Matthew 21:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

NIV: The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.

NASB: And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and He healed them.

CSB: The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

NLT: The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.

KJV: And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

NKJV: Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

This is the last time in Matthew's gospel that Jesus is shown performing miraculous healing. It is significant that it takes place inside the temple. Some who are blind and lame approach Jesus while He is in the outer area of the temple, known as the Court of the Gentiles. We know this because those who were disabled in this way were not allowed in the inner courts or the sanctuary (Leviticus 21:18).

The fact that Jesus healed them in the temple implies two things. First, since they were no longer blind or lame, these people could now enter the inner courts. Instead of preventing them, Jesus made a way for them to participate by removing the obstacle that stood between them and the worship of God. He will soon do the same for those separated from God by their sin, all of us, by paying the price for that sin with His own life, making forgiveness and redemption possible (Hebrews 10:19–23).

Second, these acts of healing demonstrated that Jesus had authority over the temple. He had the authority to drive out the money changers and to make worshipers acceptable to God by healing them instead of merely barring them from entrance, as the Jewish religious leaders did.

Matthew 21:12–17 describes Jesus' entrance into the massive Jewish temple in Jerusalem during what we now call Holy Week. He immediately drives a marketplace out of the temple and overturns the money-changers' tables. He also heals some blind and lame people and refuses to silence some children who are praising Him as the Son of David. He quotes part of a psalm to chief priests and scribes who find this inappropriate.

Jesus fulfills a prophecy from Zechariah about the coming of the king to Jerusalem by riding in on a donkey. The people celebrate and praise Him as the Messiah. Jesus drives the marketers and moneychangers out of the temple and heals some people. He curses a fig tree and tells the disciples nothing will be impossible for them with faith. Jesus forces cowardly and hypocritical religious leaders to back down with a question about John the Baptist. He then exposes their fraudulent spirituality with two parables about vineyards. Jesus applies to Himself a psalm about a rejected stone being made the cornerstone by the Lord.

Matthew 21 finds Jesus arriving near Jerusalem after leaving Jericho in the previous chapter. His triumphal entry is accomplished riding a donkey, and to raucous praise, fulfilling a prophecy about the Messiah. Jesus cleanses the marketplace from the temple, heals, and presents lessons about faith and Israel's failed leadership. This leads into further conversations which Matthew compiles from Jesus' interactions with the Pharisees.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.