Word of Salvation – Vol. 47 No. 38 – October 2002

 

The King... Or Just a Fancy Look-alike?

 

Sermon by Rev A Quak on Matthew 21:12-17

Scripture Readings: Psalm 8; Isaiah 56:1-8

Suggested Hymns: BoW: 8a; 447; Rej: 441

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The events we read about in our passage are those which happened the day after Jesus rode into town on the colt, the foal of a donkey.  There is no doubt that Jesus did this to show He was the King.  But Jesus doesn't act according to popular expectations of the Messiah-King.  He doesn't immediately march into the palace and take control.

The crowd has assumed too much.  Soon the hype and emotion fade away.  Anticipation is left dangling.  And the question arises again: Is this the King we were promised, or just a fancy look-a-like?  The passage before us answers this question.

To see Jesus' kingship in action, let's draw our focus onto what happens when Jesus enters the temple.  We are not going to the inner courts where the sacrifices were made and where the priests worked.  We are still in the outer court.  It was the place where circumcised and non- circumcised worshipped and praised and prayed together.  It was the place where teachers instructed students and converts to the faith.  It was meant to be a place of reflection and peace.

But not today.  Instead of reflection, teaching, prayer, worship and praise, Jesus is met with the shouting of traders, and the tinkling of money exchanging hands, and the smell of animals.

But that is only a surface picture.  Something else is happening here – something that has to do with the hearts of the men and women who work in and mingle through the stalls.  As Jesus watches this spectacle, then He sees hearts that are stained – He sees hearts that are being hindered in their thankful worship to God.

This is the week of the Passover, a time when Jews come from far and near to the temple to bring an offering of thanks to the Lord.  It's a special reminder of the Exodus.  Such a remembrance was meant to encourage the people to make deliberate preparations.  Such a celebration was designed to encourage people to offer their best to the Lord.

But now it was a matter of money.  See all the sellers and buyers.  "Come to the market with your money.  Buy a sheep.  Buy a lamb.  Buy some doves.  All these produce on show are guaranteed to meet the sacrificial quality required by the temple leaders.  Grab a bargain; you'll save dollars".

Sure, it looks like a generous offer, but look deeper.  Traders still need to cover costs – and you don't get to sell stuff in the temple unless the temple authorities can make some money.  And what about those who come with exceptional quality sacrifices – at the temple you can buy a standard quality item perhaps at less than cost.  The temptation to buy the bargain and offer it instead is there.  The buyers and sellers were not making generous offers, they were guilty of taking away piety and replacing it with greed.

But it doesn't stop there.  It's not just the sellers and buyers pushing greed, there were also a number of moneychangers.  These were men who sat at their tables with their piles of money before them and they were involved in a lucrative business.  Temple law decreed that you cannot pay the temple tax with Roman coins because they are stamped with pagan symbols.  Only Jewish coins were acceptable.

Many of these people came from foreign lands where Jewish coins were not used.  "Come to my money-changing stand and I will give you a good rate of exchange".  It's funny how rates of exchange seem to rapidly increase when unsuspecting Jews from far away countries come to buy their Jewish coins.

Do you get a bit of an idea of the scene before the eyes of Jesus?  The traders and sellers mocked the foundations of the temple as they raked in the profits.  There were many worshippers who were coming with less than pure motives.  They were not here to give their best; they had come to make their sacrifice at a bargain price.

Such a spectacle motivates Jesus to take what seems to be uncharacteristic and extreme measures.  In the past Jesus has driven out demons from possessed people.  With that same passion and authority He drives these people out of the temple court – turning over tables, pushing over chairs.  Doves are flying free all over the place.  Sheep and lambs run around in confused chaos chased by equally confused owners.  There are moneychangers kneeling all over the floor, scooping as many scattered coins as they can into the folds of their cloths.

What has all this got to do with the kingship of Jesus?  Have a look at verse 13, which says, "My house will be called a house of prayer.”  It's a quote from Isaiah 56:7, which we read earlier.  Isaiah 56 verses 1-8 speak about the Lord gathering all the nations – not just Israel – and making them His own.  Acceptance will be given to all and no one will be excluded.

