LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Do Not Touch the Doves
Corruption had reached the Holy Place itself. Merchants and money changers had defiled God’s courts - the very courts that the psalmist's soul had so earnestly desired.
That is why that day when the Lord went up to the temple, he put aside his normal moderation. When he found there those who were selling oxen, sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting doing their business, he took a whip of ropes and drove them all out of the temple along with the sheep and the oxen; he scattered the money changers' coins and overturned the tables. His anger was overwhelming. Those who many times raised their voices to resist Him, this time could not open their mouths—such was the strength of His fury. Can we imagine that terrible whirlwind?
However, even here the Lord shows the beauty of his person. His anger was not an uncontrollable river, nor did He whip indiscriminately left and right. The sacred record carefully notes that He did not touch the doves. Matthew and Mark say, "He overturned the tables of the moneychangers, and the chairs of those who sold doves"; while John adds, "And he said to those who were selling doves: Take this away from here." Note: He only overturned the chairs of those who were selling and ordered to have them removed from there, but He did not touch the doves.
Why? There are at least two reasons. The doves were, in their simplicity and economy, the offering of the poor, who could not afford a lamb or a calf. How many wounded consciences were reassured by this modest bloody offering! Without a doubt, those of the majority. But also, and above all, the Lord did not want to touch the doves because God had chosen a dove to represent the Holy Spirit in his descent on the Lord Jesus on the day of his baptism. A little bird representing God himself!
Then we understand, and we exclaim: Oh, marvel of Jesus! Admirable, not only in his compassion or in his majesty, but also in his fury. How different from men, whose anger is an uncontrolled gale, wounding and destroying. We bow down to His delicacy, to His self-control, to His purity. May the Lord allow His servants to express in this also the beauty of His wonderful character.