Monday – “Jesus Clears the Temple”
(Matthew 21:12-17)
2nd in a Series on “Passion Week”
Introduction:
I grew up around golf. When I was 13-years-old my uncle gave me my first summer job working for him on a golf course he was building. Every summer after that for the next several years I continued to work there. Working on a golf course can give a person a wealth of knowledge.
My teenage years were riddled with learning experience after learning experience there at the golf course. The great outdoors, the smell of fresh cut grass, the beautiful rolling, plush green hills, the finely manicured greens, fairways, tees, and roughs… and, the people. Not only did I learn a lot about golf course maintenance, by experience, I earned a Ph.D. in Psychology. I learned how people respond when they’re under pressure.
There were times when golf course etiquette was completely traded in for the ever popular “lose control and act like a madman” routine. There’s something intriguing about watching a full grown man crumble to pieces over a tiny ball that’s 1 ½ inches in diameter. I’ve seen guys thrown their club farther than they hit their ball out of sheer frustration and anger. I’ve seen them break their club over their knee. I’ve even seen people get so angry that they thrown their golf bag (clubs and all) into the nearest water hazard they can find.
This reminds me of a story of “a group of golfers watching a fellow who was having some difficulty on this particular course. The frustration became too much by the 13th hole, as this poor guy placed shot after shot into the pond that lay between him and the green that, finally, in exasperation he picked up his golf bag, spun around like a discus thrower, and heaved the whole thing into the middle of the lake, and stormed off the course, apparently forever.
“Moments later, however, he returned, and in complete embarrassment waded into the pond. He had ‘come to his senses.’ He fished out the dripping bag, unzipped a pocket on the side, took out his car keys, and flung the bag once again, this time even further than before. Then he went home” (Michael Hodgin, 1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1992, 1994), 167-168).
Anger can make us do some of them most stupid things. It can distort the seemingly common day experiences of life and make it seem like the worlds against us; that the world is closing in all around us. Anger can cause us to yell at the ones we love, say words that only a sailor would dare utter, and fight for insignificant causes.
Like the young mother, and her kindergarten-aged son who were driving down the street. The inquisitive little boy asked a revealing question. He asked, "Mommy, why do the idiots only come out when Daddy drives?”
Now, anger usually gets a bad rap. All our thoughts on anger usually don’t result in positive thinking on this subject. And, in reality, anger, in and of itself, is usually not good. And we should ever be on our guard to keep this emotion, and its responses, in check. However, having said this, there is an anger that is good and it’s known as righteous anger. It’s the one exception to this rule. And the key here is that righteous anger isn’t selfish in nature. Righteous anger comes as a result of the selfless pursuit of righteousness in all aspects of life. For instance, righteous anger is ignited when God is dishonored; when the sacrifice of the Holy is cast aside in favor of the counterfeit gods of our culture, like: money, success, and fame. Righteous anger is incited by acts of prejudice and discrimination toward others.
Another instance of righteous anger is found in our passage of scripture for today. In this passage we see that Jesus had a righteous anger. He was incensed with a holy anger that was birthed out of the money changer’s and merchant’s contempt for God’s house, which was to be a place of prayer.
Read with me if you will…
Matthew 21:12-17 (NLT)
Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves. [13] He said, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves!"
[14] The blind and the lame came to him, and he healed them there in the Temple. [15] The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the little children in the Temple shouting, "Praise God for the Son of David." But they were indignant [16] and asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?"
"Yes," Jesus replied. "Haven't you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, 'You have taught children and infants to give you praise.' "[17] Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.
As we read this section of scripture today, we do well to remember that this isn’t the first time Jesus cleared the Temple. This isn’t the first time we catch wind of Jesus’ anger. The apostle John reminds us of another time – earlier on in Jesus’ ministry – when he had been to Jerusalem. Not long after the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed one of his first public miracles (turning water into wine), Jesus makes a pilgrimage into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. On his arrival he goes into the Temple to pray only to find it lined with money-changers and various other merchants selling cattle, doves, and sheep for profit. Listen to how John recounts this occasion:
John 2:13-17 (NLT)
It was time for the annual Passover celebration, and Jesus went to Jerusalem. [14] In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; and he saw money changers behind their counters. [15] Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and oxen, scattered the money changers' coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. [16] Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, "Get these things out of here. Don't turn my Father's house into a marketplace!"
[17] Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: "Passion for God's house burns within me."
I think that there are three very distinct things we can learn about the character of God’s righteous anger from this passage of scripture today:
1. God’s righteous indignation is always stirred when mankind’s actions lead to oppression.
Jesus entered the Temple, undoubtedly, to pray. When he walked in to the outer most court (the court of the Gentiles) he came across the merchants and money changers who were there by permission of the religious leaders.
Now, these guys were providing a service to the people who had come so far to celebrate the Passover. Because they had traveled such great distances, many traveled very lightly, and because of this, there was need for the purchase of approved animals for family sacrifices. The merchants offered this service to the people.
Also, each year a mandatory Temple tax was taken near Passover time. This tax could only be paid in approved currency. Because many Jews traveled from foreign lands, they had foreign currency which had to be changed over for this specific tax, thus, the need for vendors to change out the foreign currency for Temple approved currency.
Now, at face value, these vendors were offering a much needed service, but because of the corruption, gouging, and taking advantage of those in need, there was a serious problem occurring. Rather than changing the money over at the same rate of the currency given, the money changers would charge almost a whole day’s wage to change the money over at all; but not only this, if the money that was given wasn’t the exact amount for the Temple tax, another day’s wage was charged for giving back change. And forget about the sacrifices that must be bought during the Passover… The prices for animals for the appropriate sacrifice for one’s family would take months of saved up wages.
