Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Matthew 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19
On Monday of Holy Week, Jesus returned to the temple in Jerusalem to only to find that this place that was once used to worship God had been turned in to a marketplace. Money changers made huge profits by taking “pagan money” and changing it to Jewish coins at unfair exchange rates while others sold sacrificial animals at high prices to those who wanted to worship God. All of this was controlled by the religious elite who lined their pockets instead of leading people in worship of the Lord!
Jesus had hoped to find faithful worshipers in the temple, not a market. And so Jesus cleansed the temple, driving out the money changers and the traders recalling Isaiah 56:7 which said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Jesus sought to clear the temple to make room for true worshipers of the God, the Father.
Something to ponder
The apostle Paul says that “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you…” As we walk through Holy Week, what in your life do you need Christ to drive out so that you may worship Him in purity and truth?
