And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

John 2:13 – 16

Christ’s Cleansing of the Temple – sometimes referred to as “Christ driving the money changers from the Temple” – appears in all four canonical Gospels. The account of John is unique among the four in its description in referring the “scourge of small cords” Christ used to drive the merchants away.

Our painting depicts John’s version of the story, as we can clearly see Christ holding the scourge aloft. Christ dominates the scene, towering above, as merchants cower below. Here we see a Christ in a state unfamiliar to us: his hand is raised in anger and his face is twisted in rage. He has just overturned the tables and his energy explodes in all directions: to his right a turbaned merchant flees in fright; to his left a man has dropped his coins; and in front a man is falling, about to be partially pinned to the ground by a falling table. This man, with his red shirt, is the brightest figure in the entire painting, and Christ appears to be looking straight at him. Together these figures form a triangle with Christ at the top, concentrating the dramatic energy of the painting and multiplying its emotional impact.

Elsewhere other figures look on, non-plussed at what is unfolding nearby: inside the temple the high priests; outside the temple a group of merchants going about their trade; nearby them a man lounges on a stone, wondering what all the commotion is about.

Our painting is attributed to Gerrit Willemsz. Horst (1612/13 -1652). Horst was a classic Dutch Golden Age painter who may have been a pupil of Rembrandt in the mid to late 1630s. This painting serves as a reminder that a House of God – be it a Temple or a Church – must remain a place of the divine. And a reminder that, just as Christ cleansed the Temple in this biblical story, so his ministry cleanses our souls.

Provenance: Private Collection, Bavaria, Germany