Matthew 21:12 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.
Big Idea: Christ’s righteousness is worthy of praise.
This is often viewed as an example of the righteous and holy anger of Christ. His jealousy for his Father’s temple. All of that is true, but his main purpose is to clean the temple. To purify the people. Christ cared about the people of Jerusalem so much that he wept over them just the day before.
As the parent of a 2 year old, I’ve found dirty handprints everywhere. Not just smudges, but actual paint or spaghetti sauce. And not just in obvious places, but high up on walls or on clothes in my own dresser. While I’m not a fan of this, it makes sense. My toddler is dirty, so everything she comes in contact with becomes dirty. We think of cleanliness as the absence of dirt, but righteousness is not merely the absence of sin. It is obedience and fulfillment of purpose. Wherever my daughter goes, things get dirtier. Where Christ went, things got cleaner. Today, Jesus went to the temple. Because he did, the money changers were kicked out, the blind could see, and the lame were healed. The children praised Jesus because they had been cleaned. Because they were living out their purpose.
Application: Our purpose is in three parts: the first is to praise Jesus. He was so clean, pure, and innocent that he made everyone around him better. And he still took my punishment for me. But even death wasn’t able to stop him! Our second purpose is to live like him. To live holy lives, and to redeem those around us. Finally, in order to accomplish the first two, we need to allow Christ to cast out our impurities, to heal our weaknesses, and to open our eyes. This transformation comes from God’s love for us so that he conforms us to the image of his son. But it takes a humble and willing heart to allow that to happen.
