Palm Sunday – Cleansing the Temple and the Betrayal

On Palm Sunday, the Sunday of Hosanna, a very great miracle had preceded it — the raising of Lazarus from the dead after four days in the tomb (John 11:17). Because of this miracle, many of the Jews believed, but the chief priests and Pharisees “from that day plotted to put Him to death” (John 11:45–53).
The common people were with Him, but their leaders were against Him!
These leaders said to one another, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him” (John 12:19). Their self-love exhausted them, and they saw Christ as a rival and hated Him. Their selfishness led them to envy and jealousy, then to conspiracy, and their jealousy grew even more when they saw the crowds surrounding Him on Palm Sunday.

Palm Sunday
The Lord Jesus went to Jerusalem, and they received Him there as a King. “All the people were very attentive to hear Him” (Luke 19:48), and “many believed in Him” (John 12:10). The people spread their clothes on the road and lifted palm branches, crying out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” “Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:10). “And the whole city was moved,” and along with it, the hearts of the Jewish leaders trembled with envy and fear.

Indeed, the proclamation of Christ as King has many testimonies in Scripture:

• In the angel’s annunciation of His birth, the Archangel Gabriel said to the Virgin Mary about Him: “The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32–33).

• This may fulfill Daniel the prophet’s prophecy: “His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14).

• When the Magi came, they asked, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2). Among their gifts they presented gold, a symbol of His kingship.

• On His cross, “they put up over His head the accusation written: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (Matthew 27:37). And Pilate asked Him during His trial, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “It is as you say” (Matthew 27:11).

• It was said of Him in the Psalms, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom” (Psalm 45:6). St. Paul cited this verse to prove Christ’s superiority over the angels (Hebrews 1:8).

• We chant this psalm (Psalm 45:6) on Good Friday in the hymn Pik Ethronos, and we call Christ “King” in the hymn Epouro — “O King of Peace, grant us Your peace.” In the Gospel introduction of our liturgy, we say, “Our Lord and our King.”

• The right-hand thief on the cross acknowledged His kingdom, saying, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

• The Book of Revelation calls Him twice “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16; 17:14).

• In the psalms concerning His crucifixion and death, we say, “The Lord reigned from the wood” (Psalm 96:10). The phrase “The Lord reigns” repeats in (Psalm 97:1; 99:1).

• In speaking of His Second Coming, Christ said that He “will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire” (Matthew 13:41–42).

The Lord Christ has a spiritual kingdom — He reigns over hearts, and He has an eternal heavenly kingdom. He reigns with the Father by His divine nature.
He also reigns over us, having purchased us with His blood (Revelation 5:9).
But the Jews did not understand this spiritual kingship. They wanted the coming Messiah to be a worldly king who would deliver them from Roman rule, not from the rule of Satan!
Christ wanted the heart, but the Jews wanted the throne.
So they rejected Him because He did not fulfill their worldly expectations. Holy Week embodies this truth — “The Rejected Christ.” As the psalm says of them, “They hated Me without a cause” (Psalm 35:19). Yet their rejection harmed not Him, but themselves.

As for us, on Palm Sunday we receive Christ as our King.
We open our hearts for Him to reign over them, and we offer Him our will to be subject under His rule. Each of us should ask himself on this day, “Is there anything in me that the Lord does not yet rule over?” If so, let us correct it or offer it to the Lord to purify it, as He cleansed the Temple that day.

The Cleansing of the Temple
Christ the King exercised His spiritual authority by cleansing the Temple. He did this with great power, and no one could oppose or stop Him: “He drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.” He rebuked them sharply, saying, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:12–13). “And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16).

With this firmness and strength, acted the meek and humble-hearted Christ (Matthew 11:29), of whom it was said, “He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench” (Matthew 12:19–20). Yet “to everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Every situation has its proper time. Though He was meek and humble, He could be firm when needed. That day, the Lord was firm in a way they had not seen before — a firmness combined with teaching, for He reminded them of what was written, and fulfilled it before their eyes.

It was a lesson for us to preserve the reverence and holiness of God’s house. It was good that the Lord gave us an example of holy zeal. Therefore it is written after He cleansed the Temple: “Then His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up’” (John 2:17).

Those who erred in the Temple, the Lord had endured for a time in patience.
But when they did not reform with gentleness, He used severity.
In correcting anyone, the Lord is ready to use kind words, but also the whip — even if only to warn, not to strike. Both are possible. Which will you choose for your own correction?
Like a physician who uses medicine first, but if it fails, uses the scalpel.

Christ did not only cleanse the Temple but also foretold its destruction and the fall of Jerusalem (Luke 19:43–44).
He said the Temple would not have “one stone left upon another” (Matthew 24:1–2) and also said, “See! Your house is left to you desolate” (Matthew 23:38).

As for you, blessed one, when you hear in Holy Week that the Lord Jesus cleansed the Temple and foretold its ruin, cry out and say:
Come, Lord, in Your power, and cleanse my temple also.
Are we not also temples of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us? (1 Corinthians 3:16). Purify, Lord, our temples. Overturn within them the tables of the money changers. Do not allow desires and passions that oppose Your will. “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.” Then I will say with You, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
Cleanse this temple quickly, O Lord, before the temple is ruined.

Preparing for New Leadership
Christ did not only cleanse the Temple of the sellers and money changers but also worked to cleanse it of corrupt leadership, appointing new leaders instead.
He wanted to end those leaders who “shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). Those leaders who agreed that anyone who confessed Christ should be cast out of the synagogue (John 9:22).

Thus He told the parable of the wicked vinedressers and said to them, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matthew 21:43).
When the chief priests and Pharisees heard this, they realized He was speaking about them (Matthew 21:45).
He also rebuked the scribes and Pharisees, calling them “blind guides” (Matthew 23), and silenced the Sadducees and lawyers: “No one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore” (Matthew 22:45–46).

It was a revolution Christ ignited before His crucifixion against those “whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
He forbade anyone from calling those leaders “father,” “teacher,” or “master” (Matthew 23:8–10). He changed the Levitical priesthood into the order of Melchizedek, made like the Son of God (Hebrews 7:3). He was preparing the way for His disciples.

He did not leave this cleansing movement to His disciples alone; He led it Himself.
It would have been difficult for them to begin it, so the Lord began — the Jewish leaders conspired against Him, but He did not fear them, for He came as the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11).
Thus He endured conspiracy and betrayal, from outside and within, which ended in His trial, humiliation, and crucifixion.
Yet we say to Him amid all that plotting:
We know who You are, O Lord — You who have “the power, and the glory, and the blessing, and the majesty forever. Amen. Emmanuel our God and our King.”
And we continue to repeat this hymn throughout the hours of Holy Week.

---

¹ Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani newspaper, April 23, 2000.

For better translation support, please contact the center.