If at this time you would turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21 and we will read together from verse 12 through verse 17. Matthew 21, 12 through 17. This is the holy, infallible, and inspired word of God. 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 that 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, replied Jesus. Have you never read from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise? And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night. Here is the reading of God's Word. Now today, as many of you are aware of, is Palm Sunday. That day that we traditionally celebrate Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the Donkian as He is received by the praises of the people in Jerusalem. Well, the event in our text takes place traditionally on the morning after. That is, this takes place on Monday morning. Now, just as a runner who is running his last lap in a race and is nearing the finish line, so Jesus, as it were, is winding up his race on earth and is nearing the finish line of his life and the task which he has come here to do. And this means that there are certain changes. Whereas before, he made a point to conceal and to keep secret his messianic identity. Well, at this time, no longer. He was now ready to reveal his messianic dignity and the nature of his kingdom to the people at Jerusalem. Now, you will remember even the Apostle Peter earlier when he made that confession of Christ as the Son of the living God, that he was instructed not to tell anyone. But in our text the Thursday prior, as Jesus was leaving Jericho, ascending with a multitude to Jerusalem, he was approached by two blind men who were crying out, Have mercy on us, Son of David! And, of course, He brought them near to Himself. And He healed them of their blindness. And instead of forbidding them to reveal to people who He was, He included them in the multitude of those who were ascending with Him to Jerusalem. And also the day before in our text, on Palm Sunday, Jesus was received as the messianic king of Israel as he rode in Jerusalem on the cult. And this, of course, as you well know, is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9.9, which speaks of Israel's messianic king, which would come to her and would issue in peace and redemption. But you see, the rest of his acts that week would be decidedly less popular. You see, what began with the acclamation Hosanna, which was a Hebrew expression meaning save, and quoting Psalm 118, which we just read, which says, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. This week would end with shouts of, Crucify him and take him away. Now, Jesus, the next morning, comes into the temple and he cleans it out. He cleanses the temple from the impurity that he sees there. Now, we're familiar with the phrase, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Well, this morning what we find this text is about is the poor, the lame, and the young. and the love that Jesus Christ has towards them as God's children. And what we will be looking at in this text this morning is that we will be looking at the people of God who are lowly esteemed in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of the religious establishments are highly esteemed in the eyes of God. And as such, Jesus shows God's love to them as God's children. And He teaches us to do likewise. But more than this, He is providing us with His actions, His demonstration of love and kindness, providing us with an illustration of the nature of redemption. That it goes forth to those who are poor, who are lame, and who are childlike. And we will be looking at these three points in order this morning. So first then, we will see that this is true in the way that Jesus is upset with the exploitation of the poor. Now when Jesus went to the temple that morning, what did he find? Well, the text found that he found merchandising. And we gather from the text, from his reaction, that this merchandising of religion is directly antithetical to the proper spirit of worship. You see, and so Jesus, we are told from the other accounts, Jesus, meek and mild, forms a whip made out of cords. And he drives out the money changers and the merchandisers from the temple. He goes in there and he overturns the tables and he spills the tables of those selling doves and the money changers with their boxes filled with coinage that he spills over and the money scatters across the floor and he responds to them. this is to be a house of prayer, but you have made it into a robber's den. Now, I'm sure many of you remember when you are young and you read this text for the first time. Perhaps you learned about it in Sunday school. Or for those who have come to Christianity later in life, reading this text and being rather astonished. After all, this is the only action recorded of Christ's life which can properly be called violent. A violent action done by Jesus whom many of us rightly regard as being pacifist. Jesus, His life being characterized by a pacifism. Here He is not passive at all. He is very active. And many people think that this is rather out of character. Perhaps Jesus lost His temper. He lost control. of his emotions, and he was carried away with rage. We are reminded by the Apostle John that the disciples recalled the words of Psalm 69, 