Lent Day 36
Welcome to day 36 of Lent.
Matthew 21:12-13 says, “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, ad he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
How quickly the emotions of the drama of Jesus’s last journey changes! After the crowds who shouted “Hosana!”, the story takes a radical turn. This is another of the signs of messianic prophecy that we think we understand but need to examine more closely. We see her the holy anger of Jesus more than at almost any other moment in his life.
Do you know why he was so angry? Is it only about commerce in the temple? Why does he call the sellers thieves? What is the zeal that consumed him in this moment? Why did he overturn those tables? What can we learn from our Savior’s holy anger? How can his zeal become our hope? These are the questions begging to be answered as we consider this moment in Jesus’s journey to the cross.
As Jesus enters Jerusalem, he knows he is on a mission of saving grace, and he knows how far that grace will extend. He knows that what is happening in the temple is not only a violation of his Father’s house, of promises made to Abraham but also of what he came to earth to accomplish. Without care for what people will think of him, he is driven by righteous values and holy anger to act on behalf of those unable to act for themselves.
Parallel passages of this event are also found in Mark 11:15-19 and in Luke 19:45-48. Three of the four Gospels record this event. Maybe we should study this deeper. And as you do, answer these questions:
- What was Jesus angry about? What were the money changers doing wrong?
- What fills your heart with righteous anger? Where do you see modern-day money changers, and what are you called to do about it?
- It’s easy to put ourselves on Jesus’s side here, but how might you be guilty of some of the same sins as the moneychangers?