When Jesus cleared the temple, why did he choose violence rather than a sermon?

Question

After all the lectures Jesus gave on love and forgiveness and turning the other cheek:

- does he nicely ask the merchants to leave?
- does he preach a sermon on the evil they were supposedly doing?

Not according to Matthew 21:12

"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,"

Only after all of this does he say anything.

So if a church is holding a bingo night in the basement, a Jesus walks in, kicks all the people out and overturns the tables, this would be cool with you, would it?

No warning. No request. No effort to explain anything before action is taken.

Just walk in, chase people out and overturn tables?

Answer 1

"Actions speak louder than words".

As you can guess, he did it for a shock effect. People pay less attention when you do a sermon than trashing the corruption in the temple. I probably would have done the same thing in that situation.

Answer 2

Wikipedia JESUS SEMINAR for commentary on what words and acts of Jesus are authentic and what aren't. The testimony of the canonical gospels was tainted by the doctrines and biases of a more developed church institution, written as they were later in Greek by Hellenistic Jews. The Cleansing of the Temple pericope had the express purpose of demonstrating for the new Christian assemblies throughout the Roman Empire what was unacceptable in terms of on-site commerce. Other verses demonstrate that Jesus repudiated the temple altogether--that he would never have called it his "Father's house". Point of fact, both Jesus and John the Baptist appear to have had a contention with second-temple system of sacrifice, controlled as it was by the Saduccees and Herodians ("God requires mercy, not sacrifice"). (In a another gospel, however,a verse has Jesus sending a Samaritan leper to the Jerusalem temple to be cleansed, even though Samaritans had repudiated temple ritual since the division of Canaan into Israel and Judah. Samaritans worshipped on Mount Gerushim. This only exposes the lack of true knowledge the writer had about Samaritans.) There is a wide range of opinions among scholars as to how invested Jesus was in the sanctity of the temple. The baptism of John was obviously an alternative to the temple practice of MIKVEH, the water purification required of priests before entry into the temple precincts. Moreover, the Olivet Discourse has Jesus despairing over Jerusalem, its prophets, AND its temple.

Answer 3

Merchants and moneychangers had set up booths in the Courts of the Gentiles inside the Temple. They had crowded out the Gentiles who had traveled great distances in order to worship.

The merchants were selling sacrificial animals at exhuberant costs. Meanwhile, the moneychangers were deceiving those who did not know the current money rates, or could not count.

This interferred with the worship services inside the Temple.
It also turned it into a place of commerce, making it difficult for people to worship........this is important.....the authorities were making it difficult to worship.........

Jesus was showing us that He would become angry and defend the people's right to worship Him. Need I say that again, JESUS BECOMES ANGRY WHEN WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WORSHIP HIM. HE, HIMSELF DEFENDS US..........

Look again at how this passage begins..."And", implying that this is not the beginning , something has taken place before.
It is quite likey that Jesus had spoken on this before, as He was often in the Temple.

We see this story again in Mark, Luke and John.

Answer 4

Maybe he didn't have his morning coffee. (kidding people)
Now to play the other side. When I was in school this story was taught to show us that Jesus wasn't perfect, he was human as well as devine. We were never told that his actions wern't wrong. Prehaps this was the lesson. We were told that while he was right about the disrespect being shown to the temple, he should have handled it differently. Hope this helps.

Answer 5

well first of all, you have to know the full story. Jesus was going to the temple as we both agree. what was going on is that the merchants were selling, exchanging and over charging the poor people while the religious leaders at the time just watch and let it happen, in his fathers house. how would you have responded?

Answer 6

Sounds to me you want to make Jesus over into your own image.

And a church is not the temple; aka "God's house."

So.... If you found people in front of your house and even in your house doing things you did not like, you'd just let it go....

Yea, right.


.

Answer 7

Do you think you are more intelligent than Jesus Christ or God?What do you think of yourselve. You are proud of your wealth to curse God?
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
2Ti 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
2Ti 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
jtm

Answer 8

Sounds like a temper tantrum. Then there is that yelling at the fig tree too. Proves he was a man. Just like any other.

Answer 9

He did it because he was mad.
Jesus was human too.
Those people were making a mockery of the temple. At that time the temple was a specific building that God had designed for people to use while worshiping Him. Today's church buildings are of man's design and are for people to have a place to meet for worship. However, we don't even have to have a specific place to get together.

Answer 10

Two