9, which says, Zeal for your house will consume me. You see, this isn't just some anger of Jesus. This isn't him losing his temper. You see, this is a very calculated action on his part. And in fact, it demonstrates his love which he has for the people. The love that he has towards God. The love that he has, the zeal that he has for the purity of the worship of God's people. And so, we see that He does not sit apathetically by. That He does not tolerate the transformation of God's temple into a market, into a marketplace. Now, very well, this is all quite simple to see. But as we examine this text and consider it this morning, we might ask ourselves, well, what is the nature of this marketing? What is it about the marketing that was taking place in the temple that made Jesus Christ so upset? What drove him to these extreme actions? Well, we know from the Old Testament, for instance, that those who were visiting to the feast, whether they were just not residents in Jerusalem or whether they were Gentiles and foreigners, that they were to purchase their sacrifice in Jerusalem. Now, God did this presumably so that he wouldn't burden these people. So that they would be able to go to the sacrifice, not dragging along with them the animal that they were to give up. But instead, they may bring a little purse of money. But we also read that there are the sellers of animals, but there are also money changers. But again, we see in the Old Testament that they are to purchase the animal with the shekel of the sanctuary. And so just as in Europe the euro dollar is recently being introduced as a common currency which will unite all the various countries, so also in the regions of Israel. There is no common currency. And most people at that time used the Roman coinage. And even the district of Galilee, Galilee of the Gentiles, had their own currency, which they had. And so it had to be brought to Jerusalem and be transformed into what was then closest, the coinage that was closest to the shekel of the sanctuary. But one thing we gather why Jesus is upset is that the problem is that this selling was taking place in the actual temple area itself. It was set up in the lower courts where those who were Gentile, especially the Gentiles, were to worship. And so we gather that this market was an impediment to their worship. That it stood in the way and stood as an obstacle to their being brought into the kingdom. But even more, I believe, we see in Matthew that there is exploitation of the poor that is going on in the name of religion. You see, the assumption is that the money changers and the merchandisers here are turning more than a fair profit in the guise of religious law and so serves as a determent. In all these accounts, in all the gospel accounts, it is mentioned that Jesus overturns the tables of those selling doves. And again, if you will remember from Old Testament law That this was a special provision that God had established for those who were poor. For those who were too poor to purchase sheep instead can purchase a dove for their sacrifice, which is considerably less money. And we see that it is generally the poor who suffer most from this sort of exploitation, from this sort of financial gain which we see going on here. And throughout Scripture we notice that God demonstrates a special concern for the poor. In the Old Testament, God had laws which prevented usury. That is, the rich charging excessive interest on behalf of the poor. We also see the tithe that Israel was to give to the Levites. The Levites, in turn, administered this tenth to the widows and to the orphans. But not to them alone, but also to the strangers, to the foreigners who had joined themselves to Israel, who have become citizens of this kingdom and who are yet undergoing the process of naturalization. They were also recipients of the tithe. And so Jesus Christ, during His ministry on earth, He frequently accuses the Pharisees and the religious establishment of the day for devouring the homes of widows and for neglecting the greater or the weightier portion of the law, which is charity and mercy. And in doing so, He quotes, as we have already noted in part in our text, He quotes Isaiah 56.7, where Isaiah says that the temple is to be a house of prayer for all nations. For all nations, that is the point, that for whatever reason, Matthew omits from his quote. Isaiah further says in verse 3 of the same chapter, he says, You see, the church then as it is now was to be a multicultural institution. It was to be a beacon of light to bring the non-Jews, to bring the Gentiles into it. And when this was done, they were not to be treated as second-class citizens, as those who were not fully integrated and delegated to the outer court as was done in the time of Jesus. But they are to be received into the worship of the temple. And also not only the foreigners, but especially the poor. And so Jesus, we see, is right to become indignant and to act as he did because it is a love that is driving him to do this. But as we see this, we have to ask ourselves, is it simply a political concern that is operating here? Is it simply a concern that God has for social justice, which gives him a heart, as it were, for the poor? And the answer is, no, it isn't. It is not merely social justice that is in operation here. We notice