Jesus’ Passion Week: Our Savior’s Last Days and Ultimate SacrificeSample

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Anger can be scary because of its destructive nature. People can use their anger to dominate or hurt others. But in Jesus’ case, His anger was holy and righteous. Jesus was not angry very often in the Gospels, but when He is, His anger arises out of a loving protection of the vulnerable. It’s like the anger you would feel if you are a parent and found out your child was being abused or mistreated. Jesus’ anger and love are actually two sides of the same coin.

On Monday, Jesus entered the Temple to demonstrate holy anger at how His house was being defiled. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it ‘a den of robbers’” (Matthew 21:13).

During the Passover, people traveled to Jerusalem from all over Israel to offer sacrifices at the Temple. The Temple in Jerusalem represented the dwelling place of God on earth: a place of holiness, where the Presence of God lived among His people. God intended it to be a place where all could come, so it angered the heart of God when certain obstacles made it harder for some people to worship.

The whole sacrificial system rested on buying and selling animals, and that practice had become mercenary, profiting some and marginalizing others. The money changers and animal sellers reaped a hefty profit at the expense of those coming to worship in the Temple, a practice that threatened to exclude the poor. Further they set up shop in the outer court, disrupting the women and Gentiles, who were only allowed to pray and worship in that part of the Temple.

Jesus’ desire was for the Temple to be a house of prayer for all, including those on the margins. Ultimately, Jesus came to earth so that all people could have access to God through Him. In John 2, when the Jews asked Jesus for a sign to prove His authority to cleanse the Temple, Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). Jesus was referring to His body as the Temple and pointing to His death and resurrection as the sign. The destruction of Jesus’ own body would allow all people to have full and equal access to God!

John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Salvation is for everyone who believes. We are all children of God through faith in Christ. “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Prayer: God, thank you that you invite all people to become your children through faith in your Son. You look out for the vulnerable and marginalized. Please help us to do the same. We want to worship you not only by our words, but also by our deeds and how we treat the least of these. In Jesus’ name, Amen.