Tonight we pick up the story leading up to Easter. This is Palm Sunday, named after the palm branches that the people in the crowds waved as they greeted Jesus, as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. We read and thought about that episode in this morning’s service. By the time we get to the account that Matthew tells us about tonight, we have skipped forward a day. To help us get into the picture, I’d like to fill in a few of the things that have happened in the meantime.
Immediately after Jesus had come into Jerusalem he’d parked his donkey and headed for the Temple. He’d seen desks taking over the place that was meant to be available for Gentiles to come and pray. These money changers were there so that you could change your Roman money, which you had to use in the market, for special “Temple” money that had to be used to buy the sacrificial animals so that people could fulfil their religious duties. Of course, the exchange rate was pretty lousy, and the money changers took a fair creaming off the top, but the system had the dual benefit of making sure that no unholy money got into the Temple treasury and also reduced the risk of those undesirable Gentiles coming anywhere near the Temple.
Jesus saw all this, and thought it was great. He changed some money, bought a couple of doves, as his parents had done all those years before, and took them to be sacrificed.
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