Monday, Temple Cleared

When Jesus and His disciples arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Then Jesus began to teach the people. Recalling the words of Isaiah and Jeremiah, He declared, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

People brought the blind and the lame to Jesus at the temple, and He healed them. But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders Jesus performed and when they saw and heard the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked.

“Yes,” Jesus answered. Then He recalled the psalmist, saying, “Have you never read: ‘From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise’?”

When the chief priests and scribes saw and heard all of this, they looked for a way to kill Jesus. Because they were afraid of Him because the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

Jesus taught at the temple every day. And the chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people looked for a way to kill Him. But they could not because all the people hung on His words.

When evening came, Jesus and His disciples went out of the city.

See Matthew 21:12-16; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48; Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 7:11; Psalm 8:2

Notes:

1. “When they arrived in Jerusalem”: The Gospel of Mark records that Jesus cleared the temple on morning after His triumphal entry, but the Gospel of Matthew records that Jesus cleared the temple the same day. The story presented here follows the flow of the Gospel of Mark.

2. Hosanna: A transliteration of the Hebrew “Hosia-na”, meaning “Save, we pray” or “Save now, ” which became a shout of praise (Psalm 118:25).