Matthew 21:12-14

Mat 21:12-14 The King Cleanses the Temple

12, 13. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tulles of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Jesus went into the temple of God again, as he did at the beginning of his ministry. Then the reforming Prophet intimated what was needed, and now the King proceeds to carry it out. A temple dedicated to God must not become a place of merchandize and robbery. Jesus.... cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple. The sellers were the more permanently obstructive, the more constantly offensive, so they were driven out first; but as there would have been no sellers if there had not been buyers, they must be cast out also. Those who kept the tables of the moneychangers might have pleaded that they were there for the public convenience, since they supplied shekels and other moneys of the sanctuary in lieu of Roman coin. The seats of them that sold doves seemed licensed, since they dealt in young pigeons and turtle doves for the sacrifices. But these traders were not in this serving God, but making profit for themselves, and therefore our Lord overthrew all their arrangements, and cleared the holy place.

What an awe must have surrounded this one Man, that the whole tribe of traffickers should flee before him while they endured the overturning of their tables and their seats! Neither the temple guard, nor the Roman soldiers appear to have interfered in any way. When Jesus takes to himself power, opposition ceases. What a prophecy this incident affords of the ease with which, in his Second Advent, he will purge his floor with the fan in his hand! Our Lord, while lie drives out the profaners of the temple, vindicates his holy violence by saying, "It is written." Whether he was contending with the arch-enemy, or with wicked men, he used but one weapon, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word-of God." In this, as in everything else, let us follow his example. Isaiah had penned those words (Isa 56:7), "Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." This prophecy had a special relation to the Court of the Gentiles, which was being so grossly desecrated by these dealers. Our Saviour likened his Father's house, when occupied by these buyers and sellers, to those caves in the mountains where robbers were wont to lurk in his day: "Ye have made it a den of thieves." The words spoken by the King were strong, but not more so than the case before him required. It is a king's business to break up the hiding-places of bandits, and Jesus did so. He could not bear to see his Father's house of prayer made into a haunt of robbers.

14. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. The coming into the temple of blind mendicants and limping beggars was no defilement to the holy place. The blind and the lame came to him: to whom else should they come? "Was he not the good Physician? They came to him in the temple: where else should they come? Was it not the house of mercy? Jesus, in his Father's name, welcomed the motley band, and healed them. Some people seem to think that, if the very poor come into places of worship, they are out of place; but this is the vain notion of a wicked pride. The poorest and the most sinful may come to Jesus. "We, too, came into the assembly of the saints at one time, spiritually blind and lame; but Jesus opened our eyes, and healed us of our lameness. If he sees anything amiss with us now, we are sure he will not drive us away from his courts, but he will heal us at once. Let all the blind and lame come to him now.