And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?
Matthew 21:12-16
Yesterday, we discussed the authority of Christ as He entered Jerusalem as King. Today, we examine the culmination of his entry into Jerusalem, the second cleansing of the temple. At the first cleansing in John 2, Jesus fashions a whip driving out the scoundrels for relegating the temple into a marketplace. Immediately after purging the temple, He was asked by what authority He did these things. His response, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” an odd response to a simple question. Yet Jesus was known for cryptic answers to tricky questions. The second cleansing is similar to the first, yet there is a different emphasis this time.
To understand what was going on here, let us remember the first Passover celebration. On the night when the angel of death was to descend upon the land, the people of God were given very clear instructions, the leaven in each house was to be cleared prior to partaking in the feast of the Passover lamb. Not surprisingly, both accounts of Jesus’ clearing the temple occur during Passover week. Jesus was cleaning house in preparation for the Passover of the ages. This meant all the leaven had to go. This was the first phase of the destruction and rebuilding of the temple He spoke of at the first encounter.At the first go-round He fashioned a whip, fulfilling what was written in the psalm, “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me” (Ps 69:9). On a cursory reading of the account in John 2, and in light of Psalm 69, it is really simple to understand why the house had to be cleaned. He was so consumed with a passion for the reverence of God in the worship of his people that He would tolerate none of this distraction, the worship of the people was misdirected to the profit of the leaders. As the prophet Malachi likened Him to fire and soap, so Jesus came, ruthlessly purging impurity from his Father’s house and so to prepare for the coming operation.
Three years of teaching, miracles, controversy, and ministry led up to the triumphal entry at the beginning of this Passover week. The Surgeon revisits the patient and finds the cancer has returned, the sellers and money changers are back in the same irreverent place as before, and again in the psalms it says, “My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words” (Ps119:139). Surgery must be done and done quickly. The passionate expelling of the temple had borne nothing but resentment in the hearts of the Pharisees who disregarded and forgot his words. Thus, a second cleansing is required, one of a more permanent nature. According to Jesus own words, the whole thing had to be destroyed and rebuilt. This is where we come to the glory of this event.
Jesus comes and cleans the temple, the first time as a zealous prophet, the second as a merciful King. The lame and blind are brought to him and He heals them. A dramatic scene indeed it is, one fit for the grandest of cinemas, accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack, children singing, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” The triumphal entry culminates here in the temple courts with perfected praise from the lungs of children and the healing hands of the Savior.
The relationship of Christ and the temple remains at the forefront of the week as we see the types and pictures finding their completion in him. Hold this picture in your mind’s eye: The Savior, surrounded by praise, healed cripples to walk and the sightless to see. What is he doing? He is bringing purity where there was corruption, peace and singing where there was commotion and bartering, health and joy where there was sickness and gloom. Take careful note as you examine the week leading up to the resurrection the great contrasts seen in the gospels. Look to them and see Christ as the fulfillment where men failed. The pharisees, hearing Christ affirm the praise of the children “sought to destroy him.” The surgery is about to commence. There are two opposing surgeons. The pharisees see Christ as a tumor to be cut out. Little do they know it is Christ who is stepping into the operating room as the true master surgeon. He is not just cutting out a tumor, He is come to give a complete makeover to all of creation, this is not a facelift to an old religion, Christ is making dead things live.
