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Jesus Cleans the Temple
Vocabulary
- Worship: to serve and praise God as He asked
John 2:13-16"The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 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. He told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"Jesus worshipped God in the temple somewhat like we worship God in the church building. When he went to the temple, however, he saw things he did not like. There were men selling animals and charging to trade money right inside the temple grounds. Jesus was very angry and turned over the tables and forced the merchants out. Why didn’t the merchants belong there? It was a place of worship, not a marketplace for men to make money. It was a holy place for meeting and serving God, and God was displeased with the commonness of the selling.
Is it possible to worship badly now, also? Yes. We can miss the
point and worship to serve our own ends rather than God’s. How does
God want us to worship Him? We should think about Him, not us. We
should be thoughtful of others. We should try to learn all we can.
We should behave ourselves, and not be disrespectful. We can do this
by being quiet, listening to the speaker, singing the songs, and
praying along with the congregation. Remember, worshipping God is
like meeting Him in person. What could we do to displease God? Think
about worldly things, talk when others are speaking, run around like
it was a playground, be selfish, not think about God at all. Discussion: Were Jesus' actions appropriate? Is there any time when we would be authorized to use such behavior in God's behalf? While we always look to Jesus as a pattern for our behavior, we must remember that Jesus was God's son. The temple was God's house, the home of Jesus' father. Jesus had authority there. He had the right to chase unwanted cheaters out of his father's house. It was his house, too. Just as our parents have the right to ask misbehaving guests to leave their home, Jesus had the authority to eject people from his father's house. His actions were based on his position, which is exactly what the Pharisees and others were challenging him on. They asked him, what authority do you have? He had it all, but they would not believe.
Object Lesson: If the people needed animals, wasn't it ok to sell to them? The concept was not evil, but it was how and where the merchants sold that angered Jesus. First, they did it in the temple, a place devoted to prayer and worship. Second, they cheated the people. Here's a nickel. Pretend that you have to make your offering in pennies. If you give me your nickel, I'll give you four pennies. Not fair, you say! Well, you need pennies, don't you? Where else are you going to get them? Does that make you angry? Am I taking advantage of you?
True or False
- Jesus was angry that the people were abusing the temple. T
- Jesus went to the priests to complain about the merchants. F
- True worship takes place within the heart. T
- There is no wrong way to worship. F
- We should be good during service because worshipping God is like meeting him. T
- God is pleased when we worship Him with a unselfish and honest heart. T
- Jesus had no business in the priest's temple. F
Activities
- Musical Blessings: proper vs improper worship
- Memory Work: Books of the New Testament
- Build a temple: using boxes, legos, or cardboard walls, build a model of the temple. Save for other lessons.
linguistic
questions - Describe the temple.
- Define anger.
- What does it mean to have authority? to be the person who makes decisions, or sets the rules
activity questions - Identify the court of the Gentiles on a map of the temple grounds.
- Act out a person who is angry? Describe the elements.
- Draw a dove, one of the animals sold in the temple.
emotion questions - How was Jesus feeling when he saw the temple grounds? angry
- Was Jesus sinning when he was angry? no, feeling anger is not sinful, and he did nothing sinful as a result of his anger.
- How did the priests feel about Jesus' actions? they wanted to kill him, so they started trying to find evidence against him
application questions - How can I handle my anger correctly? Understand why you are angry, make no actions or rash statements while still angry, give yourself time to calm down.
- How should we approach worship? worship is a time of focused devotion to pleasing God, not an opportunity for profit, or even entertainment.
- Where did Jesus get his authority? Jesus was the son of God, and a pleasing servant of his.
fact questions - What made Jesus angry? The temple was to be a house of prayer, and they had made it a place of profit and cheating.
- What did Jesus do in the temple? He chased out the merchants and overturned the tables of the money-changers
- What was the temple for? Prayer and worship to God. A place to approach God.
review questions
- How do we worship? prayer, song, communion, teaching
- Is anger sinful? Anger itself is not. But we commonly sin in reaction to it.
- How did the priests respond to this chastening? they got angry and tried to build a case against Jesus.