This morning, we are going to be in Matthew chapter 21, verses 10 through 17. I guess I need to turn my microphone on. Yes, okay. So we'll be in Matthew chapter one, verses 10 through 17. The last time we were in Matthew, it was Palm Sunday. And we were all blessed to look at that triumphal entry into Jerusalem. When the crowds that had been following him in the regions of Galilee and alike, they entered the city with him, there was great pomp and circumstance, and the people of Jerusalem, as Bruce pointed out in his sermon, they started to join in, in one sense, the mob effect. But the day in the life of Jesus, that first Palm Sunday, doesn't end there. The verses we're in today actually show us the second half of that day. So today we will be back in the Gospel of Matthew, looking at those remaining hours. With that, let us begin reading Matthew chapter 21, beginning in verse 10. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, who is this? The crowds answered, this is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. 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. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did, and the children shouting in the temple area, Hosanna to the son of David, they were indignant. Do you hear what these children are saying? They asked him. Yes, Jesus replied. Have you never read From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise. And then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany where he spent the night. Let us pray. Good Father, we ask that you bless the preaching of your word this morning, that through the word the power of the Holy Spirit might testify more to our hearts about the glory and beauty of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Yesterday we had 15 soldiers here at Old Goshenhoppen along with their commanding officer. 15 individuals who have been trained to shoot if necessary and would be willing to lay down their lives to defend one another, to defend our nation. And we respect that willingness of our military men and women to defend us in such a way. We honor that. We prize that. And yet the soldiers yesterday were not here to defend the property, but they were here to help old Goshenhoppen prepare to become a food distribution center. They were here not to carry weapons, but to help in carrying a box of food so that we might be sharing this food with the community. We appreciate both realities of those in uniform, that if need be, they are ready and willing to fight for us. But also, if duty asks them to provide a more tender service, they are willing to answer that call as well. In our passage today, Jesus is gonna show us two different dimensions of who he is. how he is both willing to fight for us and for this world, and also how he is also willing to bring it to peace. Actually, they both come together to work together. And our temptation is gonna be to love one side of him more than the other. And yet my hope is by the end of this sermon, you're gonna have a better idea, not only of why Jesus does what he does in this passage, but what his actions help show us. I wanna begin talking about Jesus's entry into Jerusalem by reminding you all of the first time the area of Jerusalem is mentioned with all certainty in the story of the Bible. It is when Abraham took his son up Mount Moriah. Abraham was taking Isaac up there because God had asked Abraham to sacrifice his son upon the mountain. And yet at that time, the land of Jerusalem was not yet called Jerusalem, it was just called Salem. And for that son, Isaac, he didn't know the full details of why his father was taking him into that region of Salem. And so Isaac kept asking his dad a question. Dad, we're headed up this mountain in order to offer a sacrifice, but where is that sacrifice? And what did Abraham in Genesis chapter 22 keep saying to his son? in the land of Salem, he kept saying, God will provide, which in Hebrew is the word jeru. Jeru means God will provide. And of course, Abraham gets to the point where he's ready to offer up his son as the sacrifice, even though he was the son in whom he loved the very best that he had to offer God. And what did God do in that moment? God stopped it. God did not lay a hand on the boy. And then God gave Abraham a ram to sacrifice and worship instead. Well, as we now have reached the final week of Jesus' mortal life in the Gospel of Matthew, the Father is preparing to remove the need for sacrificial animals. the heavenly father that is, by preparing his son as a once and for all sacrifice for our sins. This final week of Jesus' mortal life is really in one sense the story of the new and better Abraham and Isaac, a heavenly father and his son Jesus, preparing the offering that will finally answer on the mountain the question, that Isaac had asked his father, who will become the sacrificial offering that will be pleasing to God? And the answer will be Jesus. Yet Matthew lets us know that while Jesus is entering Jerusalem in verse 10, the people of Jerusalem are none the wiser of who Jesus is going to be. Rather, Matthew lets us know that the people of Jerusalem are asking the question, who is this guy? And in order to answer that question, the first place Jesus goes is to that temple, that place that was built on the ground where Abraham had brought his son Isaac up. And Jesus is going to show everyone who he is at the temple this morning. The holiest building on the face of the earth for Jews. And the temple is still greatly revered by Jews. While not a stone of the original temple