from Scripture that poverty is a divine illustration given to us of piety. Now, how does this work? Well, quite simply, those who are godly and who are poor are forced, are compelled to look to God and to trust Him alone for their every need. And to trust Him for their daily bread. You see, and this exercise is instilled in them and their faith is strengthened in this respect. But often those who are rich in this life may be tempted to forget to trust God for their every need. They may feel self-sufficient and self-reliant. And the tendency often is that those who are wealthy in this life are busy storing up treasures on earth instead of treasures in heaven. And so, lose altogether that eager expectation and hope for a future life. And the hope of eternity becomes stamped out and consumed, swallowed up in the life of the present. And so, poverty and prosperity are natural illustrations of spirituality, of godliness, and of impiety or ungodliness. And for this reason, we see that Jesus Christ, He wants us to identify with those who are poor. And not only those who are poor financially, but He wants us to consider ourselves as those who are spiritually poor, who have nothing without Him and who trust Him for all the blessings that we have. You see, He says to you this morning, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And he also says, Come to me, all ye who are weak and heavy laden, for I will give you rest. You see, even as the exploitation of the poor continues today, so we also note that this world is full of spiritual hucksters who wish to deceive Christian sinners to sell them a bag of false goods as false remedies for sin. You see, to witness this, to witness the marketing of Christianity, all we have to do is to go into any Christian bookstore. And we see how Christianity today is dictated by the logic and the spirit of the marketplace. As one author notes, there is always, it seems, there's some new fad for spiritual growth, some secret key for unlocking spiritual renewal and for overcoming sin and temptation in our life. And we know that there are many books on marriage and the family who are written by those who are ministers who at the same time have very scandalous home lives and yet still feel qualified to be writing these books for the publishing houses. There are also Christian marketeers who wish to sell you mechanistic formulas for overcoming sin and temptation and addictions in your life. Seven easy steps to victorious Christian living. Easy ways to become fully surrendered in your life, to yield it all and to become victorious over temptation and the devil. There are newly discovered prayers, it is alleged, which work like magic. And they promise to bring us prosperity and success if only we purchase the book and follow the exercises presented in there. There are also conferences and revivals which promise to give us the power of the Holy Spirit which we so lack in our lives. Four hours which will transform our life forever. And there are also selling new and exciting ways of doing church which we have never done before. Those who fail to heed this advice will become dead and extinct. But yet those who follow these new ways of doing church and ministry, attendance will soar and your ministry will become wildly successful. And in all of these, the tendency is that the ministry of the Word and the sacraments entrusted to the church is downplayed or ignored, as well as the struggles, the daily and the continuous struggles of faithful living, which we find in our life and which we will never overcome, the sin which we must ever struggle against until the day that we die and we put it off forever. But secondly, notice how the lame and the blind came to Jesus and He healed them in the temple. This also teaches us Christ's concern for those who are considered as outcasts and the love that God has for them as His children. Now, what is special about this? Because healing for Jesus, while for us is extraordinary, for him and his career, we know that it is quite ordinary. Well, we know that the priests who were lame and who were blind were prohibited from sacrificing in the temple, from serving the Lord in that capacity. Now, why is this? Why were they prohibited from the temple worship, those who were Levites? Well, quite simply is because they were symbols, along with the sacrifices that they offered, they were symbols of perfection. Both they and the sacrifices they offered were types of Jesus Christ, who is our only high priest and the spotless Lamb of God, who is sacrificed for our sins. And as such, they were to be without blemish. But you see, this in no means prohibited those who were not priests, who were lame and who were blind from serving or from worshipping in the temple of God with the rest of those in Israel. You see, and the rulers of their day, to be fair to them, did not exclude them from the worship of God. But they did treat them as second class worshippers. They were sort of almost like Gentiles. They were permitted in, but they were like outsiders. Now, where did this come from? This has an important Old Testament background again. And we see it as an important event when King David came up against Israel, when it was at that time occupied by Israel's enemy, the Jebusites. And the Jebusites at that time mocked David and