Room for All

Good Morning Church! We are stepping into a new sermon series til Easter. It’s called the Hospitality of Jesus. We are going to look at the week leading up to Jesus’ death in this series. In that week that is typically called “Passion Week,” there are lots of things that we could focus on. Jesus’ final days are a master class on the Kingdom of God. His teaching during that time and every action he takes is incredibly important for us in understanding who Jesus is and what he came to accomplish.

One of the key themes of Jesus’ teaching involves the generosity or hospitality of the kingdom. There was a misconception in the Jewish culture that they understood what God’s kingdom looked like. The image in their mind was twofold: God loves only the Jews and God loves only the “religious.” Really Jesus spent his whole ministry trying to debunk this idea and teaching that the kingdom of God looked very different than they thought it did. But he really ramps it up the week leading to his death.

This morning, we are going to look at a really intense moment where Jesus addresses the first part of that… God loves only the Jews.

Let’s me read the text for this morning and then I will pray and come back and start looking at this together.

Let me read the text for this morning and then I will pray and come back and start looking at this together.

Let’s me read the text for this morning and then I will pray and come back and start looking at this together.

Matthew 21:12–13 CSB

Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”

Matthew

PRAY

Let’s set the stage for this if you are unfamiliar.

The time of Passover has come. Passover was one of three celebrations each year that people were to travel to Jerusalem for. It was a celebration of a time in which God had rescued the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt. You can read about that story in the first few chapters of the book of Exodus in the Bible.

Jesus and his band of disciples are on their way to Jerusalem and Jesus knows that his time is drawing to a close. Millions of Jewish men are walking into Jerusalem during this time from over the known world. Jesus, however, stops outside the city and decides to ride in on a donkey. He wasn’t lazy. He was making a statement.

The Jewish people had been told through their prophets that God would one day send Messiah, the one who would rescue and redeem them. Messiah is a Hebrew word that got translated in Greek to “Christ.” The Israelites believed themselves to be a special people whom God had chosen to reveal himself, and now they were living under the rule of another nation. God wouldn’t let this go forever. One day, he would raise up a King, the Messiah, the Christ, who would bring the powers that be to their knees and restore the power of Israel.

Israel had seen many Messiah-like characters through their time. In fact, one was Moses. God had called up a man named Moses to lead the Israelites out of bondage in..... (EGYPT.) So, they are gathering to celebrate the Passover in which God used a man to lead them to freedom. You know that every Passover under Roman rule, they are looking, right?

“Is this the year? Is this the year of the Messiah?”

There was more than this tension playing into this moment though. There were many, many, many prophecies about the coming Messiah. The Jews would have all known many of them by heart. One in particular they would have known was...

There were many, many, many prophecies about the coming Messiah. The Jews would have all known many of them by heart. One in particular they would have known was...

Zechariah 9:9 CSB

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So, think about this...

You are a member of a religious/cultural group that believes God has a special plan and land for you to possess. However you are currently living under the authority of a pagan nation. ANd you have gathered to celebrate and remember a time in which God brought down the power of authority over you and used a man to lead you to freedom.

All that is swirling through your head. Could this be the year?

And you hear a commotion as you are wandering near the city gate. A Jewish Rabbi named Jesus (who is growing in popularity and renown) is entering the city with his disciple entourage. But he isn’t walking like everyone else. NO! He is riding on a donkey.

What synapses begin to fire in your brain? What connections does your brain start to make?

THIS IS THE YEAR! Right?

The stories of Jesus’ ministry coupled with the tension of the Passover and the donkey prophecy leads to many of the people there believing that this is the Messiah! He is here!

Everyone expects him to march right into the city or even the temple and rally the troops to overthrow Rome! But he doesn’t do that. In fact, it’s very much the opposite!

All the other Jewish men walk in to Jerusalem He has made this pilgrimage many times before, but this time he decides to make a statement. As they arrive in Jerusalem, he comes in riding a donkey. Which seems like an innocent thing. But for a teacher of the law who is highly respected by his disciples to ride in on a donkey was to make a statement. The Old Testament had told of a Savior riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Jesus was claiming to be the leader of this kingdom he had spoken so much about! He is claiming to be the messiah the king who has come!

The next day, Jesus goes into the temple. But instead of stirring them up and giving an awesome pep talk, he makes many of them very uncomfortable.

This garners some mixed responses...

The time of Passover was a busy time in the temple. It would have been very crowded. Each family would have been expected to give two things in the temple: a temple tax and an animal for an offering.

They were coming from all over the place with different types of currency. This would be enough to make any church accountant lose their mind! So, the long-time practice had been to provide a money-changer who could get everybody using the right money.

The next day, he goes into the temple. The time of Passover was a busy time at the temple. Every family would be coming to make an animal sacrifice just as the Israelites did at the first Passover. So the temple would have been a buzz with people.

