Scripture Reading: Matthew 21:12-15
The day after Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem he went to the heart of the city. He went to the temple. The dwelling place of God. God, himself, who put on flesh to dwell on earth with mankind, went to the building in which man could meet with God. And he did not like what he saw.
As Jesus entered the temple courts he “drove out all who were buying and selling there.” Why—what’s the problem? In short, the temple was not a place to make money hand over fist. It was the place on earth where mere human beings could get as close as humanly possible to the one who created them. And now it was being turned into a market with hurdles people had to jump over and hoops for them to get through in order to have communion with their God. So, Jesus quotes a couple big time prophets from the Hebrew Bible—Isaiah and Jeremiah.
“My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
The amazing thing is that when Isaiah and Jeremiah each said those things back in the day, they were speaking for God. Or, he was speaking through them. Now, God (in Christ) was speaking for himself. My house will be called a house of prayer. This was no hyperbole. This was the God of the universe, in flesh, declaring that the temple is his house and it will not be turned into something other than what it was made for. This was Jesus letting everyone know that God is the one in charge.
And then something miraculous happens.
As a way of confirming what he had just said he starts to heal the blind and the lame. Why? Because, this is what Isaiah said would happen when the king arrives—when God comes home. In fact, this is the same thing Jesus said to John the Baptist’s disciples when they came to him asking (for John) if Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for. “Go back and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Mt. 11:4-5).
This is the gospel. This the good news they had all been waiting for. God has arrived and he has arrived as king. However, this is not what the chief priests and the teachers of the law thought when they saw all these things happening. They were not happy. They were not joyful. They were not relieved that their hopes had been realized in the person of Jesus. They were angry.
And so, Jesus’s final week continues. He has entered Jerusalem as king. He has confronted the hypocrisy and blasphemy occurring in the temple. And, as a result, those “in charge” know they have to do something about it.