his army, And they said, even our blind and lame can ward you off. You can't get in here. And so David accepted that challenge. And he went up there with his army and he took Jerusalem. And in return, he mockingly referred to the Jebusites as his lame and blind enemies, whom he had expelled from the holy city. And from there, Samuel tells us, came the saying that the lame and the blind will not enter, meaning the Jebusites, will not enter the house of the Lord. Well, later, as the centuries passed, rabbis interpreted this to mean that God was somehow displeased with those who were physically lame or blind. We see this operating in Jesus' day when his disciples asked him when they came across the man who was born blind. And they said to him, tell us, is he blind because he sinned or because his parents sinned? And what was Jesus' reply? He said, neither, but so that you may know and that you may have a demonstration of the power of God. And so he healed him. And from this act, we also get perhaps a clearer insight into the nature and the purpose of Christ's miracles. You see, they didn't simply serve as the travelogues of Jesus of Nazareth, sort of his daily diary of what he went around doing. But it serves us as an illustration of spiritual blindness and lameness. We see this when he did this act. He happened to do it on the Sabbath day. And the Pharisees were rather indignant and they were upset about this. Why is he going about healing on the Sabbath? Doesn't he know that the Sabbath is given for our rest? And so they accuse him. And he tells them that he has come to give sight to the blind. but on this condition, that they recognize their blindness. And he goes on to say, to teach them, that those who are spiritually blind, who say that they see, those who say they have sight, these persons he judges as blind. So Jesus has a twofold purpose. He gives sight to the blind, but he judges as blind those who claim that they see. And also we have an example in the paralytic in Mark 2. This was to empirically demonstrate to the people and to the man himself that Jesus had authority on earth to forgive sins. When they presented the paralytic to him to be healed, did Jesus right away heal him? Did he just say to him, take up your bed and walk? No, but what did he say? He said, man, your sins are forgiven you. Your sins are forgiven. And what was the response? The people mocked and they said, this is blasphemy. Who is this man to forgive sins? Only God, God alone can forgive sins. And so then what did Jesus do? He proved to them by his actions that he had authority to forgive sins. He said to them, that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins. He turned and said to the paralytic, I say to you, take up your mat and walk. So we see that it is we who are the ones who are spiritually blind and also disabled, and that we must look to Jesus alone to restore sight and health, for He alone is able to give us life. And also we see that Jesus is fulfilling David's shadowy, typological role in Jerusalem conquest. Just as David came and took Jerusalem and was declared king there, so Jesus Christ enters Jerusalem and is enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Also, just as David drove out his lame and blind opponents, So Jesus Christ takes away lameness and blindness itself. And those who are formerly lame and blind, He includes in His entourage, in His royal court, as it were. And so we see that those who were formerly regarded as social outcasts and who were unproductive in society, who were not able to earn their own keep, are no longer outcasts. And they are no longer to be unproductive. And so also we who have been spiritually healed on the grounds of Christ's one sacrifice on the cross and the forgiveness of sins that He gives us through it, that we too are no longer unproductive in following the ways of this world and in the cravings of our sinful nature. But instead, out of gratitude, we are employed in the service of God. And we present before Him our bodies as living sacrifices of gratitude and thanksgiving. And in all that we do, in all our work, in our recreation, we do unto the glory of God, who has purchased us with His blood and has united us with Christ and all His benefits. But what is more is we see the church has been given the ministry of reconciliation. And this includes all peoples. It especially includes those whom our well-mannered society deems as outcasts. You see, and at this point, remember how Jesus associated with the sinners of his day. How he seemed comfortable spending time with the sinners, with the prostitutes, and with the first century IRS agents. And he received them and he ate with them much to the scandal of those who were around him, to the religious leaders. You see, and as we read this account, there is no hint of religious or righteous pomposity in Jesus' demeanor. There is no holier-than-thou attitude which he comes to them with. but instead he sees them as children of God, as sinners who are desperately in need of a Savior. And such a Savior is He. And so I ask you, what is your attitude towards those who lack good Christian manners, behavior, or appearance? I hope that it is one of openness and love. And I hope that this is the kind of church where a young man or a young woman can come wearing perhaps