A passage like this calls us into question – have we perhaps profaned the worship of God? Are we so different from the scribes and chief priests? After all, our own heart is a breeding ground for idolatry, substituting the one mediator – Jesus for a lesser good, a lesser object. The cleansing of the temple is a reminder that Jesus is our temple, that we come to God through no other means than him, and that we must, in faith, expect him to supply our every need. Expectancy has everything to do with faith. John Calvin said, “To have faith in God means, to expect, and to be fully assured of obtaining from God whatever we need.”

After three and a half years of public ministry, Jesus’ time on earth is drawing to a close as we join this passage in Matthew 21. Jesus instructs a couple of His disciples to go ahead of Him and procure a donkey’s colt that He might enter Jerusalem one last time. This act will fulfill yet another Old Testament prophecy of his identity as Messiah! Zechariah 9:9 (ESV) declares: