“Jesus entered the temple area 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. “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.’ The blind and the lame came to
him at the temple, and he healed them.” Matthew 21:12-15
Consider for a
moment, if you would, the differing responses Jesus received during his
triumphal entry into Jerusalem: Crossing
through the city gates he was praised by the crowds, saying, “Blessed is He who
comes in the name of the Lord!” However,
a few moments later, while entering into the “House of God,” the chief priest
and religious scribes questioned him in anger, “Do you hear what these are
saying?”
These religious-leaders had become so blinded; they failed to realize the very God
they claimed to serve was standing right before them. Instead, they had grown
angry – frustrated at his teachings, challenged by his wisdom, and reviled by
his simple nature. Perhaps they were in
momentary shock, after all, just moments before he had cleansed the temple of
the money changers who were selling items for personal gain. He reproved them
saying, “My house shall be called a house of prayer!”
The crowd was quickly
gathering while the money-changers were still on their knees, checking every
crevice of the stony floor for a missing coin or item of value. Hearing of his arrival, the sick and maimed
quickly rose from their beds and came to see this “Jesus of Nazareth” who
healed every manner of illness. Small
children squeezed though the gathering in attempt at a front row seat. The blind took a steady hand and pressed
towards the sound of his voice. It was a
voice like no other; it resonated with compassion, it held the refreshing tones
of love. It was in fact the voice of God
Himself! – Unmistakable for anyone who had truly listened. That day, lives were changed forever. Not because they were made whole and
restored, but because they had received the very gift of life itself – Jesus
Christ, God’s one and only son.
I still remember
the day I met him. Like one in the
crowd; I began pushing past all of life’s failures and hurts, seeking the one
who had the power to set me free. I rose
up from my bed of sickness in desperation.
My body which was full of the cancer of sin cried out for healing. I began to press in and called out to him by
name, “Jesus!” To my surprise, he heard
me. Our eyes connected and he reached his
hand towards me. I felt loved and
forgiven as the weights of my transgressions were lifted. I was changed in an instant – not momentary
emotional excitement, but changed! Nothing
about my life has ever been the same since that divine encounter. It was the very day God’s son made a
triumphal entry into my life.
How have you
responded to his coming? Have you received and recognized him as the Lord of
all, or have you set him aside for a life filled with pleasure and pursuit of
personal gain? The day is quickly
approaching that Jesus will come again.
Angels will herald him in the heavens, the earth will quake at his
arrival, and every knee shall bow at his presence. Upon his first entry “some” chose to worship,
however, when he arrives in his heavenly glory, “every” tongue will confess his
deity. What a triumphal entry it will
be.
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