unconventional clothing, perhaps with purple hair, and perhaps with a bullring through their nose. And they can come and they can find Jesus Christ because Jesus is for everyone who recognizes that they are spiritually lame and blind. And Jesus heals them and who in true faith accept Christ as the only grounds of their acceptance before God and who trust Him alone to cover their sins and their continuing sinfulness which they must struggle against their whole life even as we must struggle against the same. But thirdly, we see Jesus' attitude towards the outcasts in society as we examine Jesus' endorsement of the children's praise. Now, we see that the Pharisees, we have already noted how they are more concerned with outward appearance than the actual souls of people. You see, they want to make sure everything is done decently in order. They want everything done right, everything done according to Robert's rules and all the T's crossed and the I's dotted. And Jesus was interested in the souls of the people. You see, the religious leaders did not object to Jesus' healing. It was wonderful. It was wonderful. Even in the text, it says, they noted the wonderful things He was doing. But what were they concerned about? Well, did He have to do it in the temple? I mean, in the temple, it disrupts everything. And yes, healing is wonderful, but six days have been given for our labor. Does he have to do it on the Sabbath day? Doesn't he know that this was given to us for a day of rest? You see, they're concerned with the outward form of religion instead of the inward heart of religion. But we notice that they are also upset with the praise of the children. Now, why would they be upset with this? Why would they be upset that the children are saying, Hosanna, and blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord? Isn't it wonderful to see children doing this? The underlying assumption that the leaders have is that children are not capable of kingdom work. Now, why do they think this? Well, Jesus was received the day before as the soon-to-be king of Israel. And the leaders were expecting a social revolutionary, someone who would liberate them from Roman bondage. They were hoping that Jesus would be a Judas Maccabeus rather than a suffering Savior. They were theologians of glory, but Jesus Christ was a theologian of the cross. And so they did not see the point in Jesus enlisting support of children for his revolution. Such a strategy is senseless. We might remember if in the medieval ages there was the infamous children's crusade. Now what the children's crusade was, it was an army of little boys and girls averaging the age of 12 who went off to fight and to take back the occupied territories of Palestine back from the Turks and to restore it to Christendom. And as they went off to battle, you can well imagine what happened. This battle was a complete failure. The children who did not die on the journey were either killed or they were sold into slavery by the Muslims when they reached the land of Palestine. So is this what Jesus is trying to do? Is he trying to start a children's crusade? You can see why they are wondering why he is enlisting the support of the children. But you see, Jesus' kingdom is not of this world. It does not need soldiers to fight. Jesus' kingdom instead is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. And God has always worked through the family and so his kingdom includes children as well as grown-ups. You see, just as Jesus received infants into the kingdom of God by laying hands on them, so he accepts the praise of the children as offered to him as appropriate acts of the kingdom of God. You see, Jesus responds to them with the words of Psalm 8, verse 2. Where he says, from the lips of children and infants, you have ordained praise. The Hebrew text, some of you are aware, is slightly different. It reads, established strength instead of ordained praise. But in any case, the meaning is the same. The meaning is this. Psalm 8 teaches that everything in creation, from the greatest to the smallest thing, is a witness to the power and the glory of God. And as such, it declares His praise. David writes that even the speechless mouth of infants declares the glory of God. And it is sufficient to refute all the pseudo-intellectual clamorings of atheists and philosophers. That infants, without uttering a single word, bear witness to the existence of God. And so Jesus' argument here is one from the greater to the lesser. If even speechless infants declare the glory of God, how much more little children who can declare His praises by saying, Hosanna, and blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Young children, this means for you little ones that it is right for you to sing as you do in the morning that we are in the Lord's army, as I know is one of the songs that is being sung. And also, young people, this means that you are all fit subjects for the kingdom of God. You're not fit for baptism alone. It's not just that you're fit to receive that you're a proper subject of baptism. No, but you're able to be a responsible member in the church of Jesus Christ, Even at a young age. And at this point, it is worth knowing, just so you know this, that John Calvin, the greatest theologian of the Reformed Church, wrote in his institutes that he believed