March 14, 2025 | Be God's Family
Jesus Clears the Temple
Scripture: Matthew 21:12-17(NIV)
12 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. 13 “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.’”
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 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.
16 “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’?”
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
Devotional
This is a well-known passage and one that many reference to show the humanness of Jesus, sometimes to justify their own anger. A bit of history is needed here, however, and we must never think that this passage is permission to give in to anger, even to righteous anger.
The Temple Jesus visited comprised four courts and the Holy Place. The first court was the Court of the Gentiles, where anyone could visit. The second court was the Court of Women, where any Israelite could visit. The third court was the Court of Israelites where temple services were held, and the fourth court was the Court of Priests, where only the Priests could visit to make offerings and sacrifices. Lastly there was the Most Holy Place, where only the High Priest could visit, and only once a year.
The events in this passage take place in the Court of the Israelites. Every Jew was required to pay a temple tax, so it’s not entirely unusual that moneychangers and merchants would be present. What Jesus is railing against is the abuse of these practices. Price-gouging and fraudulent vendors kept some of the poorest away from the Temple, away from the services, and away from God. Jesus is always working against anything that keeps anyone away from true worship.
But the point of this passage is not merely that Jesus gets angry. Note what follows: He begins to heal those around him, and he excites the children there. Jesus’ anger is always followed by his love. These events are often cited as the beginning of the collaboration between the Roman and Israelite authorities against Jesus—not because of his outburst, but because of how Jesus’s actions encouraged others to act the same. This inspiration was seen as a threat to the status quo.
There are many injustices in this world to be angry about: poverty, hunger, disease, disasters and more. The question is: What do we do with this anger? Do we just strike out or yell about our frustrations? Or, do we find a way to heal? Do we look for ways to change what we cannot accept? Do we do the little that we can to make a difference? Jesus did. He let people know what made him angry, what was not acceptable, and the guilty fled. But those who understood the cause of his anger hung around because they knew the good was coming. This passage is a challenge for all of us to make a difference, no matter how small that might be, not through anger but through action. Together we can change the world!
Poem
Lament
Psalm 69:9-36
For zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who insult you fall on me. When I weep and fast, I must endure scorn; when I put on sackcloth, people make sport of me. Those who sit at the gate mock me, and I am the song of the drunkards.
Psalm 69: 9-12
Such sorrow have I never felt
Than when the church betrayed
The holy writings of my LORD
Idolatry displayed
The anger whipping through my core
The table turning zeal
The grief from the audacity
Which lies the truth conceal
My soul in sackcloth languishes
My eyes are red from weeping
How did this evil get its hold
Into Your temple creeping?
O, Fiery Spirit, cleanse Your church
Sift out the souls in judgment
Renew, restore her purity
With pure white righteous raiment
