14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they 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 infants and nursing babies
    you have prepared praise’?”

Matthew 21:14-16 (ESV)

Worship, not religion

Jesus is now in Jerusalem having received the praises of the people who proclaimed Him Son of David and, the prophet from Nazareth. His first action was to cleanse the temple and remind them (especially the religious leaders) that the temple is a place of worship, not of religion.

Healing

Consistent with the rest of His ministry, Jesus heals all those who come to Him. This time, the healings are occurring in the temple. Blind and lame people who hung around the temple courts and porticoes seeking alms went to Jesus and He healed them. What is interesting is that He wasn’t barred from the temple after His actions of cleansing it in yesterday’s passage.

Indignant

Jesus was receiving praise and acclimation from the people, and that even in the temple! Even young children were praising Him. According to the Amplified Version notes, “There would have been a large number of twelve year old boys in the temple preparing to celebrate their first Passover and their ceremonial entry into manhood.” (AMP Bible)

This made the religious leaders indignant. It probably also made them jealous. How could this “street preacher” who disrupts our way of religion be getting all this attention? How could He be doing all these miracles?

Praise prophesied

Jesus replies to these religious leaders with a quote of the OT from Psalm 8:2. He tells them: These praises were spoken many centuries earlier and now they are happening before your very eyes, and you don’t see it. “The children had understood what the leaders had not—that Jesus was their promised Savior.” (gotquestions.org)

RЯeflection

• How often is the truth right in front of us and we don’t see it? Or, maybe, we see it and don’t want to believe it for it requires repentance and change on our part. Take a moment of reflection now to ask the Lord to search your heart (Psalm 139:23-24) and give you a willing spirit to see and obey, and repent (Psalm 51).
• In the previous post we were reminded that we are the temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). The temple is a place of worship, not of religion. Do we get trapped in doing religious things and miss the relationship and worship?