Matthew 21:12-13  Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.  “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

On the Monday after Palm Sunday, Jesus overturns the tables at the Temple, and specifically targets those who sold doves.  The word dove comes from the Greek word peristera, which is often translated as pigeon.  Pigeons were sold as substitute sacrifices for those who were too poor to buy a lamb or other sacrificial animal.

Perhaps Jesus targeted the sellers of these pigeons because the practice was so outrageously exploitative to the poor.

“‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you.  Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you. (Leviticus 25:35-36)

Jesus, in bringing to pass a new covenant on the cross, ended the system of animal sacrifices, a system that required continual sacrifices, and one that put the poor at a distinct disadvantage.

“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)

 Lord Jesus, who offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, and is seated at the right hand of God.  By Your offering, You have perfected for all time all those who are sanctified.  You made a new covenant with us, and have put Your laws in our hearts and have written them on our minds.  You remember our sins and lawless deeds no more.  Let our hearts and minds then rule our actions, and may we always point other to Your grace and mercy. (Hebrews 10:11-18)