God can bring good out of evil. That thought ought to cheer us. We all do bad things in our lives and suffer bad experiences, but God has the power to redeem the bad — and that’s a blessing.
We see that in today’s Gospel lesson. Something bad happened. Caiaphas, the high priest, had quarrelled with the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel.
Caiaphas rewarded his supporters in that conflict by allowing them to establish concession stands inside the temple area to sell cattle, sheep, and birds and exchange money. Everyone else had to set up booths across the Kidron Valley, but those who backed Caiaphas got prime real estate inside the temple walls.
The sale of animals and the changing of coins were necessary because people came from afar to make sacrifices in the temple and pay their temple tax at Passover. The scriptures provided that only the best animals- those without blemish- were acceptable sacrifices.
How could anyone bring a top-quality animal–one without blemish–perfectly groomed–from Galilee, Rome, or Egypt? They couldn’t! Anyone who has travelled across the country with children knows that nobody is perfectly groomed at the journey’s end. Nobody gets there without a blemish! So, these travellers needed to buy their sacrificial animals in Jerusalem. They needed someone to set up a shop to provide acceptable animals.
These travellers would bring money from their own country and from the countries through which they passed on their way to Jerusalem.
You know what I mean if you have travelled from one country to another. At the end of your journey, you have a pocket full of coins, most of which are difficult to identify and none of which are worth much back home. So, these travellers needed to exchange this mish-mash for coins acceptable for the temple tax. They needed someone to set up a money exchange.
But they didn’t need a marketplace inside the temple walls. I started this sermon by saying that God can bring good from evil. The bad was the marketplace inside the temple walls. There had to be a marketplace somewhere, but it didn’t need to be inside the temple walls.
It would not have been there had it not been for Caiaphas and his political cronies. The crowding, noise, and animal smells within the temple precincts did not serve God well.
So Jesus came to the temple, got a whip, and drove the cattle and sheep out. He went through the area, overturning the moneychangers’ tables and scattering their coins hither and yon. He said, “Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!” (v. 16).
Nobody else knew it yet, but Jesus was the beloved Son of his dear Father, and he was not about to tolerate people setting up shop in his Father’s house–boarding animals on his Father’s property–dropping dung on his Father’s floor. “Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!” he commanded.
That was disruptive. I’ve always pictured Jesus herding four or five cattle and three or four sheep from the temple, but the scene must have been quite different.
Over one hundred thousand pilgrims came to Jerusalem for Passover to offer their sacrifices at the temple. At any given time, there would have been thousands of people inside the temple walls.
There would have been dozens, or even hundreds, of vendors marketing their cattle, sheep, birds, or coins. It would have been like a street fair–crowded, noisy, people jostling each other, vendors crying out.
How would you like to make a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the temple to worship God, only to find yourself navigating that mess to reach the sanctuary?
Jesus didn’t like it at all. He didn’t just order them to get out–he got a whip and drove them out. Jesus scattered their tables, money, and dignity all over the floor. The effect was immediate — he stopped everything cold.
So, the marketplace in the temple was terrible, but God brought good from the bad. This incident in the temple allowed Jesus to introduce himself as God’s Son.
Jesus would be the new temple — the new place where people would come into the presence of God. We no longer need to travel to Jerusalem to commune with God. We can commune with God wherever bread is broken and wine is poured out in Christ’s name. Our pilgrimage into God’s presence need not be a once-in-a-lifetime affair. We can enter God’s presence whenever we like because Jesus makes God accessible.
And that’s Good News! It’s Good News because we all have times when we feel entirely isolated — when we wonder where God is — when the pain seems too great to bear. The promise is that God is with us even through the valley of the shadow of death. The promise is that God redeems us. The promise is that God brings good from even the worst situation.
I’m Paula Rose Parish — a former atheist of 21 years, Protestant pastor for over 40 years, and now a Catholic convert. After a powerful encounter where Jesus audibly called me to follow Him, my life was forever changed. I’ve ministered across Australia, the USA, and the UK, and today, I share my journey of faith, hope, and transformation.
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