And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who were selling and buying there, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.
Jesus, entering the Temple, drives out all who were buying and selling, because they had turned the Lord’s House into a place of trade and profit. His action was not mere anger, but a manifestation of divine justice, showing that the place of holiness cannot be defiled by worldly gain. The overturning of the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves symbolizes the rejection of spiritual corruption. By this act Jesus appears as the Lord and King of God’s House, restoring the purity of worship and preparing the Temple for the presence of the Holy Spirit. His action also had a prophetic meaning, because the following words of the prophet Malachi were being fulfilled: “Behold, the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple, to cleanse the sons of Levi and to refine them like gold and silver” (Malachi 3:1–3). In this way the Lord’s zeal becomes a model for the cleansing of the believer’s heart, since the true Temple is the human heart and soul, where God must dwell.