Cleansing the Temple
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”
And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?”
And Jesus *said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
(NASB) Matthew 21:12-17
There is nothing inherently evil about buying and selling. In fact most of the merchants present were providing aids to the worship and giving for the many many pilgrims passing through Jerusalem on Passover week. So what did Jesus mean by the example of the cleared temple?
When we let things crowd out the core values of the Church, of Christianity, and of what it means to be serving the LORD; then we've fallen into the den of thieves. They've already successfully stolen your faith and replaced it with religion.
If we truly believe the gospel of Christ, we will make room for the important stuff, the healing, the prayer, the children. If you find money changers and merchants taking up more and more of your church, get a whip. There are only so many minutes in our lives and we give so few to church. Make room in your house for the lord. Make room.
This week at
I pray I'll have a better report soon.
