Jesus, the Conversion, and the Cleanse
“Now the Passover of the Jews was approaching, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And in the temple [enclosure] He found the people who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting at their tables. He made a whip of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; then to those who sold the doves He said, “Take these things away! Stop making My Father’s house a place of commerce!” His disciples remembered that it is written [in the Scriptures], “Zeal (love, concern) for Your house [and its honor] will consume Me.” (John 2: 13-17, AMP)
If you were to read the Gospels in the Bible side by side, you’d find lots of similarities throughout. Matthew, Mark, and Luke especially tend to report the same events of Christ’s ministry on earth. This especially helps us to cross-reference and gain lots of perspective on the same lessons and miracles that Jesus gave to us. And each Gospel in kind shows its own emphasis on Jesus.
But each Gospel is uniquely different, each one offering us completely new insights into the life of Jesus and offering some stories not found in the other accounts. This particular day recorded in John 2 sounds familiar, and yet is not. Here, we find Jesus in the temple during Passover and upon finding merchants and money-changers in the outer courts, He passionately cleanses the temple. In other words, He kicks the opportunistic businessmen out of the temple, clears out their animals being sold for sacrifice, and breaks up their tables and stalls to clear space for worshipers to offer sacrifices and pray.
This cleansing of the temple is completely different than the cleansing of the temple we read about in Matthew 21 and Mark 11, which takes place just after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem just before the cross, even though the accounts sound very alike.
Even more, it’s interesting that just verses before this cleansing of the temple, John writes about Jesus’ turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. And even though these things are unique to John’s Gospel, it provides a valuable shadow of what Jesus’ goal was in coming to live amongst us as a man.
To us, it’s no secret. We know that Jesus was born just like any of us, grew up to have a ministry that still teaches us about the heart and character of God today, died on a cross as a sacrifice to atone for our sins against God, and rose from the grave victorious over evil days later. We know He ascended into Heaven, leaving us the task of telling the rest of the world about Him and what He did, with the idea that He will come back someday again to gather those who believe in Him and wipe away evil once and for all.
But to the disciples and those who met Jesus with their own two eyes way back then, it wasn’t as obvious even though they had hundreds of years of prophecy that Jesus was constantly fulfilling to show them. How lucky that makes us, that we can read scripture and mark how every verse and every line proves that God has always loved us and planned to bring His beloved people back to Himself.
From these first movements we see of Jesus in the Gospel of John, we see a small example of what God wants to do in every believer. At the wedding in Cana, we read of a miracle of conversion. Jesus transforms water into wine; and indeed, before He can work any sort of sanctification in us, we have to be converted from sinners to saved. And it’s worth noting that this conversion doesn’t occur from any aid or indication on our part (Ezekiel 36:26). God is the one who does the work. He is the one that takes our heart of stone and gives us a new heart that desires to follow Him and keep His commands. He is the one that puts His Holy Spirit in us so that we are able to tow that line.
Jesus is the only one that can turn us from bland water into rich wine. He is the only one who can take us from the despair our flesh brought us to and make us into something that is beautiful and worthy of a God that deserves nothing less than our everything. Before we can build His kingdom, glorify His name, or be a recipient of His promises, we must first be converted and changed. Before we can be made righteous, we must be saved from our sin.
And after this miracle of conversion, we see Jesus cleanse. From the wedding, He travels to Jerusalem for Passover, where He’s confronted with just how corrupt the people had allowed the temple to become. Here, Jesus sees God’s house, a place of worship, prayer, and devotion, is more like a bustling marketplace congested with animals and merchants looking to prey upon those who are trying to worship.
A place that was supposed to be sacred and holy was a den of corruption and greed. If we were all really honest, the way this applies to us should be obvious. If our converted hearts are a temple and a place of worship to glorify God, then they must be purified. Once we are saved and believe, we are obligated to clean house. We are commanded to let go and trim back those things that we partake in that don’t please the Lord. Everything about us must be realigned and reformed to obey the way of life that God has outlined for us in His scripture.
And funny enough, even scripture shows us that this cleansing– this sanctification– must happen continuously. As Christians, we must take stock constantly and be aware of the things we come in contact with that become idols to us. We see across all four Gospels that the temple had to be cleansed by Christ more than once. It was done at the beginning of His ministry and at the end, just days before the cross. It was important enough for Him to do again. And do it passionately, as soon as He confronted it.
If we wish to honor God, to call Him Savior, we must first be converted. We have to not just be saved in flimsy word or name, but in the very fabric of who we are. Our very soul must turn from water into wine and that will affect every area of our lives.
And if we are truly converted, then we will be willing to be sanctified and cleansed. We will yield our lives to the Lord, allowing Him to do what He wants with our finances, drive out our sinful struggles, tendencies, and desires, and crush the idols we put before Him in our hearts. If we want to be His children– vessels of worship and adoration for Him– then we have to allow Him to whip us into shape and cleanse us. We have to let Him confront those things in us that don’t glorify God.
After all, the temple is just a building. If God cares that much about a building of worship, how much more would He care for your heart, the instrument and vessel of worship? How much more precious are you, His living temple and precious home? It is all the more pressing, urgent, and important for you to be cleansed and sanctified. His zeal– His enthusiasm– is all the more so that you would be a pure and pristine living cathedral to worship, pray, and be with Him.
