Take a few seconds and read this familiar passage found in John 2:13-17:
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
We have all heard this story. Chances are that if you grew up in the church you heard this story so many times you could recall the order in which this passage happens. Not really a hard thing to do, but if you heard it just once it might be. I digress.
The point of the above paragraph is this: I have heard this passage so many times that is is void of any meaning for me. This is one of the downsides to growing up in the Church. Passages like this one lose their flavor and become like everything else in the Bible: irrelevant.
I read it once. Then read it again. And again. And again. I did some light study on the passage and have come to my conclusion, which is what I would like to share with you.
Aaron Aiken 