12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these 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’?”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these 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’?”
Matt 21:12-16 (ESV)
A Deb of Robbers
He goes to a den of robbers.
The week of the Lord's crucifixion to redeem His people from their sins marches on. Yesterday, Palm Sunday, the people cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” But they still didn't truly understand who He truly was. (Matt 21:9, ESV) To them, he was "“the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matt 21:11, ESV) But the week marches on.
Monday has come. Jesus was about what He came to do. When He was just twelve He had come to Jerusalem for Passover and was in His Father's house. (Luke 2:41-50) Even then those closest to Him, his parents, did not understand. (Luke 2:50) And He comes to His Father's house again. This time he came to return His Father's house to its purpose. It was not to be a place of trade; it was to be a house of prayer. (Matt 21:12-13) Jesus did this to fulfill what His Father had brought Isaiah to write centuries before: "My house shall be called a house of prayer." (Isa 56:7; Matt 21:13, ESV)
Indeed, as Isaiah wrote His Father's house would be a "house of prayer for all peoples" where God would "make them joyful." (Isa 56:7, ESV) And so in His Father's house, Jesus heals the blind and the lame. (Matt 21:14) The children saw this and cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matt 21:15) fulfilling what the psalmist wrote, "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise." (Psa 8:2 in the LXX; Matt 21:16 ESV) From the mouth of babes came the confession not merely that Jesus was a prophet, but that Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah.
But the chief priests and scribes would have none of this. This healing of the blind and lame; this confession that Jesus was the Messiah. They would not allow this to happen in God's House. They were "indignant" (Matt 21:15). Their "righteous" indignation would stop this "unrighteous" behavior. But just like the money changers and those who sold pigeons made the temple a "den of robbers" (Matt 21:13, ESV), so, too, did the chief priests and scribes. The money changers and sellers rob the people of their money; the chief priests and scribes robbed the Son of God of His glory.
And so Jesus went to a den of robbers. those who turned the place to glorify God into the place to rob God of His glory.
The week of the Lord's crucifixion to redeem His people from their sins marches on. Yesterday, Palm Sunday, the people cried, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” But they still didn't truly understand who He truly was. (Matt 21:9, ESV) To them, he was "“the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matt 21:11, ESV) But the week marches on.
Monday has come. Jesus was about what He came to do. When He was just twelve He had come to Jerusalem for Passover and was in His Father's house. (Luke 2:41-50) Even then those closest to Him, his parents, did not understand. (Luke 2:50) And He comes to His Father's house again. This time he came to return His Father's house to its purpose. It was not to be a place of trade; it was to be a house of prayer. (Matt 21:12-13) Jesus did this to fulfill what His Father had brought Isaiah to write centuries before: "My house shall be called a house of prayer." (Isa 56:7; Matt 21:13, ESV)
Indeed, as Isaiah wrote His Father's house would be a "house of prayer for all peoples" where God would "make them joyful." (Isa 56:7, ESV) And so in His Father's house, Jesus heals the blind and the lame. (Matt 21:14) The children saw this and cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” (Matt 21:15) fulfilling what the psalmist wrote, "Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise." (Psa 8:2 in the LXX; Matt 21:16 ESV) From the mouth of babes came the confession not merely that Jesus was a prophet, but that Jesus was the Son of David, the Messiah.
But the chief priests and scribes would have none of this. This healing of the blind and lame; this confession that Jesus was the Messiah. They would not allow this to happen in God's House. They were "indignant" (Matt 21:15). Their "righteous" indignation would stop this "unrighteous" behavior. But just like the money changers and those who sold pigeons made the temple a "den of robbers" (Matt 21:13, ESV), so, too, did the chief priests and scribes. The money changers and sellers rob the people of their money; the chief priests and scribes robbed the Son of God of His glory.
And so Jesus went to a den of robbers. those who turned the place to glorify God into the place to rob God of His glory.