The King's Passions - and Ours (Matthew 21:12-17)

Here’s my sermon from this past Sunday. You can read the manuscript below. You can also listen to the audio here.

What’s America’s favorite Bible verse? For some time, it’s been Matthew 7:1 - a passage we looked at earlier in this series. “Judge not, that you be not judged.” But there’s another verse I’ve heard referenced more of late. Perhaps coming more from the opposite side of the aisle. One we just read. Matthew 21:12. And usually it gets paraphrased, something like this: “Jesus ran into the temple. He started flipping over tables. I’m just doing what He did, man.”

Now, wouldn’t it be great, if we had verses in the Bible, that not only give us permission to do whatever we want - like Matthew 7:1, but also to get mad - really rage - whenever we want? Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could have His permission to make really harsh judgements - really at whomever we wanted? I guess? But, what I want us to grasp today, as we dig into this passage, is that’s clearly not what Jesus models here at all. And, in fact, when we really get to the bottom of it, what we find here is actually quite concerning for us.

Last week, Pastor Aaron took us through the first part of the chapter, looking at the Triumphal Entry. We’ve still got some time to go in this book. It’ll take us almost the rest of the year, in fact. But we’ve now entered the final week of Christ’s ministry - what’s been called “Holy Week.” His ride into Jerusalem took place on Sunday. What takes place here happened the very next day. Throughout the book, Jesus has said He’s been sent to earth to die. These things He does on Monday here are gonna make people really, really mad. It’s gonna make them want to kill Him all the more. Why’s that? Let’s jump right in and see.

The Passion of Jesus

As we look at these verses, I want you to see first the passion of Jesus. What our Lord gets worked up about here. What does Matthew tell us happens? Yes, Jesus walks into the temple and starts causing some good trouble. But why? What’s really going on? Look at verse 12 again:

Matthew 21:12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

People there are selling animals. Others have booths converting money. Right there in the temple. Actually, in its outer courts. What was called the Court of Gentiles. And tragically, they’re getting in the way of outsiders, people who are far from God. More on that in a bit. But what was meant to be a spot for them to pray had become a place of bustling economic activity. Now, why’s that? On the surface, they were meeting a need. Remember, people came to the temple to do sacrifices. And many traveled from long distances. Some of you know what it’s like to pack for a family trip. Who wants to bring along a sheep? Right? So these folks are doing others a favor. Buy your sacrifice right here!

Others are providing a different kind of service. Worshippers had to pay a tax at the temple. And it had to be a particular type of coin. People were traveling from all over the known world. So money-changers would convert it into the right kind of currency. And like those booths in the airports today, they’d take a percentage to pay for their services. Much like the livestock salesmen would make some kind of profit.

But it’s likely that the exchange rate wasn’t quite fair. And the animals were no doubt marked up far too much. It’s striking that the pigeon salesmen are the ones called out here. Those were the only sacrifices poor folks could afford!

Worshippers are being swindled out of their money. Poor people are being exploited and abused. And that’s why Jesus kicks them all out. And tosses around their tables and chairs.

Now here’s where some might shout out, “Ah-ha! There you go! Here’s my permission to get really, really mad!” You might even be ready to quote Ephesians 4:26 - that comes from Psalm 4:4. “Be angry and do not sin.” “You hear that, Kevin? It says to be angry! It’s a command. I’m just obeying the Bible!”

But not so fast. Yes, there’s a place for righteous anger. But as sinners, that’s not so easy to pull off. As John Trapp once put it, “It is not a sin to be angry, but it is hard not to sin when we are angry.” So what do we do? Can we flip tables like Jesus - or not? Tim Chester explains it this way: “‘Good anger' is an emotional response to the right things (sin and injustice) in the right way (controlled and desiring good).” To “be angry and do not sin” means, as he says, to get emotional about the “right things in the right way.” I want to focus on that latter, “right way” part now. It’s hard for our anger to stay “controlled,” right? It may start out as a fire in our belly. But before we know it, our hair’s completely on fire.

And yes, it’s also easy to stray from desiring their good. We start out debating someone. And suddenly we’re destroying them. Yes, sin and evil should really hack us off. Injustice around us should make us mad. But the problem is that there’s also evil in us. We want to burn their house to the ground! We want to hurl tables like Jesus. But hello! We’re not Jesus. And too much of the time our anger isn’t motivated by love. But you want to stop me there. What? Anger - motivated by love - really? Aren’t those opposites? I love these words from Becky Pippert:

“Think how we feel when we see someone we love ravaged by unwise actions or relationships. Do we respond with benign tolerance as we might toward strangers? Far from it . . . Anger isn’t the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference . . . God’s wrath is not a cranky explosion, but his settled opposition to the cancer . . . which is eating out the insides of the human race he loves with his whole being.” (Rebecca Manley Pippert)

If our brother gets hooked on opiates, if our sister gets sexually assaulted, it’ll make us really mad. That is, unless something is really, really wrong. But we have to get angry in the “right way” or we’ll just burn our house right down with them. Jesus here gets angry. And it’s out of deep love.

