Childrens Sermon Service

In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” (vv. 14-16)

Note: The concept of the money exchange in this message may be confusing for some of the children, no matter how you try to explain it. That’s okay. Go ahead and let them know it confuses you sometimes, too. Focus on the point that the people at the temple were confused about it too, and that’s how the money changers cheated them. We should not cheat people just because they don’t understand things we understand.

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Hi, everyone! (Let them respond.) I have a story for you today about a time when Jesus got really angry. The story says that he was so angry he turned over some tables, threw things around, and chased some people out of the temple. Wow! Did you know Jesus ever got that angry? (Let them respond.) Do you have any idea why he got that angry? (Let them respond.) Well, let me tell you the story and we’ll see if we can figure it out.

Jesus and his friends were in the town of Jerusalem because it was a big holiday called Passover and everyone wanted to go celebrate Passover at the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was like their big church where they went to worship God. One of the things they did there was to give an offering, kind of like what we do in church. Only in Jesus’ time, instead of putting money in an offering plate, do you know what the people gave at the temple? (Let them respond.) Some of them gave birds, like doves or pigeons. Some of them gave bigger things like goats or small cows. So the people all went to Jerusalem for the Passover so they could give their offering at the temple. Now, I have a question for you. Have you ever tried going on a long trip someplace, in a car or something like that? (Let them respond.) Well, have you ever gone on a trip like that and taken a goat with you? Or a few pigeons, or maybe a small cow? (Let them respond.) That might be kind of a mess, huh?

Well, to make things easier, most of the people going to Jerusalem didn’t take their offering with them, but waited and bought it when they got to the temple. In fact, the temple had a bunch of little shops inside where everyone could buy things like birds, goats, cows, and lots of other things to give. But there was a problem. Do you know what it was? (Let them respond.)

Since people came to the Passover from all over the world, a lot of them had different kinds of money with them since different countries had different kinds of money. (Show the examples you have.) We all know what our money looks like, and it is different than the money they use in Canada, Mexico, England, or lots of other places. And if we had people coming here from all over the world today, I’ll bet some of them would have their own (different) money with them, too, don’t you? (Let them respond.)

Well, that was a problem in Jerusalem, because the shops in the temple would only accept the money that was used in Jerusalem, and would not let people use their foreign money to buy things. So, how do you think they solved that problem? (Let them respond.)

Well, there was another shop in the temple that was called the “money changer.” People could take their foreign money there and they would exchange it for Jerusalem money so the people could do their shopping. Someone from Greece could give them their Greek money, and the money changers would give them Jerusalem money in exchange. That sounds like it ought to solve the money problem, doesn’t it? (Let them respond.) But it didn’t. It actually created another problem, and that is the problem that made Jesus so angry.

You see, not only did the different money not look the same, but it wasn’t all worth the same amount. It’s kind of confusing, but let me give you an example. One of the pieces of money we use is the dollar bill, right? (Let them respond.) Now, if I had one hundred of these to spend in the United States, how much money would they be worth? (Let them respond.) $100, right!Well, in England they have a piece of money they call the pound. If I had one hundred pounds to spend in the US, how much would that be worth? (Let them respond.) Ah, that’s the tricky part. £100 (pounds) is worth about $140.

It's confusing, isn’t it? Just remember that money from different countries is not always worth the same amount. So, if I gave 100 pounds to the money changer, he should give me one 140 dollars back, right? (Let them respond.) But sometimes they cheated. They knew the people then were as confused about the money as we are now, so when someone came from out of town with their own money, sometimes the money changers would cheat them and not give them the full amount of money they should give them.

And that is what made Jesus so angry. The people in the temple shops were cheating people who were different than them, and not treating them fairly just because they were different. That’s why Jesus tipped over the money changer’s tables and threw the money at them. He called them thieves and snakes, and boy, was he angry.

I hope we will all remember that God loves every one of us, no matter who we are, or where we are from, or what we look like, or anything else like that. God loves all of us because we are God’s children. And God wants us to take care of each other and not cheat or trick each other. That’s what matters

Let’s say a prayer to ask God to help us remember to always do the things God wants us to do to take care of each other.

Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for reminding us how much you love us. Please help us remember that you love all of the people you have created, and help us let the people around us know that we love them just like Jesus loves us. Amen.