Jesus did not go to the representative of the colonizing authority, nor did he visit the chief priest, or find a place for himself and his disciples to sleep; but went straight to the Temple of God, the residence of his Father’s glory for which he longed and to which his heart was drawn. But his Spirit felt bitter, for he could not find comfort and quietness to worship, give thanks, and pray, because of the noise of the traders, and the smell of the sacrificial animals which was spread in all the floors. So in his holy wrath he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and their precious money on the ground, and drove the superficial out of the Temple. He was willing to initiate his work with establishing comprehensive quietness for true prayer. Every nation in which prayer does not work vigorously as the strong heart beats in the human body is by all means a dead and perishable nation.
Do your city men pray? Do you meet them in meeting rooms, in coffeehouses and cinemas, or in factories and shops? Did the entire world not become a den of thieves and highwaymen, though it was originally intended as a residence of God? What would Jesus drive out of your life to clear your heart that your body might become a temple of the Holy Spirit? Does God reside in you, or are you still a den of thieves?
Jesus taught the multitudes of crowded pilgrims in the midst of the Temple as one who sells living water in the midst of desert to refresh those who are thirsty with true copious drops. The word of life from Jesus quenches the burning thirst of hearts. It was not long until the multitudes raced to Jesus, and listened to his words for hours.
The chief priests, leaders of the people, and experts of the Torah, on their part, watched Jesus with aggravated rage, for he neither visited nor honored them, nor asked their permission. So they hated the Galilean countryman, and tried to kill him using violent tricks during the noisy days of the Passover. Those zealous leaders were probably afraid of the interference of the occupying power, which was centered in the barracks of the grand Tower of Antonia, where the Roman soldiers watched all the movements in the wide yard of the Temple.
Jesus’ hour had not come yet. The multitudes were hung upon him to hear him, and the wicked enemy could not find any means to reach him. So Jesus taught without fear, and called the lost sheep of the people to him the Good Shepherd and King of his fellowship.