There are those times when stand in the midst of a sunny Spring day and see great shadows. You see the sun shining down on a building or structure and as you examine the shadow you see more of the building and vice versa.
The day that Jesus came to the temple should have been one of those days. The theological shadow of the temple was next to the substance, the structure. Jesus, the true and better temple, has come. The truth of God dwelling with his people has been realized finally in Jesus.
But this did not happen.
Jesus comes to the temple and he does not find reverence and honor. Instead he finds it to be a spiritual swap meet. God’s people did not look and act like God’s people. And God’s place did not function like God’s place.
Jesus walking into the temple should have been a glorious intersection of shadow and type. Instead it was an altercation between God and idols.
Jesus subsequently flips over tables, chases out the merchants, knocks over the stacks of coin, and kicks over the seats of those who sold animals (Matt. 21.12). In short, Jesus cleans house. Then he quotes the Bible: “He said to them, ”It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” (Matt. 21.13)
Jesus comes like the owner of the house. It is like a parent coming home amid a multi-day party. The kids are set-up, they are deep in their game, and they are not really happy about the party being broken up.
In fact, the religious leaders were “indignant.” They were angry. Jesus ruined their day.
There were some people there who were happy to see him. Who were they? They were the blind, the lame, and the children.
The marginalized, unimportant, weak, people of society were blessed by Christ. The children sang (21.15) and the sick were healed (21.14).
No doubt you can see the irony here. There is a room full of people who think they can see, are wise and healthy but are actually foolish, blind and weak. And then there are a bunch of people who seem to be insignificant, blind, and lame, but they are actually wise and are healed.
Here in this brief snapshot we have such a thimble of Jesus’ ministry. We have confrontation and compassion. The boulder of Christ comes down hard upon the proud and crushes them, but the humble are bidden to come and stand upon him. He is appraised as unworthy and lacking value by the proud while he is appraised as valuable and sturdy by the weak.
I am thankful that the same Father who sent Jesus into the world also sent the Spirit into the world to confront me and show me compassion. Because of the work of Christ I was convicted of my sin and shown the glory of Christ’s work on my own behalf. Because of the grace of God I now happily stand upon the boulder that is Christ. I stand with all the other weak people who find Christ to be sure and strong.
As I mentioned earlier, I will be publishing devotionals on the respective days of the passion week. This is intended to encourage you in your love for Christ.
MONDAY: On Monday morning Jesus and the Twelve leave Bethany to return to Jerusalem, and along the way Jesus curses the fig tree and then cleanses the Temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 21)