What surprises me is how calm the response is to His actions. Instead of soldiers being called in and restraining Jesus, the people who are present basically just ask Him why He was acting that way. Did they not arrest Him because of His popularity? Perhaps they were upset with the moneychangers to begin with and felt that His punishment of them was deserved. Maybe they just expected prophets to act that way.
In a sense, people still have varied reactions to Jesus in their lives, particularly when something unexpected happens. Often His answer to our question of “Why is this happening?” is just as cryptic as in today’s Gospel. Hopefully, it will also make better sense to us later.