This was what Jesus faced as he came into the Temple to pray and worship. One can only imagine, as he stood there, looked around, and assessed the situation, what was going through his mind. Here, the place where sacrifices of praise were offered; here where good, honest worshipers of God would gather to honor the God who led them out of Egypt so many years before… Jesus became angry at the oppression of his people. Like pharaoh who held the Hebrews in bondage through slavery just before the Exodus, here the religious leaders had inadvertently oppressed the people for the sole purpose of monetary gain.
God’s righteous indignation is always stirred when mankind’s actions lead to oppression.
Another thing we can learn about the character of God’s righteous anger is…
2. Anything that hinders the worship of God incites the anger of God, and should be abandoned immediately.
“It was a majestic evening. On Friday, October 18th, 1991, the world-class Chicago Symphony presented the final concert in its year-long celebration of the symphony’s one hundredth year. For the first time in United States symphony history, the present conductor and two former conductors of an orchestra stood on the same stage… At a centenary celebration dinner before the concert, patrons had received souvenir clocks as gifts. As Daniel Barenboim sat down at the piano and Georg Solti lifted his baton to begin Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, a great sense of drama filled Chicago’s historic Orchestra Hall. And the beauty of the music took over.
“A few minutes later, however, at 9:15 PM, the music began to unravel. Out in the auditorium a little beep sounded. Then another, and another. Little beeps were sounding everywhere. Barenboim and the symphony plowed ahead, but everyone was distracted and the music suffered.
“Finally, after the first movement ended, Henry Fogel, the executive director of the symphony, walked on stage to explain what happened. The manufacturer of the souvenir clocks presented at the pre-concert dinner had set the alarms to go off at 9:15.
“Now there was only one way to get on with the concert. Fogel asked everyone who had one of the clocks to check them in with an usher.
Trivial things have terrible power to disrupt what is important. And this is what was happening there in the Temple. Something that was seemingly a common-day occurrence had become a major distraction to worship for those in the court of the Gentiles.
As I mentioned before, the court of the Gentiles was the outer most court in the area of the Temple where only the gentiles, the handicapped, and the unclean could come to pray and worship. With all the activity of a common-day market place, there was no way that worship and prayer could be offered in such a place as this. With sheep bleating, coins jingling, doves cooing, and people sputtering deals to acquire a sacrifice from the merchants, the worshipers were inevitably crowded out. The “least of these” were out of luck.
The reality is: Anything that hinders the worship of God incites the anger of God, and should be abandoned immediately.
The last thing that we can learn about the character of God’s righteous anger is…
3. God always makes right those who seek him in spite of the world’s castigation of them.
Read with me again Matthew 21:14-17:
[14] The blind and the lame came to him, and he healed them there in the Temple. [15] The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the little children in the Temple shouting, "Praise God for the Son of David." But they were indignant [16] and asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?"
"Yes," Jesus replied. "Haven't you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, 'You have taught children and infants to give you praise.' "[17] Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.
Immediately following the clearing of the Temple, Jesus begins to heal those who were forever sentenced to worship in the outer courts. Jesus, the Son of God, met them there and began to heal those who were handicapped, he ministered to the Gentiles, and accepted the praises of the little children who were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.”
Jesus gave to those who would have otherwise been left by the wayside by those going into the inner courts to worship and pray; those more privileged to come closer to the Holy of Holies than they. And this is the true nature and character of God: always giving, always loving, always extending a hand of grace and forgiveness to those who honestly seek him.
The religious leaders and teachers of the law had forgotten God’s true character. They had become so wrapped up in the legalities of the law, so puffed up by the pursuit of power and position, that they worshiped the structure of everyday life rather than the Giver of true life.
Jesus broke through the common-day façades of piety, he drove out those things and people that hindered and distracted real worship, and he met real needs with real action and answers rather than semi-noble expressions of knowledge and correction.
God always makes right those who seek him in spite of the world’s castigation of them.
Conclusion:
Think with me if you will: Is there any way that you might be oppressing someone else? Are your motives honest? In your business dealings with others are you fair and up front, or do you try to take advantage of them?
Maybe you aren’t the cause of someone else’s oppression, but what do you do to alleviate it? In essence, aren’t we just as oppressive by remaining inactive when God heightens our awareness to the plight of others who are under duress?
What about hindrances in your life? What are some things that hinder you from prayer becoming a priority in your life? Do you really make time for personal worship and devotion to seeking God? I mean, didn’t He say that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness that all these things would be added unto us? Are you working to get rid of those things that keep you from prayer and worship? Maybe they’re attitudes that force you into negative ways of thinking; maybe these are you hindrances. Or, maybe you’re distracted by daily routines and errands that sweep you away into a whirlwind of activity.
Remember, God’s righteous anger is stirred when anything else takes precedence over our relationship to him.
Lastly, are you extending a hand of grace to those who need it most? It’s sad but true, many people slip through the cracks in Christian churches all because of stereotypes, poor judgments, and just flat out negligence. Not much has changed in a couple thousand years. There are still Pharisees and religious leaders in our churches today that pass off the needs of others as someone else’s responsibility. There are those who take advantage of the disparity of others by talking critically about them. But isn’t it time we step up to the plate and help meet the needs of those who desperately need it?
The reality is: when we become in tune with those things that touch the heart of God, we know what God likes and dislikes; we learn those things that anger the heart of God. And through this we learn that righteous anger pushes us toward real justice because it’s unselfish.
