Can I pray for you in any way? Send
any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on
Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests
to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian
Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
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.’”
Matthew 21:12-13
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In
yesterday’s devotion, we saw Jesus enter Jerusalem to the cries of the crowd
who proclaimed:
“Hosanna
to the Son of David!”
“Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna
in the highest heaven!”
The
Gospel of Mark tells us that it was late when Jesus entered the temple courts
during His first day in the holy city and so He went out to Bethany (1 1/2
miles to the east of Jerusalem) with His disciples (Mark 11:11). The next day,
the second day in what is commonly referred to as Passion Week, Jesus returned
to the temple courts and what He witnessed brought on His ire as documented by
our scripture excerpt from Matthew, Chapter 21:
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.’” Matthew 21:12-13
So
what got Jesus so riled up?
Some
background is needed to understand His actions.
First,
it’s important to know that the main part of the temple where the Holy Place and
the Holy of Holies existed was surrounded by four courtyards, each with limits
as to who could be within them. The closest courtyard to the temple was
reserved only for the priests which made sense as they were the only ones who
could perform duties in the temple.
The
next courtyard outside of the courtyard of the priests was the courtyard of men
and outside of that was the courtyard of women. It should be noted that not all
men could be in the courtyard of men nor could all women be in their designated
courtyard. Rather, only those who were Israelites, male or female, whichever
applied, could be within their respective, designated places.
This
left one remaining courtyard, the one furthest from the temple proper. This was
called the courtyard of the Gentiles and anyone could be in this courtyard, even though you probably wouldn't find any Israelites hanging out there as they typically didn't hang out with the Gentiles and, in fact, viewed themselves as spiritually superior.
Now, it was during Passover week and the city of Jerusalem had filled with God believers and Gentiles. The temple was packed with Israelites who had come to offer up the prescribed sacrifices and outside the temple, a marketplace had been created with two distinct transactions taking place at tables
which had been placed within the courtyard of the Gentiles.
The
first transaction involved currency exchange. Many people came to Jerusalem
from points outside of the city, points that carried their own currency. That
currency would need to be exchanged to do business with the temple as only
shekels would be permitted to pay the temple tribute. The money changers had a
reputation for levying exorbitant fees for exchanging currency from people who
often had little money to begin with. The money changers knew the people wanted
to be faithful to paying the temple tribute and would do what they needed to in
order to remain faithful to God and His holy place. And so they took advantage
of the people’s desire to be obedient to the Lord.
The
other transactions that took place surrounded birds and animals that people
could purchase for sacrifice. The animals offered within the temple courtyard
could also be bought outside the temple grounds in the city but as a matter of convenience, people
would often look to make their purchases inside the Gentile courtyard. The sellers
of the sacrificial birds and animals knew this and would drastically elevate
their prices, sometimes as much as twice as much as people would pay elsewhere.
And so what we find in common within the marketplace within the courtyard of the Gentiles was an exercise in sinful money grabbing within a place that was meant for righteousness and prayer,
something that Jesus did not settle for. The Gospel of John tells us that He “made
a whip out of cords” (John 2:15) before He drove out all who were buying and
selling there, overturning the tables of the money changers and the benches of
those selling birds and animals.
It
was quite a chaotic scene before Jesus makes a declaration that shows us the motivation
for His behavior. He
proclaimed to all who could hear Him:
“‘My house will be called a house of
prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
You
see, the temple courtyards were not simply social gathering places for those
assembled there. They were to be holy places where people could go to pray and
draw nearer to God. Jesus knew the words of His Father spoken in the days of
the prophet Isaiah:
“My house will be called a house of prayer
for all nations.” Isaiah 56:7b
God’s
house, His holy temple, had indeed become just that for there was a place where
people from all nations could pray unto Him, even the Gentiles. The only
problem was that the place of prayer for the Gentiles had been turned into a
place of commerce and a sinful one at that. The money changers and sellers had taken
the "house of prayer" that God had intended the courtyard to me and made it a “den
of robbers”.
Jesus just would not allow that to happen as He would never permit anything to violate
the standards set in place by His Father and
so He took action and made a stand, even when He knew His actions would
not be popular.
Friends,
we need to follow the lead of Jesus and stand up for God, reinforcing His
righteousness and holiness, every chance we get. We may not find ourselves fashioning
whips out of cords and driving out money changes and sellers from sacred
courtyards but there are plenty of other instances when we need to be speaking
out and standing up for God’s word, will, and way.
One
thing is for sure. The world today is trying to force God and Jesus out of every aspect of life every
chance it gets. Persecution is on the rise, even in nations that proclaim themselves to be democratic and free. As a result, it should come as no surprise that sin is becoming increasingly rampant, acceptable, and permissible.
As we continue through the holy week and beyond, this
is not the time to stay silent and be inactive. It’s
time to take a stand and follow the example that Jesus set.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment