Matthew 21:12-17
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. He said to them, “It is written, ‘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 in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonders he performed and heard the children calling out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant. They said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus told them, “Have you never read, From the lips of little children and nursing babies you have prepared praise?” He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
Dear Lord Jesus,
All these recorded events occurred on the Monday of Holy Week, with only four days left until you would give up your life for the final defeat of sin, death, and the devil. You were filled with love for your Father’s house and concern for those who needed to be healed. You made the temple a place of healing and not a marketplace. The children knew, but the adults were indignant. Lord, please give me the heart of a small child through which I will always sing your praise. Hosannah to the Son of David. (Hosannah means, please save us.)
This amazes me because you knew all that was about to happen to you, but you still served others. Clearing out the merchants from the Gentile court, so the gentiles could worship without interruption. Then the restoring of the sick, before your ultimate healing of sin. I love how you always ask those who supposedly knew the Scriptures so well, and you would ask them, “have you never read?”.
Help me read your word so that it penetrates into my heart, and I have healing that only comes from you—the curing of my sinful nature. With that, the full assurance of everlasting life. Amen.
Vicar Roger Emmons
May we all be instilled with an immense love for God and his house because Jesus answered the little children’s prayer, Hosannah—please save us.