Why Did Jesus Become Angry In The Temple Courtyard?
Why Did Jesus Flip Tables & Make a Whip?
My children once attended a VBS where one of the teachers told them that Jesus never got angry. Even though they were very young, they were aware enough to know that wasn’t right. The thought of Jesus becoming angry is foreign to some. Yet, even a quick reading of the Gospels will reveal that Jesus did get angry at times. One such example, Jesus was angry over the events in the Temple during the Passover.
Why did Jesus become angry in the Temple courtyard? Jesus was angry because of the sinful actions of the nation of Israel. God’s chosen people, Israel, were set apart by God to be holy. They were called to be a holy nation unto God. As a holy nation, they were supposed to be a light to the rest of the world. Their purpose was, in large part, pointing the rest of the world to God. In direct violation of this purpose, Jesus saw that they were preventing the nations from coming to God by their actions in the Temple. Thus, instead of being a blessing to the nations, the Jews had become a stumbling block to the nations. This understandably made Jesus angry.
Dig a little deeper with me to understand the righteous indignation of our Lord.
For more information on the context of the passage, see our articles:
Israel’s Purpose
God’s mission has always been to redeem a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue, language, and peoples. God chose to do this through bringing forth the Messiah through His holy nation, Israel. A nation that He formed and called out of the world for Himself. God chose this nation to be His people in order that all the nations of the world would be blessed. (For more on God’s purpose, read our article The Blessing of Abraham over on our ministry partner site.)
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3, bold added)
God was working through the nation of Israel to bring the light and the knowledge of Him to the whole world. Thus, when Israel obeyed God, He blessed them. When they disobeyed God, rejecting Him, He cursed them. This was so that they would walk in His commands, in His ways with an upright heart.
God gave the covenant of blessings and curses to Israel so that the peoples of earth would see the glory of God through the nation of Israel. So that the world would repent of their wickedness and believe upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and His appointed Messiah. The God of Israel is the one true living God. The God of all creation.
(You may also enjoy our article: Who is the One True God?)
The nation of Israel often rejected God and His ways. In their rebellion, they were following the various lusts and impulses of their flesh. In doing so, they were causing reproach upon the name of the Lord. This is a detestable action. It is worthy of cursing. Worthy of removal of all the goodness of the Lord. God was still able to use them in their rebellion, yet this rejection was still sin.
The people of Israel were commanded to pursue the righteousness of God by faith. God called them to walk before Him, adhering to the law and the prophets. They were to do this by faith and not as a means of righteousness through works. The Apostle Paul explains,
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.”Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 9:30-10:13, bold added)
Israel was to look for and proclaim the coming Messiah. The law, the sacrificial system, the Temple, and the Prophets all pointed to the coming Messiah. The One who would save them and the nations from their enmity against a holy and righteous God.
Yet, when He came the people did not receive Him. They rejected the Messiah. Although they adhered externally to the law, their hearts were far from God. This is demonstrated by their actions in the Temple courtyard. They were pretending to honor God but in truth they were preventing the nations from coming to God.
The Righteous Anger of Christ
Jesus cleansed the Temple twice. (For a more in depth discussion of this topic, read our article: Why Did Jesus Cleanse the Temple?) Once in the beginning of His earthly ministry and once at the end. These accounts can be found in Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-46; and John 2:13-22. When Jesus arrived on the scene and begun His earthly ministry it is recorded,
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.”
So the Jews said to Him, “What sign do You show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore 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. (John 2:13-22, bold added)
Every year the Jewish people would travel to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. The Passover was a pilgrimage festival.
(For a more detailed look at the Lord’s Appointed Times and Feasts, you may enjoy this article from one of our ministry partners.)
Jesus began His earthly ministry around the age of 30 (Luke 3:23). I note this especially because this would not have been the first year that Jesus went to Jerusalem in observance of the Passover festival. He would have gone many times by the age of 30.
I do not believe it is a stretch to say that the Jews had been abusing the Passover festival for many years with moneychangers and merchants. For years, the Jews would have been preventing the nations from coming to worship God. Occupying the only place in the Temple reserved for the nations. Thus, Jesus would have been bothered by this for many years before His public earthly ministry began.
