Holy Monday - 2026

 

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 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, 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’?” And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. (Matthew 21:12–17 ESV).

 

Monday of Holy Week begins with Jesus asserting His authority in the temple. If Jerusalem was a beehive, with His triumphal entry the day before, Jesus hit it with a stick. You could hear the buzz grow as the anger within the religious leadership got organized. With that kingly arrival on Sunday, Jesus had made a strong declaration about His authority over all the conventions of man. Now He ratches up the tension, this time to declare the failure of His own people to live up to the covenantal mandate God had given them to be a blessing to the world (vv. 12-13).

 

Much of what the Gospels tell us about Monday centers on the theme of Jesus’ authority—both over the created world and in His right to pass judgment upon it. Everything Jesus did He did with authority. So when He woke His disciples Monday saying He wanted go back into Jerusalem to teach in the temple, as risky as it sounded, it wasn’t surprising. But everyone sensed something stirring, as if Jesus had rounded a corner and His end was coming fast.

 

When Jesus saw the commotion, commerce, and chaos going on in the temple, He was indignant. The way the Sanhedrin led Israel was not how God’s people were supposed to be led. The temple was a sacred space, and worship was a holy matter. The propriety and dignity of approaching the presence of God had found an advocate in this visiting rabbi. And so, on the Monday before His crucifixion, Jesus went into the temple and overturned the money changers’ tables (cf. Mark 11:15-19).

 

This was not the first time Jesus had done this. He had cleared the temple like this once earlier, back before anyone knew His name. Then He had warned the merchants to remove the money-changers’ tables and stop making His Father’s house into a den of thieves (John 2:13-17). If the first time Jesus cleared the temple served as a warning; this time it served as a judgment. This was not an eruption of sudden anger. Jesus saw nothing on that Monday He hadn’t seen many other times. He had even stood in this very place as recently as the day before, so nothing He saw came as a surprise. Jesus simply did what He planned to do.

 

Jesus’ provocative actions in overturning the money changers’ tables spoke to His deep concern for the way God’s people had traded the work of loving God for a religion of economy. And ever since, He remains involved in the provocative work of overturning idolatrous hearts, calling us back to the dignity and sanctity for which we were intended. A. W. Tozer said:

 

Most church people play at religion, as they play at their games! Religion itself, is the one game most universally played. The Church has its "fields" and "rules" and its "equipment" for playing the game of religion. It has its devotees, both laymen and professionals, who support the game with their money and encourage it with their presence—but who are no different in life or character from many who take no interest in religion at all! As an athlete uses a ball—so do many of us use religious words. We throw them swiftly across the field—and learn to handle them with dexterity and grace. We gain as our reward, the applause of those who have enjoyed the game. In the secular games which people play, there are no moral benefits. They simply are a pleasant activity which changes nothing, and settles nothing of any importance. Sadly, it is much the same in the game of religion. After the pleasant meeting, no one is basically any different from what he had been before!

 

Jesus’ message that day was the same as the Prophet Malachi:

 

Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. (Malachi 1:10 ESV)

 

Perhaps this is our most important thought to ponder this day!