He says, we see, in verse 13, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Here the Lord references two passages from the Old Testament. Isaiah 56:7 first, where the prophet longs for the temple’s purpose to be fulfilled - as a “house of prayer” - along with Jeremiah 7:11 second, where that prophet calls out Israel’s lack of integrity. Jesus cries out, “You’re still a bunch of thieves!” That’s because of all the money exchanging hands.

What’s the passion of Jesus seen here? The purity of God’s people. He loves the Father. His House. His nation. And they’re bowing down to the almighty dollar, or really denarius. So He calls out their idolatry. Their commercialism. Their exploitation. He fulfills Malachi 3 that we saw earlier in Matthew. Where it speaks of a messenger coming, John the Baptist, preparing the way. But the message was of a Messiah who would clean out the temple. And that’s what Jesus is doing here now. And out of love.

But think about this. The New Testament now calls us the “temple of the living God.” Believers united by the Spirit of Jesus. The church. How have we bowed down to these idols ourselves? If you go to Rio in Brazil, you’ll see in their favelas, their slums, massive churches built right beside, and on the backs, of the poorest of the poor.

In America, prosperity gospel churches fund their big buildings and purchase their private jets, how? Through the wishes and prayers and $20 donations of desperate people. I once had a pastor here tell me casually over lunch that his co-pastor there, also at the table, could “sniff out a millionaire coming from miles away.” It’s common for churches to be about the ABCs. Attendance, buildings, and cash. Or the “killer Bs” - buildings, budgets, and butts in the seats. May the Lord protect us from becoming such a “den of robbers” here.

Individually, we’re also called temples of the Spirit. In what ways are you and I falling before idols? How does Jesus need to shake up our lives? So that we’re not about money. So that we don’t ignore the poor. I’m not driving a Ferrari like Joel Osteen. But I have a nice house in a nice neighborhood. I own some nice stuff. I have to search my heart. We all have to search our hearts. We may think, “We’re all middle-class, at best, here.” But really, in the world, we’re extremely rich. Jesus cares about the purity of our worship. And He wants to set us free. That is His passion that we see here. That we not become some kind of shopping center.

The Compassion of Jesus

Let’s second look here at the compassion of Jesus. Verse 14 tells us that “the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.” Now this is something we’ve seen throughout this gospel of Matthew. But it happening right here is a pretty big deal. Disabled people like these were usually kept from the temple. But Jesus welcomes them right in. And heals them all up. And it causes quite the stir.

Children pick up those cries, offered up the day before. To the Lord on that donkey entering Jerusalem. “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they yell out. And the “chief priests and scribes” - how do they respond? The text says, they see the “wonderful things that he did,” and they’re “indignant.” People are getting healed. And priests are getting hacked. With that, let’s get back to talking about anger.

Listen to that Chester quote again. “‘Good anger' is an emotional response to the right things (sin and injustice) in the right way (controlled and desiring good).” Don’t we so often get upset about all the wrong things? It’s not hard to see that’s what’s happening here. They’re not upset about their temple being prostituted. With the lack of integrity in their worship. They’re livid because the sick are being healed. Because the kids are getting loud. Jesus cares about God’s people showing mercy. These leaders are not passionate about the same things as Jesus.

My friend Robert Cheong defines anger like this: It’s “a strong feeling of displeasure or hostility in response to someone or something that opposes what you value.” Tim Keller calls anger "energy released to defend something important to you.” What is it that these religious leaders value? What does it seem was so important to them? Probably their power. Their honor. Their lifestyles. Their comfort. Their focus was on all the wrong things. Idolatry had blinded them from their own sin and injustice. And that’s why they’re in that temple fuming that day.

Does that sound much like your anger - and mine? People question our views. They threaten our values. Our status. Our comfort. God works in a way that we might not expect. He asks us to help people we don’t think deserve it. And we get mad - just like these religious leaders here. Are we mad about the right stuff - the stuff that matters? We see our pride, our power, threatened, and we’re enraged. You and I - who are these little temples. But us together, as the temple of the Spirit. We cozy up to the powerful. We turn our heads from the vulnerable. And we ignore what was a main concern of our Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy.

