Cleansing the Temple
On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered the Court of Gentiles (the only area that non-Jews could enter) and pushed through the hordes of customers haggling with merchants over livestock and doves used for sacrifices. Other pilgrims crowded around money changers’ tables, protesting unfair rates of exchange for the temple currency. The temple had become an open-air market.
The Lord had seen enough, so He stormed through the court, upending tables and overturning traders’ chairs. Picture Him driving animals toward the gate, past a throng of people scrambling for scattered money, and finally blocking the way so merchandise couldn’t be carried through the temple (Mark 11:16).
The people must have been astounded. They expected the Messiah to judge their oppressors, not His own people and their temple. Then Jesus reminded them of a scripture they’d apparently forgotten. “Is it not written,” He said, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers’” (Mark 11:17).
Jesus’ actions showed that no one should impede or interfere with those God calls to be saved. This week, consider people you know who need the eternal life Jesus promises. How can you help clear the way for them to worship?
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