Jesus Making It Real

Matthew 21:12-14 ESV
“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.’ And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and He healed them.”

Jesus overturned a lot of thoughts and actions in His ministry. He overturned the rich that thought that they were all that mattered. He overturned the Pharisees and Sadducees for their religious hypocrisy. He even overturned the thoughts of His disciples of who would be greatest in the Kingdom of God. He is still overturning tables today!

Jesus was making a powerful statement that day. He knew He would never get rid of the merchants and money changers in the temple courts forever. He did want to give them a precedence that this was still the house of God.

Jesus drives out the money changers and merchants for commerce in the temple. As He called them a “den of robbers” because they were exploiting and cheating the devout people that came to the temple to worship the one true God. The ones being cheated were the vulnerable, the foreigners and the poor.

Jesus was ignited by the misuse of the temple and the injustice taking place within it. What kind of Lord would He be if He shrugged off abuse? Not my Savior! To show us that Jesus is both the Lion and the Lamb, the last verse of today’s scripture says, “And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and He healed them.” He drives out the cheaters and then He turns to the side and heals the hurting. You gotta love this Savior!!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You are the Lion and the Lamb. I thank You for standing up to the religious pretenders. I thank You for standing up for the House of God. I thank You for moving beyond your holy anger and then seeing with compassion the infirmed and hurting. Be the Lion and the Lamb in me, Amen!