CLEANSING THE TEMPLE
Opening Prayer
As I come to your Word today, Lord God, help me to set aside any clutter, to listen without distraction, and hear what you would say to me.
Read LUKE 19:45–20:8
Jesus at the Temple
45 When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’[a]; but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’[b]”
47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.
The Authority of Jesus Questioned
20 One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2 “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”
3 He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: 4 John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
5 They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
7 So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”
8 Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
Footnotes
- Luke 19:46 Isaiah 56:7
- Luke 19:46 Jer. 7:11
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
‘… true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.’1
Think Further
I was awestruck when I first visited St Paul’s Cathedral in London. There is a sense of majesty in the architecture that draws me to worship God. In the first century, every pilgrim to Jerusalem would have been deeply impressed by the temple, the spiritual center for the Jews and the pride of the nation. However, Jesus was not as concerned with the exterior beauty of the temple. He had wept over the city (vv. 41–44). Now, he was about to do something unimaginable. When Jesus entered the temple, he kicked up a commotion by driving out those who were trading there.
The temple was the heart of Israel since its foundation was laid during the days of Solomon. Sadly, over the years, the temple had been corrupted to the point where true worship of God was diminishing. Decades before the first temple was razed to the ground by the Babylonians, the prophet Jeremiah had warned the people about their false trust in the temple, denouncing their evil acts of injustice, oppression, and idolatry.2 God declared that the temple had become ‘a den of robbers’3 temple. He was denouncing exactly what Jeremiah denounced—the acts of injustice and oppression present in the temple of his day.
Jesus would not let such corruption draw people away from true faith and worship of God. Imagine Jesus visiting our churches today. Would he be pleased with what he saw on the inside? Would he cleanse your church? What about our body as the temple of God? What would Jesus find inside our hearts?
Apply
Where are areas in your church where you might serve as it seeks to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God?
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, keep the truth of Scripture before me, help me to always be focused on Jesus and what he has taught me, and eager to do what pleases him.
1 John 4:23 2 Jer 7:1–29 3 Jer 7:11
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