Jesus Clears the Temple Using God's Word

Mt. 21:12-17
KV 21:13; ““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.’”

Jesus was full of grace and truth. We often think of Jesus as gentle and kind. He was so gentle that he could move even the steely heart of the Samaritan woman and she was changed. But when we read about Jesus clearing the temple it is shocking. It seems that this is a completely different Jesus than the one we are used to reading about in the gospels who welcomed sinners and even little children in his arms. Jesus’ actions seem more akin to a madman. But when we look more carefully, we can find that even in this moment, Jesus was guided by the scriptures and that his spirit was very much in keeping with the spirit of the law and that he was seeking to preserve the spirit of worship in the temple.

According to the gospel of John this event happened at the beginning of his ministry but according to the synoptic gospels, it seems to have really happened much later, perhaps after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The discrepancy may be explained by the fact that John wrote a more thematic gospel which follows theme rather than chronology.

As we can see from Matthew’s account Jesus had just entered the City of David as the promised Messiah. The people had welcomed him with palm branches, shouting, “Hosanna!” They had unknowingly fulfilled the scriptures by greeting the promised Messiah in this way.

After this, Jesus entered the temple area. It is quite reasonable to imagine that Jesus would first visit the temple in order to pray after such an exciting event. Jesus may have wanted to spend some quiet time with the Father before going further. But it may be equally true that Jesus went to the temple with a set purpose. He had seen the temple many times before. He knew of the business going on there and how the religious leaders took advantage of the people. It is said that they deliberately refused the lambs brought by pilgrims and forced them to buy the animals from them at terribly inflated prices. Sometimes the price was four times the original cost. It reminds us of buying a coke or a gift at an international airport overseas. The cost is always outrageously expensive. Moreover, Jesus had many encounters with the Pharisees and the elite religious leaders of Jerusalem. So in a word he knew what he would find when he got there and this was now the time to act. This was the day for clearing the temple.

We also know that these were his final days on earth. Before returning to the Father, he needed to do what he had come to do. As the Messiah, Jesus had a mission to restore the rightful place of God’s name in the temple. As the Messiah, Jesus had to restore the spirit of worship in the temple. Even if the clearing would not last, it would have a tremendous impact on the people of Israel. It would be a huge rebuke to the priests and the teachers of the law who were so corrupted by materialism and greed. Moreover, it would set into motion their desire to arrest him and condemn him to death, which would fulfill Jesus’ ultimate mission to die as the Lamb of God for the sins of the world (Jn 1:29).

As soon as he entered the temple area he began driving out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. What Jesus did seems to be too much. He appears irrational. But, in reality, he was filled with the zeal of the Lord Almighty. He was filled with holy passion and zeal to cleanse the temple not only physically but with the word of God. ““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.’”

It is interesting to see that Jesus was quoting from the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah. In the first place, “My house will be called a house of prayer” comes from Isaiah 56:7. The context is important. God is giving a wonderful promise to foreigners and especially eunuchs who trust in him and who bind themselves to the Lord to have a memorial and a name in the temple. In other words, they would have a spiritual inheritance and legacy even though humanly they were dry eunuchs in the world with no hope of descendants.

Isaiah says that the temple is to be considered a house of prayer for all nations, not merely Israel. The temple is the place where God met with his people. In the time of Jesus, the temple had an outer court for the Gentiles to worship since they were not allowed in to the inner courts which were only for Jews. Here, we can see the deliberate defiance of the religious leaders of God’s plan of salvation for all nations. They used the very area meant for foreigners as the place to do business. In so doing they were trampling on the grace and mercy of God. So Jesus restored the true purpose of the temple as the house of God and the house of prayer for all nations. Just as important as the actual physical clearing of the temple was the word of God that sanctified the temple and restored its original purpose as the place where sinners meet with God.

As soon as the temple was cleared, the blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. Once the temple was cleared, the work of God was going on again. Sinners were encouraged to come to Jesus for their deep spiritual and physical needs. But when the chief priests and teachers of the law saw all the wonderful things he was doing and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. Although they saw the beautiful work of God, they were too proud to accept it. They were only offended by Jesus’ actions. They could not humble themselves before the word of God. Yet, even in this moment, Jesus again helps them to go back to the Bible. Quoting from Psalm 8:2, Jesus answers them, saying, “Yes, have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” Jesus even saw the children’s praise in light of the scriptures. Jesus found comfort both in the children’s sincere worship and in the scriptures that foretold the event. He then went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night (17).

Although in this passage, Jesus’ actions seem irrational, he was clearly moved by righteous anger and all of his actions were backed up by scripture. In a similar fashion, Jesus cursed the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and legalism when he called down many “woes” upon them. Again, his actions are in keeping with what the Messiah would do according to the scriptures.