As he walked over the Mount of Olives he would have seen it – the first glimpse of the Temple. It was a large structure and not yet completed. But just as Jesus would have seen the Temple – that most holy place – he would have seen what was next to it – a Roman fort. There next to this most holy place was a Roman fort.

Jesus and his disciples were headed to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This was a busy time for Jerusalem, as many Jews would make the journey to the Temple to sacrifice for this holy day. The Roman guards no doubt would have been on the lookout for any troublemakers. Guards would have been posted on the walls and rooftops of the fort, overlooking the Temple.

It was Passover, a celebration of liberation. The celebration of Passover began in Egypt. Moses had gone to Pharaoh to seek the release of the Israelites. When Pharaoh refused, God sent plagues of various kinds: frogs, locust, gnats, and the like. Finally, Pharaoh refused one last time and God sent the worst plague – death. The firstborn of every family and animal would be killed. However, the Israelites were to put a mark of blood on their doorframes so that the plague would "pass over" them; and their children and livestock would be saved.

Well when Pharaoh woke up the next morning and heard of the deaths that had happened in the night he told the Israelites to take their stuff and go. So the yearly celebration of Passover reminded the Jews of the liberation they had received. No longer were they slaves to the Egyptians. They were free – and it was God who had freed them.

Don’t you think it would have felt a little ironic for Jesus to stand on the Mount of Olives as he prepared to go to celebrate Passover – a feast of liberation – and see that right next to the Temple was a fort of their new rulers – Rome. It may have felt as though there was no liberation at all. They had just exchanged Egypt for Rome.

It was probably pretty chaotic up at the Temple. There were so many people walking around, preparing for worship, selling, and buying. The sheep were bleating, the doves were cooing, the cattle were mooing, and the vendors were hawking their wares. The coins were clinking on the scale as the moneychangers changed Roman coins – which said that Caesar was God – to coins that had no image on them. Anything you might need for the upcoming holy day was available. It was like Wal-Mart at Christmas. Only this wasn’t some shopping center. This was the Temple – the house of worship!

Jesus would have had to yell to be heard over the noise on the Temple mount. First, he made a whip. I can picture him sitting in a corner weaving this whip, while the Roman guards looked down from their posts. Then as soon as the whip is completed, Jesus gets angry and loud. He stirs up the animals that have been tied up and herds them out of the Temple area. He takes the bags of money from the moneychangers and dumps them out on the ground. Then he takes a hold of the tables with the scales and flips them over. Jesus is making a mess! "Take these things out of here!" Jesus yelled. "This is my Father’s house – not a shopping center!"

I wonder what the disciples were thinking about now. Has Jesus lost it? Is he crazy? Doesn’t he know that these people are selling things for worship? Doesn’t he know that the Romans are watching? Don’t make a scene Jesus.

I can’t think of one painting of this scene. Most artists like to paint Jesus in a better light. We have plenty of paintings of Jesus in the manger and sitting with children. We even have many paintings of Jesus on the cross and appearing to the disciples after the resurrection. We have paintings of Jesus weeping in the Garden of Gethsemane and even paintings of Jesus laughing. But where are the paintings of Jesus turning over the tables in the Temple? Where are the pictures of Jesus with his eyes fiery and yelling at the vendors?

I have been racking my brain for weeks to even remember hearing a sermon on this subject before. I can’t remember hearing one. We kind of gloss over this incident as just Jesus’ "temple tantrum." But maybe there’s more to it than just Jesus getting angry. Maybe Jesus was trying to say something with this incident.

At this feast of liberation, Jesus is turning over the tables of the people selling things for worshipping in a certain way. In Jesus’ time, a person worshipped by making sacrifices – mostly animal sacrifices. A person also had to pay a tax to the Temple – that’s what the moneychangers were doing. The people up there on the Temple Mount were no doubt devout in their worship. They had journeyed to Jerusalem and were gathering the necessary things in order to worship as devout persons. They were following a checklist to make sure that everything was done exactly as it was prescribed.

Perhaps by driving out the vendors and turning over the tables of the moneychangers, Jesus was saying that the people were more concerned with how to worship than who to worship. Has it ever happened to you that you work so hard to get things ready for a holiday that you feel like you kind of miss out on the holiday itself? Have you ever felt as though you were so caught up in having the celebratory meal so perfect that you forget to taste it? Have you ever gotten so caught up in the way we worship that you forget who we worship?

Jesus did this act on a feast of liberation. Perhaps he was proclaiming a new liberation. We don’t need the right kind of coins or the perfect sacrificial animal in order to access God. Isn’t it a little bit ironic that the people on the Temple Mount that day were working so hard to make the right preparations so that they could worship God when right there standing among them was God in the flesh?

Jesus was liberating the people from the need to sacrifice animals in order to worship. Standing right in the midst of the animals that had been chosen for sacrifice was the One who would break the sacrificial system. Standing in their midst is the One who brings true liberation.

The disciples certainly didn’t understand what Jesus was doing that day on the Temple Mount. It’s only after the resurrection that they are able to look back and make sense of it all. When Jesus drove out the vendors and turned over the tables of the moneychangers, he was proclaiming a new liberation. It probably wasn’t what the people were expecting. After all the liberation they were celebrating at Passover was an amazing event involving a physical captivity being released. The Israelites were able to see their liberation as they walked across the sea on dry land – heading for the Promised Land.

The liberation that Jesus is calling for is a little different. The Temple wasn’t going to be around for much longer. In fact, the first readers of John’s gospel probably knew that the Temple was destroyed. Jesus turned the tables in the Temple. No longer would the people be bound to worship through sacrifices at the Temple. The time for sacrifices was over – the last sacrifice stood in their midst. At this feast celebrating liberation from Egypt stood the one who would offer liberation from sin and death. A new liberation is at hand.