Earlier I read from Isaiah 56:7. God’s desire that His house be called a “house of prayer.” Look at the next verse.

Isaiah 56:8 The Lord GOD,

who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,

“I will gather yet others to him

besides those already gathered.”

The type of people Jesus heals here. The people who stream to Him from every tribe, tongue, and nation. He is full of compassion. For the “outcasts.” He cares about our mercy toward the weak.

Now this week has been crazy on so many levels. But “mercy” has been at the forefront of our conversation. That’s because a woman was given a mic and called out a person in power, begging for mercy. And she got blasted. From the top down, from many who’d call themselves followers of Jesus. Now I’m sure that she and I would find areas in which we disagreed. But there are not too many things more fundamental to Christianity than that. Extending the mercy that we ourselves have received.

This is what Jesus is about. Making Himself weak. Coming to the weak. We’ve already seen Jesus say that we must “turn and become like children” (Matthew 18:3-6). We have to humble ourselves like kids. And receive children in His name. But the scribes and priests here will have nothing of that. And that’s in part why they’re so mad at these kids.

They ask Jesus in verse 16, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And then Christ paraphrases Psalm 8:2: “Yes; have you never heard, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise.”

They’re actually the strong - these kids. They’re shaming these men. Because they, like Jesus, have the right priorities in view. They can get out of their own way - and see Him through eyes of faith. The Lord drops the mic and heads off to Bethany - likely to Lazarus, Mary and Martha’s house - to get some rest. That’s what we learn in verse 17.

John shares another account of Christ shaking up the temple. Likely earlier, at the beginning of His ministry. And that apostle says it reminds His disciples of Psalm 69:9.

John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

What does Jesus get worked up about? What evokes His passion? Stirs up His anger. God’s house. His temple. And the purity of our worship. John makes it even more clear.

Later in John, Jesus ends up raising that Lazarus from the grave. And just before that, we see the Bible’s shortest verse. John 11:35. “Jesus wept.” But two verses before that, the apostle tells of Jesus having another deep emotion. It says “he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” That second verb expresses just how upset Jesus is. But that first one - “deeply moved” - refers to outrage. Jesus, standing before death, the death of His friend - is really, really angry.  What gets Jesus really worked up? Impurity, a lack of integrity. Suffering and injustice. Those things get Jesus good and angry.

Here’s the main thing I want us to hear this morning: let’s be a people who are passionate about the  priorities of Jesus our King. He wants us to have pure hearts, focused on God and His Kingdom. Not focused on money. And He wants us to have hearts filled with mercy, laying down our power, caring for the weak. Jesus wants us - the temple of His Spirit to get worked up about the right things in the right way - and not use this passage as an excuse for sin.

Our Mission and Messiah

Before I close, though, I want to touch on two more points of application. One about our mission. And another about our Messiah.

First, our mission. I touched on this earlier. But these tables and booths were set up right in the Court of Gentiles. In that citation from Isaiah 56:7, Matthew cuts it off before the end. But Mark, in chapter 11, verse 17, finishes it out. Jesus cries out, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.” This shopping center was literally set up where people far from God were supposed to worship. Russ Moore explains that the “lack of integrity was both vertical (“a house of prayer”) and horizontal (“for all the nations”). God’s people were making it difficult for the nations to draw near to the Father. And that illustrates so much what our idolatry does today.

Through our love of money, through our quest for power - we get in the way of people looking for Jesus. Our conduct in the world is making it more difficult for unbelievers to see Jesus. Our impurity turns people off. It pushes people away. And the thought of that happening should make us good and angry ourselves. And we, the church, need to desperately repent. Jesus loves us, the church. But He also deeply loves the world.

Second, our Messiah. In verse 15, we see the teachers really getting mad. Who does this guy think He is? Where does He get this authority? But we also hear those children praising our Lord. They’re calling Him the “Son of David.” And they’re calling Him the Messiah, the long-awaited King. And that’s no doubt in big part why the leaders are getting so mad. But they’re probably even madder about Christ’s explanation. Because that quotation of Psalm 8 we see right here. What’s the verse that comes right before that? “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” The Lord is unmistakably receiving praise as God. He’s the Creator, the Lord, the King of the earth. And we need to honor Him as such.