still stands, a perimeter wall of it remains in Jerusalem in our day. And it's the most sacred place that you can go in order to pray. It would almost be as if old Goshenhoppen got burned down, but we had a white picket perimeter fence to the west of us that still stood. And while nobody rebuilt the church, it would still come to the white picket fence. That's a little bit like how much the Jews valued that structure, that temple that Jesus is arriving at today. And so how will Jesus approach this most loved building? If we didn't know this passage well, we think that Jesus would enter such a sacred place with solemn reverence. But that is not how Jesus is gonna enter. Now the first thing he does is to begin to drive people out of the space and overturn the tables of money changers. You have that popular Christian question of what would Jesus do? And the sarcastic way to answer that, of course, when someone asks it, is to remind them that flipping over tables and driving people out with a whip is not out of the realm of possibilities of what Jesus would do. We often don't like to think of Jesus as the warrior, as the soldier, the force who is armed to defend what is his, but it's still a part of who he is. You can answer the question that is on Jerusalem's mind. I mean, you can't answer the question. on Jerusalem's mind in Matthew's text at this moment. Who is this guy without being honest about how Jesus is willing to fight his enemies? You know, I love the honesty of children. They just, they don't have those same filters that we learn to develop later in life, most of us at least. I was recently teaching some children in the homeschool group my family is a part of. And in the lesson I was giving, I was mentioning how Jesus never sinned. And one of the boys listening to the lesson shot up his hand and said, Pastor Park, that isn't true. Jesus sinned. And I said, Jesus sinned? And he said, yes. And I asked the boy, I said, where, when did Jesus sin? And the boy mentioned this moment of Jesus driving people out of the temple and flipping over tables. So many Christians quietly ask this same kind of question when they come to this passage. Are you asking the very same thing at this moment? Is Jesus sitting here? I'm gonna give you the answer I gave the boy when he asked me. While I was teaching the lesson, I found myself next to a big can of paint. And so I told the boy, imagine if I took this can of paint and I went outside, took out the lid and threw it on the paint onto your mother's minivan. Would that be a sin? And he was like astonished with this example. Like, how did this pastor come up with this terrible scenario? He goes, absolutely, that would be a sin. And I said, okay, I agree with you. He was an astute boy. I agree 100%. It would be sinful. He's a sharp kid. I then asked him, okay, now, imagine I grab that same can of paint. I run out to the parking lot, and yet again, I throw the can of paint. And yet this time, I take that can of paint and I throw it on my own truck. Would that be sinful? And that was a little harder for him to answer because he understood the truck was owned by me. It might be foolish, but the truck is mine. Obviously not in the greatest sense. It's a gift God has given me, but you know, if I want to be a fool and throw a can of paint on it, no, he didn't have as easy of an answer. And so we must ask the question at this moment, who owned the temple? It was God's temple, of course. It was not owned by a family. It was not owned by a collection of families. It was not even owned by the Jewish nation. It was owned by God. And because it was owned by God, God had every right to harshly judge what went on in there. But this principle even goes further than the former Jewish temple. Do you remember the first song we sang as we began worship? We sang, this is my father's world. That is a song all about recognizing that no matter where we go in this world, we find a God who is set over it. If you believe the song we sang together, that this is God's world, then much like Jesus in the temple, you're actually saying God has the right to judge what goes on through the entire world as well. There is not a single molecule in the universe that God does not have ownership of, and that one day he will not set right. But in order to do that, he will have to do two things. He will remove and push out some things, that have come to exist in his creation that he does not want in his world, like sin and death, and others he will help purify and heal, like those who are his faithful followers. And once we respect that fact, when it comes to the temple, when it comes to the world, when it comes to the universe, that it is not us who are final owners of it or custodians of it, but his, he is the final owner, then this passage becomes easier to understand. The temple was God's property. The temple was God's land. And yet the Jews had come up with clever schemes to profit off people coming to it. That sounds like a terrible sin, doesn't it? Using churches as money-making endeavors rather than places of worship. And Jesus will have none of it. It isn't the Jewish people's temple. It is God's temple, and access to God is not for sale. Access to forgiveness cannot be bought and sold like commodity. And if you think that is just a problem in Jesus's day, it is just as much a problem in our own. Have you ever, for instance, tried to visit a famous or historic church and been billed for it? If you've been to Europe, you almost certainly have, or certain places in North America. And