Matthew 21:12-17 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
In the above focus, Jesus comes into the temple with anger in his spirit. He overturns the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. He drives these merchandizers out of the temple, showing God’s anger at its defilement. Jeremiah prophesied this expression of contempt many years prior to the event. The people were willing to carry out a religious function, but their hearts were far from God. They thought their sacrifices made them right with God no matter what was in their hearts. But Jesus’ rejection of the people making money from the sacrifice of birds and animals revealed that God knew the hypocrisy in their hearts. The exchanging of a variety of currency to the acceptable currency of the temple: the Tyrian shekel, was not to serve God better, but it was for making money. The worshipping of a holy and righteous God was lost in this secular commercial enterprise. Even the Tyrian shekel with its image of a pagan god on one side was an abomination. The temple of God was a sacred place, a holy place, not a place for secular activity. But instead of a place of consecrated activity, the brazen spirit of fleshly man made the Temple a place to make money. Jeremiah speaks of this cavalier attitude towards God’s temple, telling them that God said, Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! (Jeremiah 7:3-11) Jeremiah reveals that God is watching the people desecrate the temple with their hypocrisy, living worldly lives and then sanctimoniously sacrificing animals in the temple. Their very presence in the temple with unthankful, wayward hearts disrespects the God who made them. Their willingness to live lives disobedient to God and his likeness corrupts their worship. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Their eat, drink, and be merry attitude corrupted the temple. Lacking sincere hearts, they carried on the ritual of sacrifices. Jeremiah says God has been watching the lives of the Israelites: their unthankfulness, their waywardness, their unwillingness to remember they were once slaves to a froward master, Pharaoh. They trust in the temple of God in their midst rather than true repentance. But this is false security, believing God’s mercy and grace will cover them no matter what they do. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord! The Lord’s temple does not ensure security of a soul if the heart is wicked. One cannot say that I can do anything I want in the flesh, and the Lord will provide mercy and grace to me. God demands obedience, a willingness to reflect his goodness to the world. Jeremiah foretold that the Jewish people will be safe in the land of Israel if they dealt justly with each other, treated the foreigner well, took care of the fatherless, cared for the widows, did not murder, and served God only. Jesus enters the temple, knowing the Israelites are trusting their religious traditions, activities, and inheritance more than their obedience to God. John the Baptist calls the religious leaders a brood of snakes; Jesus calls them vipers. Their hearts lack obedience to the everlasting God. They were content with their religious lifestyle and worship, but Jesus reveals God’s anger with them because of their hypocrisy, their willingness to serve the world’s manna rather than God.
Jesus quickly reveals the true purpose for the temple by healing people there. The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. His compassion for the people expresses God’s love for them. The leaders of the Jews had little compassion for the people; Jesus, the true shepherd, cared for the people. He was castigated, ridiculed by the Sadducees and the Pharisees for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus told them that if they really cared for the people as they would care for an ox on the Sabbath, they would rejoice when people are delivered from their infirmities on the Sabbath. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” And they had nothing to say. (Luke 14:3-6) The Pharisees were not true shepherds, for they lacked sympathy for the blind, lame, and sick. If they would have been true shepherds, they would have responded positively to Jesus’ question, but they were silent because they had little love for God’s people. The people were without shepherds. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd. “My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord Almighty will care for his flock, the people of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle. (Zechariah 10:2-3) Jesus loved the people; he wept over Jerusalem. He told his Father to forgive the Jewish people for crucifying him. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) Jesus would leave the 99 sheep and seek the one that is lost. Jesus would heal the outsider, the lost, the blind, the lame, the sick, all of those who are not in the fold. The children who saw Jesus’ compassion for the lost in their society disturbed the environment of the temple by crying, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” This shouting of the children disturbed the false shepherds. Indignantly, they asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” Jesus refers them to Psalms 8:1-4. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? The children recognized the glory of these miraculous healings, as great as the glory of the heavens. By praising Jesus, they were staving off the devil’s accusations against him. Jesus, the Creator of all things, cared for people. Why would He even be mindful of them? He cared for the children because Jesus reflected God’s love for the world.
Often Christians excuse the waywardness in their lives by extolling God’s grace and mercy, not necessarily wrong because God is merciful and full of grace. But we must be aware of what the Jewish people were claiming about God’s covering when they exclaimed we have the temple in our midst. This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord! Therefore, we can do anything we desire. God’s temple will always cover any wrongdoings that we desire. Yet should we misuse our temple for our fleshly desires or purposes? We even exclude some of the word of God when we go astray. We write our own Bible. We accept the temple’s regulations when it is convenient, and we avoid the sanctity of the temple when we choose to reject it. But Jesus came into the Jewish temple and turned over the tables and chased the evildoers out of the temple. In our own lives, we cannot allow God’s holiness and his righteous claims on our lives to be ignored. If the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5 is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then these are the attributes that should be revealed in our temple where the Spirit dwells. If we choose to have only a few of God’s attributes manifested in us at all times, we have written our own Bible. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9) If we depend on our own secular wisdom rather than God’s wisdom, we have written our own Bible. The wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:17-18) If we choose when we want to be reverent or submissive to God’s authority, we write our own Bible. The Jewish people through their actions in their temple believed they could write their own holy script. But they were wrong. Jesus’ actions in the temple reveal how wrong they were. Jesus, a man of peace, displayed his appropriate anger towards the hypocrisy of people claiming one thing but doing another. By commercializing the temple’s environment, they were actually displaying their disdain for God’s authority in their lives and in the temple. We who express Jesus by mouth must hold the authority of God as preeminent in our lives. If we live without enduring love, love of God, and love of our fellow man, we are living in opposition to God’s intentions for us. If we display discord, bitterness, anger, and even rage towards others, we are writing our own Bible, and we will not escape with such intentions. When our carnal wisdom and knowledge displace God’s goodness and love towards others in the world, Jesus will overturn the self-willed tables in our temple. He does not allow our worldliness for personal gain to replace true servanthood to God and others. The mighty God who is evident in the galaxies and stars in heaven should be revealed in us. Hosanna to God is our praise and should be the praise of all who experience God’s love. Let the Spirit of our holy God be in us at all times. Of course, we fail often, but repentance should be at our lips so that the galaxies and the stars will be seen through our lives. Glory to God forever, and ever. Amen!
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