Perhaps you remember when Jesus began his final week in Jerusalem.

He cleanses the temple. What did he find there?

Merchants and moneychangers exploiting the people with price gouging for animals to sacrifice, and "ticket scalping" as they exchange their coins. Zeal for God's house consumes Jesus. He quotes Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, aghast that the temple has become a den of robbers and has lost its holy purpose as a house of prayer for all people! He drives out the merchants and the moneychangers.

But he doesn't just drive people out. Matthew tells us something extraordinary about who he welcomes in. Immediately following, Matthew 21:14 says, "And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them."

Now this is interesting because it is not merely another healing moment which displays his messianic authority. The real significance of this sentence is where this happens. Something else is going on here. This shows us who Jesus wants to come to him: the blind and the lame – the outcast, the needy, and the hurting – they are welcome.

Under the Old Testament law people who had the misfortune of a physical defect were not permitted to serve in the temple. Leviticus 21:18 says "for no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long." And while that was specifically about Levitical priests, it seems to have led to the unmerciful belief that the blind and the lame would defile the temple, and that, therefore they should be forbidden from coming into the temple area. But Jesus welcomes them and heals them. Matthew describes this work as the doing of "wonderful things." He shows them mercy and he heals them in the very courtyard of the temple. He welcomes them into his father's house, and he makes them new and he makes them whole.

Jesus comes at the time of the Passover to the temple. He drives out the sin. He welcomes those who need mercy. He who is about to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world on the cross where he will make the broken new again.... he foreshadows this right there in the courtyard of the temple.

Where is the temple now? It was destroyed in 70 A.D. So where is the temple? You know. In the New Testament any Christian is called "the temple of the Holy Spirit." What else is the temple of the Lord today? Peter describes the church as "living stones being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The church – the people of God are the new temple wherein he dwells.

The application is clear and pointed: Where do you and I personally need cleansing today? Ask him to show you and to cleanse you. In your thought life, in your relationships, in your priorities, in the use of your tongue... Welcome the cleansing.

Where do we, as the church, need cleansing today? Ask him to show us and to cleanse us.

1 John 1:7 – 9 says "but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to... (What's the next word?)... CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness.

We need him to do that. Then after he does that, what next? Well, if he has shown mercy to us in our spiritual blindness and unbelieving paralysis, and has made us new, then, as he has welcomed us, so we need to welcome those who know they need his mercy. Do you have that welcoming spirit in your life? Does our church have that welcoming spirit in our life together?

Always remember: the cross is the great leveler. I am not better than any person. Neither are you. Presidents and paupers, rich and poor, black and white and Asian and Latino, male and female, old and young, strong and crippled... are all level at the cross.

And welcomed... into his holy place.

Musings from Pastor John, October 11 , Click to Email Pastor John