what a shame that is to see, because if they really were a house of the Lord, you would think instead of a ticket booth, instead of a teller with a cash machine, they'd have a pastor or a priest to share the good news, to welcome them in, to invite them in, to pray, to worship. Oh, how I love the occasional visitor of Old Goshenhoppen who will knock on the side door of the church and come and want to know more about the property. I love to tell him the history of the church while walking him around. I usually take him into the Gemeinhaus. But more importantly, I love how it never fails that I get an opportunity to share the saving gospel of Jesus Christ with him. And yet the most crucial place of worship in the ancient world at this time cared more about the bottom line and the ways to drive up the revenues rather than having it be, at the end of the day, a house of prayer and a place of worship. Jesus says of such people, they are no better than a den of robbers. Oh, how ugly it is when churches are more concerned about money than ministry. Whenever such wicked religion is found, it's time to overturn tables and to reform. When the building, when the budgets become more important than the one who the building was built to proclaim, that is a moment we need to boldly set things right once more. It is then we need to ask, what would Jesus do? And remember, Jesus does not keep peace at all costs. He is willing to fight if the situation warrants it. And so, as we look at this moment in the Gospel of Matthew, we see Jesus, the brave soldier, defending the place where his father is worshiped, defending his father's house, and desiring to set it right. And then in verse 14, we see the other side of Jesus. Just like how yesterday we saw the other side of American soldiers out in the pavilion. The Jesus of verse 14 is the one who the blind and lame can come to in the temple. And they are not driven out or condemned. No, they are healed. What a remarkable passage this is because it entirely answers the question of verse 10. Who is Jesus? The answer is twofold. He is, on one hand, the judge who will bring punishment down upon those who do not take God seriously and live in a way that, practically speaking, makes a mockery of God, who have made worship of God a transaction where you pay this much into it and you'll get that much back. We're all tempted to live that way. We're all tempted to live that way when we look at our own works for salvation and satisfaction. When we look at ourselves and pretend that we can buy our way into the holiest of holy places in the life to come through our works, through our deeds, and with our actions. In those moments of forgetful blindness, we are falling into a wicked religion that uses the things of God as a means to an end, rather than finding in God an end to trying to buy, earn, and merit forgiveness. That kind of individual, the one trying to placate God with hollow and ritualistic religion, Jesus drives off in judgment. While the other hand, the one with no ability to heal themselves, the blind, the lame, those crippled by their bodies, those individuals who come to Jesus in the temple empty-handed, impoverished by life, destitute, and say to Jesus, I know I have nothing, but I am here coming to you prayerfully in faith, and I want to worship in your presence. Those kinds of people God makes whole. Those kinds of people Jesus saves. Those kinds of people are the kinds of people God showers his love upon. Don't make the mistake of coming to Jesus trying to buy access to God through what you do. He is liable to drive such people out of his presence. No, rather come prayerfully to our God, blind and broken, and watch him give you eyes to see, ears to hear, and a faith, hope, and love that can never be taken from you because its security is found in heaven on high, on its throne. Do not make the mistake of trying to buy your way into heaven through any scheme of man. No, rather receive our Lord freely and have your faith fall upon his sufficiency, the sufficiency of the son who was sacrificed. Then in verse 15, as Jesus begins to heal the blind and the broken and give them new life in him, we read how those Jesus saves, they begin to sing out worship to him. Hosanna, they cry. The day began, as Bruce covered in Palm Sunday, with that same word of praise. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna, as he rode the donkey. And the day drew to a close in Jerusalem yet again with shouts of Hosanna being made. And the chief priest and the scribes, those most responsible for allowing the temple to become such a sham house of prayer and worship, they were outraged by what this crowd was saying about Jesus. Because Jesus was receiving worship in the Jewish temple as if he is God. Oh, the nerve of him, they thought. Not only does he stop our revenue streams, but now he's pretending to be God. They come up to Jesus in their frustration and they ask, do you hear what they're saying? Aren't you going to stop them? They're calling you God, Jesus. They're implying that you're the sacrificial son who was promised, that you're the one who's going to save them all. And Jesus looks at the supposed learned group of biblical scholars and he cuts to the chase saying, yeah, I hear exactly what they're saying. And then he asks them a question in return, which they would have most certainly found insulting because he never would have gotten to the position if they didn't have just a amazing memory when it comes to scripture. Jesus says, have you never read the first