Matthew 21:12-17
Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you are making it a den of robbers.’”
The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise for yourself’?”
He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
It’s easy to miss the significance of this passage in the larger story of the passion of our Lord. We are used to thinking of this scene simply as another of Jesus’ many clashes with the authorities. Perhaps more dramatic than most, but otherwise one of a number.
In truth, however, it is likely one of the – if not the – action of Jesus that got him killed.
Jesus names what is at stake in his reform – the Temple has become a place where the poor are defrauded and religious observance has become a means of making profit.
All well and good, we might think, no one wants religion to serve the advancement of the wealthy and powerful to the detriment of the poor. Except, of course, the wealthy and powerful. And in Jesus’ world this means the Romans and those who run the Temple on their behalf. And so Jesus, in this move, antagonizes those who have the power to put an end to his reforms altogether.
But he doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t end, that is, with critique. He offers a counter-example by enacting the kingdom of God, where all who recognize their need and come for help are healed and restored. Those receiving his blessing recognize that he is rejecting the material prosperity of corruption and ushering in a new era of spiritual prosperity and faithfulness that reminds them of King David. But when they hail him as David’s heir, those in power are even more upset by God’s divine, if also troubling, alternative.
And so with these actions and words, the drama of God’s struggle to wrest us from corruption and sin has formally begun.
Prayer: Dear God, let us attend with care the lengths to which you will go to win us back to yourselves, and let us respond with lives of thanksgiving and service. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple, London version, by El Greco.
Thanks for almost talking about church/congregational/statistical growth. Imagine if seminaries trained pastors to grow congregations statistically in terms of members and money and bishops had more experience leading dying congregations and dying synods.