One thing I want to say. We like having kids with us here in Karis. If a kid makes a noise, don’t turn around and glare. Jesus pointed them out - and as good examples for us! Let’s be thankful that the Lord’s gifting them to us. And let’s learn from their humble awe in the Lord. We’re to have faith like children, Karis. I also have to say; they’re disabled people that Jesus welcomes to the temple here. How can we be similarly welcoming? And do we see our opportunity to learn form differently-abled people, as well? Hear this quote from Amy Becker:

“People with disabilities are not simply needy. They are also gifted. They are people within whom the Holy Spirit dwells. They are called to participate in God’s work in the world. Paul’s description of the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12 reminds us that each member of the body brings a particular gift and manifests the Spirit of God in ways that the entire body needs. We not only have needs; we need one another. We are not only dependent; we need interdependent relationships of mutual giving and receiving in order to flourish.” (Amy Julia Becker)

Let’s see and rejoice at who Jesus is. Our King. Our God. I have a friend Jim, a retired pastor, that I talk to regularly, and we were talking recently about the three big transcendentals. True, good, and beautiful. And he made this comment that really struck me. He said we tend to focus on the true. Believing, saying the right things. And on the good. That’s doing, living the right things. But we don’t focus enough on His beauty. And he said, as an elderly man, that that was what he wanted to give the rest of his life to - gazing upon, and delighting in, the beauty of our Lord.

As we see Jesus here in this passage - calling out the rich and powerful, lifting up the weak and vulnerable - don’t we see beauty? As He shakes up the temple. As He heals the blind and lame. Let’s gaze on His face together. Let’s revel in His beauty, Karis. If we spent more time doing that, when we talked about what was true and good, it’s doubtful that we’d be as likely to be jerks. And maybe those around us would see Jesus. In His beauty. The One who still gets good and angry today.

I appreciate the music of Leigh Nash, lead singer of Sixpence None the Richer, and she recently recorded this song with Ruby Amanfu based on this passage. The chorus goes like this:

“There's a love that's still turning over tables.

And the love making blinded eyes see.

There's a healing that's waiting in the waters.

That's still making saints out of rebels.

My God is still making good trouble.”

(Leigh Nash, Matt Maher, Ruby Amanfu)

Church, what if we had a passion for extending mercy? And ridding ourselves of impurity? I bet we’d make some good trouble, too. But it wouldn’t look like blasting people on social media. Or screaming ourselves silly at school board meetings. Aaron said last week: we love our enemies until they become our neighbors. And then we love our neighbors until they become our family. That’s never gonna happen if our house is not in order and we’re “telling it like it is.”

Our House Is On Fire

The next passage looks very much like ours we’ve seen today. Another one where we see Christ’s anger. Where we see His judgment. The strange story of the fig tree. Come back and join us for that - as we keep looking at these last ministry days of Jesus.

But before I close, a few weeks ago, Pastor Darren talked about those Pasadena fires - that I still think are raging out on the west coast today. And he admitted, talking about those we’d rather not get mercy, that he wasn’t that concerned about Paris Hilton’s home - or any of the other rich people whose houses had burned. I gave him a hard time, sometime afterward. Amy and I actually had some friends back in seminary - regular people who look like most of us here. Their home was completely burned to the ground. The problem isn’t just over there with them. It’s also right here, with you and me, with us.

It’s us, the people of God, that Jesus is concerned with here. It’s our house that’s going up in flames. He’s not here really concerned about theirs. That’s the irony of these verses. This passage that’s become a proof-text, a pretext for being a butthead is actually a boomerang. And we’d better duck. Really humble ourselves and repent.

Because it’s heading right for our heads. Christ is righteously angered at His people - who won’t turn from their idolatry - and carry forth His grace. As 1 Peter 4:17 puts it, judgment begins at the household of God. If we don’t pursue the priorities of our King, it’s all of us who’ll get judged. So we’d better focus on the plank in our eye. And not think as much about their speck. If we want to flip over any tables, we should start in our dining room. Jesus isn’t happy. And we need to repent.

But here’s some good news. That temple He walked into. He wasn’t just cleansing it from sin. He was judging it, right? He was acting out a parable as He was turning things upside down. That house of God had reached the end of its lifecycle. He, the true Temple had come. That is, the place where we meet God. That happens in Him - wherever we might be. He’s the true, better temple. It all pointed to Him.

But there’s more. Those sacrifices God’s people bought and offered in that place - they also reached ahead to His death on the cross. We couldn’t just waltz up to God. We’re robbers, after all. They pointed ahead to His atonement for our sin. He died between two thieves so that we could be found right with God. The Lord’s anger was appeased. And now He can be our Father.

The idolaters, the unmerciful - who like to use this verse as an excuse - we can be forgiven, redeemed, restored and remade - into those with His passions, with His purpose. Karis, let’s be a people who are passionate about the priorities of Jesus our King. Let’s pray.