As Jesus looks upon this rabble, He knows they are working against this acceptance.  The market stands in the court of the Gentiles, a constant din of noise and interruptions.  Any Gentile wanting to find peace with God and to give praise and worship will just be put off and hindered.  The King of the nations sees this and takes charge.  This is supposed to be a house of prayer, a place where people of the nations can gather under the banner of God and give their praise and worship.

Jesus the King points to those who have clouded this purpose and proclaims, "you are making this house a den of robbers."  The words are from Jeremiah 7:11.  And, again, the context is so important.  Jeremiah 7 speaks about those who are coming to the Lord on the basis of false pretence.

Let me read for you Jeremiah 7:9-11:

"Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My name and say, 'We are safe' – safe to do all these detestable things?  Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers to you?  But I have been watching!  declares the Lord."

Jeremiah makes his point with passion.  Anyone coming with false pretences before God will not go unnoticed by God.  And God is always going to react when those who should know better encourage the innocent to come to God on false pretences.

We are not being exposed here to a religious fanatic gone mad – which is no doubt what the buyers and sellers and moneychangers thought of Jesus.  We are faced here with our King who is determined to show that we shouldn't come to God on false pretences.  We are also faced with a King who is concerned that we are not hindered as we seek our place in His kingdom.

We are the ones mentioned in Isaiah 56.  Us being gathered by the Lord aside from the Israelites – and we are given equal footing with them.  We are bound to the Lord, to serve Him, to love the name of the LORD and to worship Him.  Jesus is acting in such a manner because He has us in mind.  As Jesus stands in the midst of overturned chairs, scattered animals, and fuming merchants, we can say, "there stands our King, paving the way for us to come into the Kingdom."

But the Kingship of Jesus doesn't stop there.  Having driven out that which tarnishes the temple, Jesus now settles down in the temple grounds.  He does so to once again show this misguided, disillusioned people what a Messiah-King looks like.  And this picture marks a significant place in the ministry of Jesus.

Matthew 21:14 is the last written account we have of Jesus healing people before His death.  It is also the only record we have of Jesus healing people within the precinct of the temple.  As Jesus leans over the lame and the blind, the poorest residents and those living in the least favoured parts of the city, Jesus shows He is perfectly qualified to rule.  To be God's appointed ruler does not mean beginning war manoeuvres against Rome.  Kingly rule turns its might to the advantage of the blind and lame.  Kingly rule helps those who are underprivileged.  Kingly rule gives gifts to those who need it most.

And what gifts they are!  By temple law the blind and lame were not allowed to enter the temple sanctuary where the altar was situated.

They were not able to come and offer their sacrifices.  And here is Jesus healing them.  For the first time since they received their infirmity perhaps for the first time in their life – these lame and blind people are given the right to enter the temple sanctuary and make their offerings personally before the Lord.  This is the King fighting and working for their rights.

And as all this is going on, we see children running around playing the "Hosanna game".  They're shouting to one another, "Hosanna to the Son of David".  Hosanna, please save us.

What a beautiful commentary on the events that are taking place in the temple.  Renewal, restoration, hope, and joy break out as Jesus heals the blind and lame.  Praise, worship, song, hope, and joy hover in the air above the temple courts as the children shout: "Please save us, son of David".  Can you see what Jesus has done?  No longer is the temple a den of robbers.  It has become what God intended it to be - a house of prayer.

This transformation in the temple brings us to the saddest part of our text – that being the reaction of the religious leaders.  They do not welcome the King.  They are threatened by Him.  The religious leaders don't like what has happened to the temple courts.  So they come to Jesus and throw down the gauntlet as they point to the cries of the children, "Do you hear what the children are saying?”

