The Book Of Signs In The Gospel Of John

The Gospel of John is considered a Book of Signs due to John’s compilation of Jesus’ signs before his glorious sacrifice and resurrection (Harris, 2014). In this book of signs, John seeks to point to Jesus’ miracles as signs of His Divinity, and as His way of showing on Earth His nature as God in the flesh (Harris, 2014). These examples include His dealings with the Samaritan Woman, His chasing out of those selling items within the temple, and many more (Harris, 2014).

In Jesus’ chasing of those in the Temple out, we see Jesus as full of righteous anger at the perversion of His Father’s temple, the turning of a Holy spot into one of commerce (Alexis-Baker, 2012). Alexis-Baker points out the the meaning has been the subject of debate for some time. Prior to the middle ages and St. Augustine, it was commonly interpreted as a non-violent incident, insofar as Jesus did not use a whip on the people, but on the cattle present, as would more easily fit into the narrative of this

This view was that the sellers had debased the sanctity of the religion and its practises, selling the tools for piety (Alexis-Baker, 2012). St. Augustine however, interpreted it to justify some violence, and to mean that Jesus whipped the people involved in money-changing and animal selling, thereby allowing Christians to do the same to purge the Catholic Church of those who were selling things such as indulgences (Alexis-Baker, 2012). This theory caught hold in a major way, leading to a seemingly escalating violence that even included the Crusades, as a justifiable fit of violence to cleanse the Holy Land from pagan rule and occupation (Alexis-Baker, 2012). While in some cases this still seems to be believed to a slightly lesser degree today, the idea of Jesus whipping the merchants holds in people’s minds today. I think however, that Alexis-Baker raises a valid point. Those closest to the text did not interpret it as a violent passage,