Jesus Clears the Temple

1-6-2010
Jesus Clears the Temple

The world has done a pretty good job of painting Jesus out to be about as weak as can be. People picture Jesus to be a pushover that walks around being a peace maker, when in fact Jesus Christ was about as blunt and transparent as could be. Yes He desired peace, but when someone or some group acted in an Ungodly manner, He took action!

Matthew 21:12-17 says the following:

“12Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 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."
14The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.
16"Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him.
"Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read,
" 'From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise'?"
17And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.”

Very rarely do we hear about Jesus clearing out a Temple and overturning tables! Jesus is a bold man of passion that only stands for what’s right. He was and is the toughest person to ever walk the earth, and there’s a lot to be learned from this lesson. As Christ followers, we should learn to be bold in what’s right, and do the hard right thing all the time. Jesus overturned the tables for many reasons, but the primary reason is the money changers were interfering with people’s ability to worship God. What do you need to “overturn” that prevents you from worshiping God to the fullest? Is your schedule too crammed with meetings to make time for the most important things such as faith and family? Let’s live each day with a focus on what’s true and right, keeping things in perspective at all times!