. They must make the temple a place of grandeur. Their initial retort is to ask Jesus for a sign for what he does. Jesus says: "Destroy this inner sanctuary and in three days I will raise it" (v 19). This is the sign. A sign points to the identity of someone or the way to a place. It is a sign that is meaningless to the Judeans. They do not know what he is talking about, just as the disciples did not know until his death and resurrection. All they understand is that Jesus is criticizing the very fabric of their understanding of Judean religion, and they want to know the identity of the one who does this.

Then John tells us that Jesus is referring to his own body that must perish and be raised after three days. This is the sign. The one who does this shows a new way in which God communicates and dwells with humanity. No longer is the temple in Jerusalem the dwelling place of God. John intends us to understand that the Judeans were aware of the significance of Jesus' act because the question they ask is precise and particular to Jesus' act and the words he spoke. The Judeans understood that Jesus was protesting, in particular, against the sacrificial system that operated in the temple and everything that was connected with it. He was saying that people no longer needed to offer sacrifices in the temple to be restored to relationship with God. Jesus, like the prophets, protested against certain things because that was his tradition. John's Jesus wished to see the temple sacrifice come to an end. Like Zechariah, Jesus looked to a time when all things would be dedicated to God. Yet the temple was the place where Judeans would restore their relationship with God. They did what was pleasing to God and God would be reminded of all the faithful who had gone before. And then God would bless Israel.