The Climax of the Triumphal Entry

Introduction

In order to understand the Triumphal Entry properly, we need to grasp the fact that the Cleansing of the Temple was the culmination of that Triumphal Entry. Everything that happened that day was all of a piece. Reading it with the flow of the entire story in mind, it should remind us of the conclusion of The Odyssey, where the entire build up is leaning into the justice that Odysseus will bring to his house. It is a fitting and satisfying conclusion.

If we understand the Triumphal Entry, we will see that the Temple cleansing was inevitable.

The Text

“And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there” (Matthew 21:12–17).

Summary of the Text

A portion of the crowd accompanying Jesus in the first part of the procession continued with Him into the Temple (v. 12). When He got there, He threw out all the merchants, flipped over the tables of the money changers, and the chairs or benches of those selling doves (v. 12). He said to them that God’s house was to be a house of prayer, but they had turned it into a thieves’ kitchen (v. 13)—quoting Jer. 7:11. In the middle of that mayhem, the blind and lame came to Him, and He healed them (v. 14). The chief priests and scribes saw that He was doing wonderful things (v. 15), and had real trouble with it. They also saw a bunch of kids there in the Temple crying out “Hosanna to the Son of David,” and were really unhappy about that (v. 15). They said to Jesus, “Can’t you hear them?” Jesus asks if they had never read Psalm 8:2—God perfected praise in the mouths of babes and sucklings (v. 16). And so Jesus then left and went back to Bethany, a few miles away, and spent the night there (v. 17).

We get a few extra details in the other gospels. Jesus also prevented anyone from carrying any vessels through the Temple grounds (Mark 11:16). In Mark, an extra phrase is included—my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations (Mark 11:17). And also we learn that the chief priests and scribes were afraid of Him, and were trying to figure out how to destroy Him (Mark 11:18). Luke adds the detail that Jesus taught in the Temple daily during Passion week, and that the people were very attentive to His words (Luke 19:47-48).

This Was the Second Time

The apostle John describes a cleansing of the Temple right at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry (John 2:13-22). Some take this as John putting the episode in there to emphasize a theological point (which remains obscure), which is not that convincing. So the most natural reading is that Jesus cleansed the Temple twice, with three years in between the two episodes. In the John cleansing, Jesus makes a whip from cords (John 2:15), and He also prophesies His resurrection from the dead (John 2:19).

In the Old Testament, God tells the people what to do when a house is infected with a “leprous plague” (Lev. 14:33-53). The house was emptied and the priest comes to inspect it. If it is spreading, the affected spot is removed. After that, if the plague comes back again, the house is completely demolished—not one stone left on another (Lev. 14:45; Matt. 24:2). That is what we are seeing here. The first cleansing was accomplished, but when Jesus comes back to inspect the House three years later, it is time to pronounce judgment.

The Layout

Remember that the Temple complex covered about thirty acres, with most of that being the courtyard called The Court of the Gentiles. That place, reserved for Gentiles, was filled up with sacrificial animals, representing the Jews. Remember Peter’s vision of the lowered sheet—unclean animals represented the Gentiles. And Jesus says “my house shall be called a house of prayer for the ethnoi—Gentiles. But you have squeezed them out with your impudent thieveries.

Jesus did not just flip over a table or two—thirty acres, remember. This was a genuine scene, and quite the glorious pandemonium. A whip cracking, animals scattering, merchants on all fours picking up coins, children singing, a healing service going on—with resultant praise—and Jesus teaching an attentive crowd. The proprietors of the establishment were just glaring at all the wonderful things that were happening. But they did not view them as wonderful things because they were afflicted with a judicial stupor.

Isaiah saw “his glory.” Whose glory was that? John is clearly indicating that Isaiah saw the glory of Christ and that he spoke of Christ. He, seven centuries in the past, saw Christ clearly, just as Abraham had seen the day of Christ and rejoiced over it (John 8:56). But not only did Isaiah see Christ, he also saw the chief priests and scribes standing right in front of their Messiah, blinking stupidly, not getting it.

But lest we fall into a trap, muttering “stupid scribes” to ourselves, ask yourself this. Have you closed with Christ? Do you see Him? He is here, in the breaking of bread, and in the eating and drinking. He is here in the preaching, and by faith He is here in the hearing. The Word is near you, in your heart and in your mouth. What word is that? Always and forever, it is the Word of faith that we preach (Rom. 10:8).