half of Psalm 8 verse 2? which they all would have had memorized being in that position. They all would have known that verse well. And Jesus then says the first half of that Psalm's verse, what is Jesus doing here? Jesus is actually in that moment, let me read that verse for you, when he says, from the lips of children and infants who have ordained praise, what he's actually doing there in that moment would be like me saying, born down in a dead man's town, the first kick I, and I just stopped. And you'd be saying, no, no, no, Kevin. If you're gonna start the first verse of Born in the USA, you might as well finish it, Kevin. Which goes, born down in a dead man's town. The first kick I took was when I hit the ground. That's, I'm so sorry for all of you guys listening. But, Jesus didn't quote the second half of this psalm's verse. He stops. And he does it intentionally. And they would have known he did it. Because the second half of this psalm's verse explains why the children and infants were called to praise Jesus in this moment like this. As it explains in the psalm, it was in order to silence God's enemies, his foes and avengers. So Jesus says to the chief priest, You wanna know why my children praise me like this? In order to make enemies like you look foolish. And that answers the question of who Jesus is for us this morning. Jesus is the one who loves to hear the praise, the prayers, and the worship of his children. And he tenderly heals them. when they come to him in their weakness. But also Jesus is the one who will not apologize for beating back his enemies. And then Jesus left the temple, and not just the temple, but Jesus left Jerusalem, as the bulletin shows, heading directly east of the temple. And the city where the father will provide his son as an offering of peace, And Jesus, instead of sleeping in Jerusalem, slept in Bethany. And this final verse is a tough one for us to pick up on, but I assure you every ancient Jewish reader in the time Matthew wrote this gospel knew the significance of Jesus sleeping in Bethany after he had visited the temple. You see, the temple Jesus was at on that day was not the first temple the Jews ever built. It was the second temple. Why does Matthew care to tell us Jesus sleeps east of the city, outside of Jerusalem? Well, you see, for there to be a second temple again, it means there was a first temple, Solomon's temple. And one of the saddest chapters in all the Old Testament for the Jews is Ezekiel chapter 10. That's the chapter of the Bible that while few Christians know it, if you went into a Jewish synagogue, they know that chapter. It's important to them. You see, Ezekiel chapter 10 talks about a moment when God in the first temple, his spiritual presence, his glory cloud, abandons the temple right before Babylon destroys it and heads east. It was a moment when God was disgusted with a great many of his people and how they were living and how they had abandoned not just the temple and how God then in response abandons not just the temple but Jerusalem. And yet even that still shows his mercy because later on in the book of Ezekiel, he makes clear to his prophet that even as Jerusalem fell, for those who were his, his angels protected them in that moment. The glory cloud of God went east. And once God's glory cloud is recorded to go east in Ezekiel chapter 10, verse 18, there is no passage in the Old Testament, no moment in the Hebrew scriptures of God's presence, God's spirit, God's glory coming back in from the east into the second temple until our passage today. on the first Palm Sunday, nearly 2,000 years ago. Jesus came into the temple from the east, but now as night is about to fall, the presence of God continues to find a great many people who reject him. And so the presence of God in Jesus leaves the temple yet again to the east. God had returned to the temple, And yet most were blind to see it and thought too well of their rituals and religious practices to bother giving him the honor he is due. Do you see now why the father and son will need to provide the sacrifice upon the mountain to forgive us of our sins? All of us have spiritual blindness within us. We all fail to see and honor Jesus, even when his glory is in our very midst. So blind and broken sinner, come to him this morning in prayer and worship. Come to him confessing that you need eyes that better look upon him more clearly, and ears that hear and understand his word more distinctly. In such spirit-filled prayers, you will find a God not of wrath and judgment. No, rather, you will find the sacrificial Son, who gave up his life for your sake so that you might live with him forever. Amen? Let us pray. Good and gracious Father, how we look at this day and how it closed in scripture, how your Son came to the temple, how your perfect presence came to the temple, and the people fail to recognize it. How many times do you come to us and we fail to recognize you? We fail to see you. We're spiritually blind to do so. We're looking so inwardly at ourselves that we cannot see the outward beauty of you in our midst. Forgive us, Lord, for our blindness. Forgive us, Lord, for the fact that we are a broken people. Let us be found to be more prayerful in your midst, to offer true worship in your midst, to not try to buy salvation from you as if it's something traded on the stock market, earned by what we do, but help us, those crippled by sin, to just trust in the fact. that you, Father, offered the Son, who was the perfect sacrifice upon the mountain, for our sake. Amen.