When Jesus came into the Jerusalem temple he saw a system designed to aid tokenistic piety; to help people pay their dues as conveniently and comfortably as possible. The people who ran this system were happy with that because they made money out of it. So, the outer temple court had become a bustling marketplace when it was meant to be a prayer space for Jew and Gentile alike. People were no longer there to connect with God. They were just there to tick the religious box so that they could move on with living their own lives. Even if someone at the time really did want to worship there, they would have struggled with all the activity around them. Significantly, there were at this time a whole lot of people who were barred from the temple because they were considered ‘unclean’: anyone with a disease or physical infirmity. After Jesus drove the marketers out, he proceeded, provocatively, to invite these ‘unclean’ people in and began to heal them. The temple action described here in Matthew is one of the most important and provocative prophetic actions of Jesus’ ministry. The Jews expected the Messiah to come and judge their enemies but instead he came to the heart of the nation and judges them. He is declaring that they had missed the point, and he is demonstrating what true piety is all about: it is about the restoration of broken people. He won’t countenance token piety. He is saying to all worshippers: come with the willingness and expectation to be transformed. You should keep this in mind on the weekend when you walk into church.
Reflect on why you go to church.
Read Matthew 21:12-17
