Who Does He Think He Is?
Opening Prayer
Lord, cleanse Your living temple, Your church and my life, and fill us with Your Spirit.
Read Matthew 21:12-17
[12] Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. [13] “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.'” [14] The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. [15] But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. [16] “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?” [17] And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What do you think of this picture of Jesus, whip in hand?“They’ve gotten too big for their boots” is a phrase used to describe people with an inflated sense of their own importance. Maybe the chief priests and teachers of the Law thought it (15) when Jesus turned over the tables (12).Jesus was explaining his mission in two ways. By quoting the Old Testament (13; Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:11), Jesus points toward both the Temple and the sacrificial system being destroyed. Through him people will directly access God. Second, the healing of blind and lame people (14) recalls King David’s recapturing of the Temple from the Jebusites (2 Sam. 5:6-10). As a result of this event, David had decreed that blind and lame people were excluded from the Temple. By welcoming, and healing, such people in the Temple, Jesus demonstrates that he is greater than King David. The chief priests and teachers of the law were horrified at the significance of what Jesus did and said (15). They could not accept Jesus. If they did, everything they stood for and all their income would be overturned. Their opposition caused them to miss out on the new life Jesus offered.
Apply
Are there ways in which you have remade an image of Jesus that is easier to live with than the true Jesus?
Closing prayer
Lord, let us never forget that You, who died to extend mercy, also died to restore righteousness. We worship a holy God.
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