Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise

Triumphal Entry, the children welcome Christ with praise.  Medieval Syriac Illuminated Manuscript

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and 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 babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise'?"

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

- Matthew 21:12-22

On Saturday we read that when Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then He sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose then and bring them to me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "  So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"  So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals to be used in sacrifices for the Passover.  The money changers would exchange Roman coins for Jewish ones, as Roman coins (with the image of Caesar upon them) were considered to be defiling to the temple.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.  My study bible comments that this cleansing of the temple -- an authoritative act by Christ (or Messiah) -- points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), this is a sign also that our hearts and minds should be cleansed of earthly matters, in the sense that we guard our hearts for the reception of our faith.  Let us note how cleansing and healing go hand in hand in this passage. 

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and 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 babes and nursing infants / You have perfected praise'?"  Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  My study bible quotes from Orthodox Vespers of Palm Sunday:  "Keep the feast with the children, and holding branches in your hands, sing 'Hosanna.'"  Many hymns which commemorate this day emphasize the perfect praise of the children in the temple, my study bible says.  In contrast to that of the adults, theirs was innocent, fitting, unashamed, and from hearts of pure love.  We are called to glorify Christ in the same spirit, it adds (see 18:1-4).  By contrast, the praise of the adults carried earthly expectations and agendas, such as the desire for a worldly messiah who would make Israel a great conquering and military kingdom.  When were unfulfilled, the crowds would rebel against Jesus just five days later (27:20-23).

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.   My study bible says that the fig tree is a symbol of prosperity and peace.  But in this story, the tree withers because it is fruitless.  This is a prophetic act directed toward the people, it says, as after three years of preaching, teaching, and healing by Christ, both the leaders and the crowds are destitute of spiritual fruit.  Jesus curses the tree also to warn those in every generation of the fruitlessness of those who do not heed His gospel message.

And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  My study bible says that while it is not recorded that an apostles literally moved a mountain, in the patristic tradition it is clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen.  There are stories of saints who made crevices appear in mountains in order to hide from pursuers.  Moreover, it says, not all the things the apostles accomplished were written down.  More than the mere literal meaning here, this is a vivid promise of the power of faith and prayer in all areas of life.  Theophan comments:  "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.

Recently in a bible study class, I commented to the others that the mountains I have had to move in my life were all within myself.  That is, those were the mountains that Christ moved -- the mountains moved with God's help, for with God all things are possible.  I was speaking about the many mountains I found within myself that I had no idea were there in the first place.  These were mountains encountered in the work of forgiveness, and they were mountains like anger that even I had no idea was deep inside of me, resentment, sadness, defeat, despair, and any number of difficult things necessary to confront on the road to healing in Christ's way for me.  These are mountains because when they are deeply-rooted, when they arise from circumstances beyond one's control -- and especially where others are not responsive to problems they've created in one's life -- they are not remedied through any external form.  The route through faith in Christ is a route through forgiveness, and that can be a very tough row to hoe, as the old saying goes.  It is often seemingly impossible to cope with the things we find are actually within us, as healing can't come from remedying a situation from outside.  Christ's healing comes through our work with Him, work in prayer, work through the action of the Holy Spirit within us, work through the help of the saints and all those in the Church with whom we pray, help through worship services, and especially through the Scriptures -- most notably the Gospels.  Help comes with insistence that we must take a good look at what is inside and start to grapple with it.  Jesus cleanses the temple in today's reading, an act that belongs only to the Christ, or the Messiah (both words mean "Anointed One").  It is for this reason that the religious leaders will continue to insist that He prove to them His authority to do so, and for this reason He will also be sent to His death:  because they cannot accept that He is Son.  But it is precisely for this reason that He has authority within us, in our hearts and in our souls, and for this reason He is the One who can help to heal and cleanse what is within us as well.  It is with His help that we can become healed, and because of Him we can begin to negotiate the difficult road of forgiveness of those who've harmed or hurt us, taking something away that was precious and cannot be regained through worldly means.  Perhaps it is in this context we might read about the perfect praise of the children, for children are so often the ones who are harmed or hurt with a lasting infliction of something unfair or unjust.  We might take that praise and allow it to shape us, as what we need as adults to remedy circumstances beyond our repair and beyond the reach of any hope of change.  Childhood hurts may come to haunt us later in life, long after we can come to terms with that reckoning.  Patterns of behavior take root in childhood -- and it is only much, much later we can come to see the damage they do through time and repetition, and our own need for change and transformation and healing.  And so, in that knowledge, we come to terms with our deep need for Christ, the One with the authority to cleanse and to heal.  It is through the act of forgiveness (as in "forgive us our debts or trespasses" as we forgive others).  In Christ's prescription for our lives, these two acts of forgiveness go hand in hand and are inseparable, as is the practice of mercy when we ask for mercy.  We are met with a quandary:  is it only our needs that must be met to be forgiven, or must we also seek to forgive?  But in that act, we might find there are mountains that need moving within us, and a constant stream of things we'd rather not face and maybe have put off for decades of life when it was easier not to think about them or be aware of them.  Such is the range of mountains I have found in myself, moveable only with God's help, because graspable only through the mercy and love of Christ and of the saints (and especially His mother, Mary, as so many others before me have found).  Let us consider for today, in a world in which seemingly only the external changes we can make are being addressed by popular movements, the idea that we do not live in a perfect world.  It is the rare person indeed who has led a perfect life, with perfect parents and childhood, with perfect justice and perfect experience.  No, we do not live in such a world -- and the greatest and most perfect among us was subject to the worst injustice.  We live in a world where we really do need to move those mountains, for they are within us, and we will encounter them when we truly seek His healing and His love and work in ourselves.  We will find them when we seek His blessing and praise, and to truly follow the Gospel.  We may go to the place where we were as children inside of us, and perfect our praise.  Let us remember His promise for our faith.