March 17, 2016
NOT IN MY HOUSE
Matthew 21:12–17
Tawney Macfarlan
Central Truth
God will not tolerate robbers or spiritual hypocrisy in His house.
Key Verse | Matthew 21:13
He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." (Matthew 21:13)
Matthew 21:12–17
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12 And Jesus entered the temple 1 21:12 Some manuscripts add of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
Dive Deeper | Matthew 21:12–17
If you are the parent of a teenager, you may have entered your house only to discover things were not as they should have been. Something went terribly wrong, and now it requires judgment and a good cleaning.
This is exactly what Jesus found as He entered His Father’s house, the temple. Jesus discovered that instead of being a house of prayer, it had been overrun by money changers. These were men who exchanged foreign coins and sold sacrificial animals at inflated prices for their personal gain. Jesus performed a major housecleaning and drove them out.
Having cleaned up His Father's house, Jesus could now be about His Father’s work. He healed the blind and the lame. Seeing these miracles evoked two responses in those watching. Children cried out praise, but the religious leaders were indignant. Their spiritual blindness would not allow them to see Jesus for who He really was.
1 Corinthians 6:19 asks us a question, “[D]o you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” My body is God’s house. Am I allowing “robbers” to dwell there? These could be thoughts that rob me of truth, encourage poor choices, or promote selfish gain. If they are there, I need to ask God to search me, to know me, and to show me the unclean and offensive ways in my life, and then to ask Him to create a clean heart in me. The best cleaners I know are prayer and knowing and applying His Word. They are a guarantee against robbers and bring healing to my spiritual lameness and blindness.
After cleansing the temple, Jesus continued His ministry that would culminate at the cross. He took my place, paid for sins once for all, and eliminated the need for sacrifices. As it says in 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”
May He find our hearts a place of prayer.
Discussion Questions
1. What "robbers" are trying to take up residence in your life?
2. Where are you spiritually lame, not walking as you should (see Galatians 5:16-25)?
3. What are you allowing to influence your life and make you blind to truth?
4. What is your plan to make prayer a priority? Who will hold you accountable?