Basically the leaders were saying, “We don't like this.  Make them be quiet and go away".  What hypocrites!  They were quite happy for the temple to be used as a market – the chief priests even placed a levy on the site of the trader, a levy that would go to the temple treasury.  They were quite happy for the temple to resound with the shouts of trade and commerce.  They were quite happy to watch hearts turn to formalistic worship and for greed to flourish.  But when the temple is used as God intended – a place of reflection, teaching, prayer, restoration, worship and praise – when that happens they are indignant.

Jesus once called the leaders of Israel "blind guides" – here we have blind guides acting true to form.  With all their understanding of the Scriptures, they can't see beyond the end of their noses.

And so, Jesus reminds them, almost chiding them.  Of course I hear the children, and isn't it great?  If you would only open your eyes and hear the Scriptures, you also would see this as a great event.  Does not Scripture say: "From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise?" This is where the children ought to be.  This is what they ought to be saying.  Here in the shadows of the temple where the scrolls are kept and sages of Israel consider Israel's intense problems – here is where they should play.

From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise.  The words are from Psalm 8:2 – a psalm which speaks about our liberation as the God of man and creation reveals Himself to us.  He who rules.  He who has majesty.  He who has power.  He has crowned us with glory and splendour.  The King calling us into His Kingdom.  The King taking us, who are unworthy, and giving us the seat of honour in creation.

Why should Jesus silence the children?  They speak the truth.  They, more than anyone else, express the Kingship of Christ in its fullness.  He has come with might and power, not to engage in warfare, but to rule in humility.  To give us His life and to conquer death.  The King is coming and He is making us a part of His Kingdom.

When Jesus rode into town on the colt, the foal of a donkey, it resulted in the crowd assuming too much and anticipation left dangling in the air.  Is this the King we were promised, or just a fancy look-alike?

Is this the King we were promised?  Indeed it is.  And His kingship has just as much application for us as it did for those who witnessed His actions in the temple.

We all know that an architect is a man who designs buildings, determining what the finished product will be.  When the building is finished the architect admires his masterpiece; satisfied at a design that he has brought to life.  But imagine how that same architect would feel when some years later he came back and saw this building in disrepair.  Windows broken.  Paint faded and peeling.  Damaged surfaces.  A derelict image of former glory – a masterpiece destroyed.

We are that building.  God is the architect.  And as we consider this passage we can know that Jesus will drive false pretences, hindrances, greed, and less than pure motives out of the temple.  Not the temple which was destroyed in 70 AD, but the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is us.  We who are the temple of the Lord.  We who have God's presence within us.  We whose hearts can sometimes be like a den of robbers, rather than a house of prayer.

And we can know that our King will react when He sees His people coming to Him with false pretences rather than pure motives.  And sometimes He may just need to come into our lives and turn it upside down to make us see where we are going wrong.

We have a King who cares enough about us to call us to account when we move away from Him, or when we take Him for granted.  But our King does more.  Through His healing ministry in the courts of the temple we see Jesus the King giving people access to God – access that they didn't have before.  Such access still flows to this day.  The rule of Jesus Christ is not affirmed by the ability of His warfare and the extent of His territory.  Christ's rule is affirmed by those who have been brought from death to life – those who have been snatched out of the hands of Satan.

What a King we have!  Here He is in the temple, His death only days away.  Here He sits healing people, giving them the gift of life.  Here He sits, knowing the indignation and jealousy of their hearts.  Here He sits, knowing that the cross is only a step away.  Here He sits, knowing He will soon have to sacrifice His life.

And on the cross we will see our King, judged as defeated – a loser.  But Oh, how we know that this very act will bring us all the more closer to God.  In fact, so close that we can be sure of God's presence in us.  We may be a derelict building, but the King has come and He has the power to make all the necessary renovations.

And so, as we see Jesus in the temple, let us allow His presence to produces cries of praise, song and adoration.  We are the temple of God because He has bought us with His blood.  We who were outside – enemies because of our sin, being brought into the kingdom by the King.  We, a ruined architectural masterpiece, being restored to former glory by the King.  We, who, along with the children, play the ‘Hosanna game'.  "Hosanna to the Son of David".  Save us, Jesus, for you are our King.

Amen.