Text: Matthew 21:12-16
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He *said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”
And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?”
Text: Mark 11:15-18
Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.
Text: Luke 19:45-48
Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, saying to them, “It is written, ‘And My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a robbers’ den.”
And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said.
As the triumphal entry concludes it leads to the doors of the temple where Jesus does something that is only recorded twice in his career which is he clears the temple’s court of the Gentiles of the money changers and dealers of merchandise. In John chapter two we find Jesus acting on his own without a crowd or even at that point too many disciples. Times have changed and now their may have been cheers every time he turned over a table or drove out a group of animals. People are shouting: “Hosanna!” It is a loud and crowded scene this time.
This second disruption of the religious leaders commerce in the name of religion causes much the same reaction – more anger toward Jesus. Now however the religious leaders are further alarmed that Jesus seems to have all the support but they have none. It will cause them to be more galvanized in their decision to kill him.
Once the temple is cleared, Jesus begins to teach. This is a Sunday marked by a triumphal entry, a temple cleansing and teaching. Once the day concludes based on other passages he probably headed to the Mount of Olives to pray and then returned to Bethany to stay the night. Day one is finished and if we were there we would think that all is right with Jesus and his disciples. It would be hard to imagine at the time that just a week from this moment Jesus would be walking out of tomb because people had crucified him.
Next: The Fig Tree