And everyone needed an animal as well. Some of these men had made long pilgrimages and couldn’t travel easily with an animal. So the temple provided a place to purchase animals to be offered as the sacrifice in the Passover practice. Matthew mentions doves particularly, but the other Gospel writers help us see there may very well have been other livestock available. Again, this wasn’t anything new.

So, in this part of the temple, it’s mass chaos, as you can imagine. You got coin changing going on and you have animals wandering everywhere! This wasn’t in the actual temple but in the courtyard outside. It was at what was known as the “Court of the Gentiles.” Gentile means “non Jew.” This is the only area that Gentile men and women were allowed into.

So, Jesus instead of coming into this scene, jumping on a table to rally everyone to grab pitchforks and storm the Roman officers and overthrow the government as they thought, he runs everyone out of the temple. He runs animals out and flips over the tables of the money changers.

Jesus, instead of coming into that scene, jumping on a table to rally everyone to grab pitchforks and storm the Roman officers, he makes a whip out of some rope he sees lying around, runs the animals out of the temple

Jesus, instead of coming into that scene, jumping on a table to rally everyone to grab pitchforks and storm the Roman officers, he makes a whip out of some rope he sees lying around, runs the animals out of the temple

Picture this! Animals are running out of the temple like crazy, money is rolling around on the floor everywhere, and some out of town Rabbi is screaming at the top of lungs at the temple workers...

Not how we thought the Messiah would act, right?

The question stands to reason, why was he so ticked off, right? Again, this was no new scene. They had been doing this for several years. Jesus had seen it before. Why was he so mad, when everyone else seemed OK with it?

A simple answer lies in the text before us that we won’t spend much time on. The other is found not necessarily directly but in the historical context we have already discovered.

Look back at the text with me...

Matthew 21:12–13 CSB

Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “It is written, my house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves!”

Matthew 21:

So, Jesus quotes Scripture at them. His major beef seems to be with the actions that are going on in the temple. He quotes which says this very thing, but accuses them that they have made it something different entirely.

1. Jesus is upset at what has replaced prayer.

The temple was to be a safe place of worship. Instead, it looks more like the bazaar or marketplace.

The commentary I read this week said that at an earlier time in Jewish history, the money changers and animal sellers were there on Passover, but they set up outside the temple gates not inside.

The Israelites weren’t selling drugs in there, right They were simply providing what was needed for the worship (probably with a little fee attached for the worker, for sure.) But in general it was a good thing! The priests were OK with it. They are probably the ones who made the decision to move it inside. But this good thing was affecting a GREAT thing or the MAIN thing. Jesus was upset that the main thing was no longer the main thing. They had sacrificed something great for something good.

We want to do lots of fun, exciting things in our service, but those things must stay in their place. They cannot affect the main things we have gathered to do. Lord, teach us to know you and be with us. We long for his Word and his Presence.

But Jesus isn’t just upset about that… The second one for you to see is found when we dig a little deeper.

2. Jesus is upset about the lack of hospitality

Jesus quotes a very special passage to those gathered. But the verse is more full than the part Jesus’ quoted. Let me read it to you. As I read, see who God seems to want in his temple...

Isaiah 56:7 CSB

I will bring them to my holy mountain and let them rejoice in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Mark 11 CSB

When they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here right away.’ ” So they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied by a door. They untied it, and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They answered them just as Jesus had said; so they let them go. They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and he sat on it. Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted: Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven! He went into Jerusalem and into the temple. After looking around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. The next day when they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to find out if there was anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his disciples heard it. They came to Jerusalem, and he went into the temple and began to throw out those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple. He was teaching them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves!” The chief priests and the scribes heard it and started looking for a way to kill him. For they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was astonished by his teaching. Whenever evening came, they would go out of the city. Early in the morning, as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, everything you pray and ask for—believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing.” They came again to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came and asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; then answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism from heaven or of human origin? Answer me.” They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ ”—they were afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought that John was truly a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Isaiah

Alright, who does God desire in his temple? THE NATIONS That means everybody! Do you think it’s just a fluke that Jesus quotes a verse that says the temple is for the nations to a group of people who have so filled the temple courtyard that there is no room for the nations? I don’t! Seems intentional!

Mark even adds that part in to Jesus’ quote.

Mark 11:11 CSB

He went into Jerusalem and into the temple. After looking around at everything, since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Mark 11:16 CSB

and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple.

Mark 11:17 CSB

He was teaching them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves!”

Mark 11:13 CSB

Seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to find out if there was anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs.

Mark 11:

Genesis 12:1–3 CSB

The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Genesis 12:1–5 CSB

The Lord said to Abram: Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

runs the animals out of the temple

Every family would be coming to make an animal sacrifice just as the Israelites did at the first Passover. So the temple would have been a buzz with people. There

Jesus enters in

He is upset because they changed their worships

He is upset because they had narrowed their acceptance

He is upset when we do the same.