The Gospel of John - Jesus in the Temple

We often think of church as needing to be a place where people are accepted, welcomed, and loved. But this was NOT true of the temple in Jesus’ day. Archeologists have found two inscriptions from the Temple walls that read: “No foreigner is to enter within the enclosure around the temple area. Whoever is caught will have himself to blame for his death which will follow.” Not too seeker-friendly, is it? Clearly there was no outreach at the temple of God. They weren’t focused on visitors unless it was to hunt them down and kill them for trying to get too close to the presence of God (The Holy of Holies). The Temple was one of the most segregated places in all of Israel. If you were a gentile (anyone who isn’t Jewish), or a woman, or poor, there was little to no opportunity to participate in the worship of the temple. You were kept from the presence of God by a series of walls and barriers. This just infuriated our Jesus, who said He came so that everyone (all nations) could approach God and be made right with Him. Jesus came to destroy those walls, and that is one of the things His driving out of the moneychangers at the temple is meant to represent. I don’t know what walls you may have constructed in your relationship with God, but Jesus simply won’t let them stand.