that all children by the age of 10 should be examined by the elders and received into the Christian church and be given full membership, full communicant membership in the church. And he further said that this would be a shame and a scandal to parents whose children were not ready by that age. And now I know that this isn't the practice in our church or in most Reformed churches, but this is just something that we should know was Calvin's opinion. But more particularly, for the young people, for you young people, This means that you are able to be a witness to Jesus Christ by your life. You are not too young. You may be too young to be a minister, to be an evangelist in the official sense of the word. But just by being good and living a good life, you are an example and you are a witness to Jesus Christ. Now, I, of course, support Christian day schools and homeschooling. But there are some people, but not all, who argue for the benefit of Christian day schools on the basis that it shelters our children from the immoral influence of their peers, of their fellow classmates. And, you know, there is something to this. But it is further argued that the children are not mature enough to be witnesses to Jesus Christ. Why? Well, because, they say, they cannot fulfill the requirements given by Paul to Titus and to Timothy regarding the office of evangelist. They are not the husband of one wife, etc., etc. Well, this is certainly true, but it does not mean that we do not, as children, do not witness to Christ by our good behavior. We might not be ministers, but we are still Christians. Even as young people, we are Christians. And the result often isn't a Christian maturity from this sort of thinking that I'm describing, but instead an unhealthy insularity develops where Christians as adults often retreat from the challenges brought on by the culture, challenges either intellectual or cultural brought against Christianity. And I'd also like to note that I have in my own experience, I have known youth groups who have over the course of a few years been able to bring nearly a hundred new members into the church simply by being salt and light on their campuses. And again, it should be said that they didn't do anything spectacular. It wasn't because they were young preachers, that they were telling all their classmates that they're going to hell unless they repent. Neither were these super spiritual Christians. But they were youth just like you. They had all the same weaknesses as I remember I had as a youth, as a high schooler even. All the same, as Scripture points out, The sins of youth. But nevertheless, they were, in their own way, faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ. But finally, we see that with poverty and lameness, our two previous points, that childhood serves us with a divine illustration regarding the nature of redemption. We also must remember, since many people interpret this quite wrongly, that Paul exhorts Christians and he commands Christians to no longer be children in their thinking. To put away childish thoughts. And at the same time, Jesus demands of us that before anything else, We must become as little children to enter the kingdom of God. And the meaning is this, that just as children are passive, just as the infants that Jesus received by laying his hands on him were passive, and just as they are wholly dependent upon their parents, so also we as Christians are the passive recipients of salvation. And we are made heirs to the kingdom of God without work or merit on our part, but solely from the grace that is found in Jesus Christ. And for this reason also, God has revealed His gospel to little children. But at the same time, He has hidden it from many who are wise and intelligent in this life. He wishes by this to illustrate to us that all the glory would come from God and that self-righteous boasting would have no place in our lives. And so in conclusion, Jesus demonstrates a concern for these three classes of people that were despised by society and by the religious rulers of the day. And he teaches us that we ought to follow his example by showing all peoples the love of Christ. But moreover, he demonstrates his love and concern for us who are sinners and who are spiritually poor, disabled, and infantile. because He lived His life for us. And for us, He went to the cross and suffered the wrath of God against the sinfulness of us and our race. And He has so removed the curse from us and brought us into fellowship with Him so that by our lives we may glorify God and show ourselves grateful for all the benefit that He has shown us. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for your concern and your love for all types of peoples. We ask that you would instill this love and this zeal for us, that we would do the same. And we thank you that you have shown, extended your mercy towards us who are spiritually blind and who are disabled. And you have healed us and strengthened us. And you have given us gold refined by the fire to remedy our spiritual poverty. And you have given us the Holy Spirit who has anointed our eyes with faith. And we thank you for all this and that you would be with us throughout our week. Continue to transform us into the image of your dearly beloved Son. In Christ's name we ask this. Amen. Thank you.