When it came time for Jesus to begin His earthly ministry, He would have had a burning righteous anger at the nation of Israel. Jesus did not cleanse the Temple out of hateful anger. Rather, He cleansed the Temple out of a righteous anger. An anger that was calculated and precise.
Jesus, who is the Son of God, was right to be angry. The people of Israel were preventing the nations from coming to Him. Preventing the nations from being saved from their sin and the wrath of God. Thereby, condemning the nations to hell. The very nations that Jesus came to save.
“When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” (John 12:32)
Jesus came to die for the sin of the world. Jesus promises that all who would come to Him, He would not turn away. Jesus declared that when He is lifted up on the cross, He would be drawing the nations to Himself!
For more on why Jesus came see our articles,
This is what the nation of Israel was called to do. But because of their disbelief and hardness of heart, because of their self-righteousness, they were becoming a stumbling block to the nations. It is clear that the nation of Israel did not repent of this wickedness. They continued in it.
Correction From a Loving Savior
At the end of the earthly ministry of Jesus, it is recorded,
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and He sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
And He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when He had looked around at everything, as it was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
On the following day, when they came from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
And they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And He was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy Him, for they feared Him, because all the crowd was astonished at His teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.
As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that You cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, and they said to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer Me.” And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Mark 11, bold added)
In similar fashion to the righteous anger of Christ in the cleansing at the beginning of His ministry, Jesus burned with anger at the Jew’s persistent disobedience to God’s call for them. A call to be a light to the nations. A call to repent and believe in Him who could save them from their sins. Jesus was righteously angry about unbelief, too. (Don’t miss this related article about Why Jesus Wept.)
Yet, after Jesus was ushered in as the Messianic King, Jesus entered into the Temple and again saw the defilement of it. Saw that although the people were praising God with their words, their hearts remained very far from Him in their actions.
It was night. So, Jesus left Jerusalem to return the next day and cleanse the Temple. Think of the burning anger that would have swelled up in Jesus that night and following morning. Anger that the people still refused to repent even after three years of demonstrating that He was the Messiah through His miracles. Of living amongst them. Teaching them about God and the Scriptures. Calling them continually to repent and believe upon Him who could save them if they would only believe.
It is with this righteous anger and swelling sorrow that when Jesus approaches Jerusalem before He cleanses the Temple that Luke records,
And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)
For more information on why Jesus wept, see our article Why Did Jesus Weep?
Jesus pronounces judgment upon the people because of their unbelief. They wanted a Messiah who would save them from the nations. The rejected a Messiah who came to save them and the nations.
As judgment against Israel, the very nations that they were preventing from coming to God would rise up and destroy their very means of worshiping Him, the Temple. They would drive them out of the Promised Land, scattering them into the nations they despised. This was all because they refused to believe in the Son of God who was standing in their midst.
Jesus, in righteous anger, rebuked the moneychangers, merchants, and religious leaders once again. Declaring the truth that the Temple courts were to be a place for the nations to come to God and worship. Yet, it is clear that again the people rejected this. Thereby, rejecting the God that called them to be a holy nation.
The Messiah who would save them and the world from their sins. If they would only repent of their old way of thinking and believe upon Jesus! It is clear by the end of Mark 11 that most of the people rejected Him as the Messiah.
I suggest you prayerfully and humbly read the parable told to them in Mark 12:1-12 to understand what will happen to anyone who rejects God’s Messiah.
Related Questions
Why did Jesus weep in the Bible? Jesus wept three times in Scripture. Jesus wept at the death of Lazarus (John 11). Jesus also wept twice over the city of Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:28-48). The three accounts may seem different on the surface. But the context is always of disbelief. In these passages, Jesus weeps because of the hardness of heart and the unbelief of God’s chosen people. For more, see our article Why Did Jesus Weep?
What happened in the garden of Gethsemane? In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was betrayed into the hands of the Jews by Judas Iscariot. It is also the place where Jesus sweat great drops like blood in agony over the cup that He was to drink for the sin of the world. For more on these, see our articles: