In 2021, the Third Sunday in Lent is March 7.

The readings for Year B in the three-year Lectionary are below:

Readings for the Third Sunday in Lent — Year B

The Gospel reading is as follows (emphases mine):

John 2:13-22

2:13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2:14 In the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.

2:15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

2:16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

2:18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”

2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

2:20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”

2:21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body.

2:22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Commentary for today’s exegesis comes from Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.

This episode in the temple follows the miracle at Cana in John’s Gospel.

This was the first of two purges that Jesus did at the temple. The second comes near the end of His ministry, days before the Crucifixion.

He had departed for Jerusalem (verse 13) from Capernaum, His headquarters in Galilee.

Once at the temple, he found a marketplace for animals to be sacrificed (verse 14). This was a real racket, especially for poorer people. Some carefully raised their own birds for sacrifice only to be told before entering the temple that they had blemishes, forcing them to buy a bird from one of the sellers at an inflated price. Money normally had to be exchanged for this to take place, hence the money changers.

Matthew Henry’s commentary says that what Christ came to reform, He first had to purify:

Christ came to be the great reformer and, according to the method of the reforming kings of Judah, he first purged out what was amiss (and that used to be passover-work too, as in Hezekiah’s time, 2 Chronicles 30:14,15, and Josiah’s, 2 Kings 23:4, &c.), and then taught them to do well. First purge out the old leaven, and then keep the feast. Christ’s design in coming into the world was to reform the world and he expects that all who come to him should reform their hearts and lives, Genesis 35:2. And this he has taught us by purging the temple. See here,

[1.] What were the corruptions that were to be purged out. He found a market in one of the courts of the temple, that which was called the court of the Gentiles, within the mountain of that house. There, First, They sold oxen, and sheep, and doves, for sacrifice we will suppose, not for common use, but for the convenience of those who came out of the country, and could not bring their sacrifices in kind along with them see Deuteronomy 14:24-26. This market perhaps had been kept by the pool of Bethesda (John 5:2), but was admitted into the temple by the chief priests, for filthy lucre for, no doubt, the rents for standing there, and fees for searching the beasts sold there, and certifying that they were without blemish, would be a considerable revenue to them. Great corruptions in the church owe their rise to the love of money, 1 Timothy 6:5,10 Secondly, They changed money, for the convenience of those that were to pay a half-shekel in specie every year, by way of poll, for the service of the tabernacle (Exodus 30:12), and no doubt they got by it.

[2.] What course our Lord took to purge out those corruptions. He had seen these in the temple formerly, when he was in a private station but never went about to drive them out till now, when he had taken upon him the public character of a prophet.

Henry tells us why Jesus did not have a quiet conversation with the chief priests:

He did not complain to the chief priests, for he knew they countenanced those corruptions.

So, in the Court of the Gentiles, where this took place, He made a whip and drove men and livestock out of the area then poured the money collected on the ground before tipping over the money changers’ tables (verse 15).

He told those selling doves to remove them and not to make His Father’s holy place a marketplace (verse 16).

John MacArthur says that this was not the first time something like this had happened within the confines of the temple:

There’s a book called The Jews at the Time of Jesus. It’s written by a man named Wylen, W-y-l-e-n, and he says in there, and this is a quote, “Such incidents were not unusual as trouble in the Temple.” And he gives one very interesting one. The high priest was in the Temple at one of these events and the Jews were very unhappy with the high priest. And so they started throwing lemons at him, blasting the high priest with lemons. He unleashed his private mercenaries, his mercenary army, and according to the record, slaughtered the people in the courtyard in the multiple thousands for throwing lemons at the high priest. That’s a far cry from what our Lord does. He doesn’t kill anybody, but He does more than throw lemons at the high priest because He doesn’t like the high priest. He pronounces judgment on the entire religious system, priests and people.

Henry describes the wisdom of Jesus in His approach:

First, Drove out the sheep and oxen, and those that sold them, out of the temple. He never used force to drive any into the temple, but only to drive those out that profaned it. He did not seize the sheep and oxen for himself, did not distrain and impound them, though he found them damage faissant-actual trespassers upon his Father’s ground he only drove them out, and their owners with them. He made a scourge of small cords, which probably they had led their sheep and oxen with, and thrown them away upon the ground, whence Christ gathered them. Sinners prepare the scourges with which they themselves will be driven out from the temple of the Lord. He did not make a scourge to chastise the offenders (his punishments are of another nature), but only to drive out the cattle he aimed no further than at reformation. See Romans 13:3,4,2 Corinthians 10:8.

Secondly, He poured out the changers’ money, to kerma—the small money–the Nummorum Famulus. In pouring out the money, he showed his contempt of it he threw it to the ground, to the earth as it was. In overthrowing the tables, he showed his displeasure against those that make religion a matter of worldly gain. Money-changers in the temple are the scandal of it. Note, In reformation, it is good to make thorough work he drove them all out and not only threw out the money, but, in overturning the tables, threw out the trade too.

Thirdly, He said to them that sold doves (sacrifices for the poor), Take these things hence. The doves, though they took up less room, and were a less nuisance than the oxen and sheep, yet must not be allowed there. The sparrows and swallows were welcome, that were left to God’s providence (Psalm 84:3), but not the doves, that were appropriated to man’s profit. God’s temple must not be made a pigeon-house. But see Christ’s prudence in his zeal. When he drove out the sheep and oxen, the owners might follow them when he poured out the money, they might gather it up again but, if he had turned the doves flying, perhaps they could not have been retrieved therefore to them that sold doves he said, Take these things hence. Note, Discretion must always guide and govern our zeal, that we do nothing unbecoming ourselves, or mischievous to others.

Fourthly, He gave them a good reason for what he did: Make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise. Reason for conviction should accompany force for correction.

His disciples stood by watching. They remembered Psalm 69:9 (verse 17).

MacArthur explains:

… these six men were really true Old Testament believers. They were followers of John the Baptist, preparing for the Messiah. And John it was, you remember, who said, “Follow Christ,” and they had followed Him. They have been with Him now for a while, a week at least between when they first started following Him and had the wedding at Cana and now a few days more. They know their Old Testament. And when they see Jesus do this, they remember a verse; it’s Psalm 69:9. This is the verse they remembered: “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” They know that passage. Psalm 69 was written by David. And David was calling the people to true worship, that’s the scene. David was calling the people to true worship and what He was getting back was resistance and hatred and hostility. The people were in the same condition then that they are in Jesus’ time. But David is doing his best to call them back to faithfulness. And David says they’re mistreating me, they’re hating me; and then he says in verse 9 of Psalm 69, “But zeal for Your house has consumed me and the reproaches of those who reproach You are fallen on me.”

The Jewish hierarchy wanted to know on whose authority Jesus acted, so they asked for a sign from Him (verse 18).

Henry posits that the act itself, which met with no resistance from the guilty, was itself proof enough of a sign:

His ability to drive so many from their posts, without opposition, was a proof of his authority he that was armed with such a divine power was surely armed with a divine commission. What ailed these buyers and sellers, that they fled, that they were driven back? Surely it was at the presence of the Lord (Psalm 114:5,7), no less a presence.

As we know, the hierarchy was opposed to Jesus from the start. Their hearts grew ever harder throughout His ministry.

Jesus was aware of this, so He spoke of His death and resurrection by referring to His body as the temple (verse 19), which He knew would confound them (verses 20, 21). They were thinking of the building, asking how raising it again in three days could be humanly possible.

Looking at it from our Lord’s perspective, He knew how things would end and begin again. Therefore, He told them.

John MacArthur offers this analysis:

They don’t even know they’re going to kill Him, yet this is the beginning of His ministry. All that stuff hasn’t really taken shape in their minds and hearts, formed itself into motives, and then become a passion that finally ends in Him being executed at the hands of the Romans. They don’t even know that all of that is working, but He knows: “Destroy this Temple and I will raise it up.” He knows the future, they will destroy Him. He knows that He will rise from the dead on the third day. He knows all of that. That’s the knowledge of the future that He has.

His resurrection then will be the sign from heaven that ultimately validates His claim to be the Son of God. And why would you consider it a sign from heaven? Because He will die and He will be dead, as verified by the Romans withholding the breaking of His legs because He was already dead, jamming a spear into His side, all of which the leaders of Israel knew–blood and water coming out, He is dead. He is buried in the grave. He is a dead man. The sign from heaven is that He comes back. And the sign from heaven further is that at His resurrection there are angels sitting in the tomb who had been sent from heaven by God. There’s ample testimony to that angelic presence. You want a sign? I’ll give you a deferred sign, I’ll give you a deferred sign. I will raise it up.

By the way, this is a good place to make a little note. When He says, “I will raise it up,” He’s saying, “I will…I will raise Myself from the dead.” In other places in the New Testament, for example in Romans 1, it says that God through the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. In 1 Corinthians 15 it says, “God raises the dead.” So in Romans 1 the Spirit raises Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15, God raises Christ. And here, Christ raises Himself. Is that a problem?

Well, it’s not a problem here anymore than it’s a problem with creation. God creates; the Holy Spirit moves to make the creation take shape. And Christ creates everything that is created, and nothing is created that He didn’t create. This is the Trinity’s work. They are one in nature. They are one in operation. One in nature, one in operation.

So they want a sign. Jesus says, “I’ll give you a sign deferred. A sign from heaven that will involve someone who dies and goes out of this world and comes back from heaven, attested by angelic angels.”

Although it is unlikely that those in the pulpit preach about it very often, this episode at the temple was a sign of God’s sovereignty, as MacArthur says:

And when I use the word omniscience, I mean that He knows everything, He knows everything. Science is for knowledge, omni means “everything.” He has all-inclusive knowledge. That’s what that word means. He knew what people can know and He knew what they can’t know. He knew what people discover, and He knew it without discovering it. He knows everything there is to know. He knows the future, He knows the present. He knows what is happening. He knows what is invisible. He knows the visible and the invisible. He knows the past. He knows the present. He knows the future. This we see on display in Jesus here. This is testimony to His deity. God alone knows everything. God alone knows the past, the present and the future. God alone knows every thought, every word, every action, and the collective effect of all thoughts, all words, all actions. Only God knows, according to 2 Corinthians 4, the intent of the heart…1 Corinthians 4, rather…the intent of the heart. God will judge every man when the motives and intentions of the heart are made manifest, because God knows them. He knows history and He knows all that is behind history. He knows everything that has happened perfectly, everything that is happening perfectly, everything that will happen before it happens perfectly. And, in fact, He not only knows all of this but He controls it all, He controls it all. That’s His sovereignty. God doesn’t learn anything, nobody teaches God anything. He knows everything that can be known. He knows all the incalculable motives, all the effects. He has known them forever. He knows them perfectly. He knows them eternally. He has to gain no knowledge and He loses no knowledge. His presence and power control absolutely everything exactly the way they need to be controlled to bring about His purpose and His glory, because that’s the goal of everything.

The disciples understood what Jesus was saying because they knew Holy Scripture and all the Old Testament prophecies. Therefore, after Jesus rose from the dead, they were even more confirmed in their belief that He is the Son of the Living God (verse 22).

My takeaway message from this is that it is important to read, understand and remember what the Bible says. It answers all questions of faith.

As those in the Reformed (Calvinist) churches so often say, ‘Know what you believe and why you believe it’. The Bible gives us the key to articulating our beliefs.