Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them

 

 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 Jesus 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 them 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.'"  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals which would be used for the Passover sacrifices.  The money changers would trade Roman coins for Jewish coins, as Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (an object of worship as a god) and so were considered to be defiling in the temple.  The cleansing of the temple, my study Bible comments, also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  Jesus' cry against the corruption in the temple is compiled from the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah (Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11).  

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.  An Orthodox Vespers hymn for Palm Sunday declares, "Keep the feast with the children, and holding branches in your hands, sing 'Hosanna.'"  My study Bible notes that there are many liturgical hymns for this day which emphasize the perfect praise of the children, which unlike that of the adults, was innocent, fitting, unashamed, and from hearts of pure love.  So we, it continues, are called to glorify Christ in this same spirit (see Matthew 18:1-4).  But in contrast to the children, the adults' praise carried earthly expectations and agendas which, when left unfulfilled, led them to rebel against Jesus just five days later (Matthew 27:20-23).  Jesus quotes from Psalm 8:2 (Septuagint version, as is true of all Scripture quotations in the New Testament). 

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 comments that the fig tree is a symbol of prosperity and peace, but it is withered because it is fruitless.  This is a prophetic act, it says, directed toward the Jews, since after three years of Christ's preaching, teaching, and healing, both the leaders and the crowds were destitute of spiritual fruit.  He curses the tree also to warn those in every generation of what will befall anyone who fails to listen to His message.  So, the warning in the image of the withered fig tree not only applies to people of His time, but to all of us who come afterward.

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 notes that while it is not recorded that an apostle literally moved a mountain, patristic opinion is clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen.  There are stories of certain saints that made crevices appear in mountains.  Moreover, not everything done by the apostles was written down.  Beyond the literal meaning fo the text, this promise remains an illustration of the power of faith and prayer in all areas of one's life.  Theophan comments, "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.

 

It's interesting to note also that immediately after cleansing the temple, Jesus begins to heal.  The text says that the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  That the blind and the lame come to Him for healing echo the prophesies of the time of the Messiah (see, for example, Isaiah 35:5-6).   So, in time in the temple which immediately follows Christ's Triumphal Entry (see Saturday's reading, above), there are two major actions performed by Christ in the temple.   First He casts out what needs to be cast out, and then He heals.  These seem to me to be clear actions of Christ as Physician to our bodies, souls, and spirits (Matthew 9:12).  He casts out (as does a skillful surgeon) that which causes harm and damage, and then He proceeds to heal what needs healing.  This seems to be the whole thrust of the Christian life, the action of the Spirit in our lives, but maybe most emphatically, the action of Christ's love in our lives.  It might be hard, at times, to reconcile the Christ to whom we pray and whom we understand as loving and generous, with the Christ who "takes away."  As happens so frequently in the Gospels with the disciples, there are times when we are separated even from things we think we need and love for our own good.  Jesus' direction to the rich young ruler to sell what he has and give to the poor comes to mind; see this reading.  But there are many times when it is the disciples themselves who are on the receiving end of admonitions to do away even with personal impulses and desires that seem natural but are in fact problematic and selfish, and will lead to problems (see, for example, this reading and the interaction with the mother of Zebedee's sons, the disciples John and James).  There are all kinds of ways in which we might be separated from what we think we need and love, due to the action of God in our lives.  But, in point of fact, our faith -- and all actions of healing in Christ -- is based in love.  Everything comes down to a question of what is a greater love, a higher love, a deeper love which comes from God.  Certainly there were practices in the temple which were considered to be corrupt.  We can read repeatedly Jesus' condemnation of the leadership and their hypocrisy, which will be explicitly stated in Matthew's Gospel (chapter 23).  And, of course, by Christ's time we can consider this an Old Testament tradition, as it was the purview of the prophets who came before Christ, and the long history of the good and honest prophets put to death for their truthful prophesy to the powerful (see especially Matthew 23:31-36).  What we so often seem to treasure (such as the wealth and position of the rulers in the temple) is not necessarily what's best for us as human beings, and this can include the company we keep, people whom we think we love, and all manner of things we believe are nominally good.   But the true gravity of all of creation lies in the heart of Jesus Christ, where we find the center of the universe, the perfection of love -- for God is love.  That is, love is the true gravity of all things, for God is love (1 John 4:8).  And so, the real pull of all things toward God is the pull of love -- that is, of this higher love that teaches us what is better, leads us to cast out what is not from that love, and to heal what has been hurt and damaged and what truly ails us.  This is the reality of God who spoke through the voices of the prophets and who is Incarnate in Jesus Christ.  It is a higher and more powerful love that will call us out of our complacency with what we find around us, images of a fake love that promises us wealth by virtue of a little selfishness here and there, harm to this or that person, cruelty and lack of love in our dealings with one another.  It is a false promise of virtue through image alone in the eyes of others ("the praise of men" John's Gospel call it in this passage).  There are a million and one images we're given of what is virtuous or great, what is a good life or not, what things we should strive after, a million picture postcards of our lives that we can share like snapshots of perfection, but which function as empty images, without discernment, and without that compelling love of God that draws us forward and asks us to re-evaluate, and to find the treasures that neither moth nor rust nor thief can take away (Matthew 6:19-21).  If we really want to know what drives the saints, as what drove the prophets before Christ, as well as the apostles who left all behind to preach the His gospel, it is love -- a powerful, deep love that was no doubt felt in the presence of Jesus Christ, for He is that center that draws us.  His love is the spiritual gravity that draws us to God before all things, and before which all other partial or false loves pale and wither like that fig tree.  For He is the One who shows us the way, and even a rebuke from Christ is made in the power of the greatest love (Revelation 3:19).