Evening – Day 4
Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out 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 would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.” Mark 11:15-17
It is Passover time, Jesus has come into Jerusalem and entered the temple, His Father’s House. What He finds angers Him. This particular part of the temple was reserved for prayer and preparation, and now had been highly commercialized, becoming a place where the people who came to worship were now extorted. Excess taxes were excised by money changers. There were tax collectors who charged for the exchange of foreign currencies in order for them to pay their annual tax. Then there was a tax penalty for those to did not have exact change. People had to bring doves for sacrifice and first had to have them inspected to make sure they were without blemish. Inevitably there would be something wrong and of course they would be more than happy to sell them a dove at exorbitant prices.
Understandably, Jesus was unhappy. It makes sense that He follows up this episode with a lesson on prayer.
In scripture we are described as the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where He abides. We are His dwelling place. We are where God communes and He does not want anything to get in the way of our communion with Him.
Maybe its time to clean house. What in your life hinders you from communion with God?
Tomorrow is a day off. Tune back in on Monday morning.
