Matthew 21:13
“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.’”
The author suggests that much of Jesus’ anger came from the sense that worshippers were being taken advantage of. Money was exchanged for a profit, doves were sold to replace “insufficient” doves for sacrifice. This helps me to understand a passage of scripture I was probably not understanding. It is not necessarily the fact that money was exchanged so much as that people were being taken advantage of. They were being made to pay for their desire to be with God. The church is not a place to make a profit at a worshipper’s expense.
Lord, help us to always remember the reason we have a church building. It is a place to worship God, not a place of business that takes advantage of those who come to worship. When we discuss finances, help us to be clear in our intent, and in line with your perfect will. Amen
Becky, transforming
Matthew 21:13
If you ever wondered about the fully human Jesus, this story proves his humanness. True anger at the Temple Authorities and the Money Changers for taking advantage of people--IN THE TEMPLE and on the Holiest of weeks. AND he doesn't use just words, he rages and tips over tables sending coins and doves flying. Can you picture it? Actually it is quite a display. Watching this humble, loving man behave this way must have shocked all who witnessed it. The lesson: Do not exploit God's people and certainly not is God's house!
Prayer: Gracious God, May I be as outraged as Jesus when someone exploits his children. AMEN
Friday, March 7th, 2025 ( 3rd day of lent)
Matthew 21:13
He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.
Reading the prior and subsequent verses of this scripture is important to understand why Jesus was angry. The money changers were missing the point of the holiness of the temple. They were selling in the temple & were cheating their buyers (den of robbers). According to Jesus, the temple was supposed to be a place of prayer, a place to draw close to God, but instead it had become a business for making money. There is a time and place for everything. The temple was…
Matthew 21:13
A house of worship should be the last place where people are taken advantage of. Martin Luther was enraged by the “indulgences” required of Catholic worshipers. His bold stance and the nailing of his “95 Theses” to the door of the church at Wittenberg was the 16th Century equivalent of Jesus’ purge of the temple, and the Protestant Reformation was underway. Jesus was enraged by the exploitation of the faithful and went to work dismantling a corrupt system, quoting Isaiah 56 as he routed the money changers and predatory merchants from their booths in the temple. In the same way, Lent is a time for me to clear the ungodly crud that has accumulated in my life over…