Scripture

Matthew 21:12-13 (NLT)

Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

Consider

The Scripture passage Jesus quotes is from Isaiah 56. The complete quote is, “My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations. For the Sovereign LORD, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides my people Israel.”

God’s plan has always been to bless and heal the nations of the world. He chose Israel to be a people who would live in covenant with Himself as a witness to the world and as messengers to tell the world of the one true God and his great love. Like Israel, the temple in Jerusalem was to be a beacon of God’s holiness. God designed it to be a place where everyone, not just Jews, could meet the God of their salvation in prayer and worship.

Jesus arrived at the temple to find the court of Gentiles—the place where non-Jews could come and worship—completely overrun with merchants and money changers. The very place for holy communion between God and “the nations” had been preempted for commerce and, worse, for cheating the foreign worshippers with inflated rates of exchange.

Jesus pronounced judgment not only on the merchants and money changers but also on Israel for failing to be God’s instrument in redeeming the nations. He stepped in to recover their failed mission and established a new covenant with a new people—the church. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, he also established a new beacon of God’s holiness in the person of every believer. You and I are God’s new temple, and it’s our job to keep God’s courts free of corruption and greedy concerns, so that others will be attracted by the love and holiness of God they see in our lives.

As we enter Holy Week, consider the courts of your life. Are there idols or greedy concerns that need to be overturned? What manner of spirit fills your thoughts and motivates your behavior? Is there room in your life for the seeker who wants to know more about God and what gives you hope at Easter? Ask God to help you clear out your temple and make you the beacon of love and holiness that attracts others to Christ.

Pray

FATHER, grant me courage to examine my life and identify the unholy thoughts and concerns that crowd you out of your own courts. Forgive my greedy and dishonest behaviors that have discouraged people in my life from inquiring after you and your purpose for them. Like Jesus in the temple at Jerusalem, enter my heart as a mighty wind and drive out the sin that hides your beacon of holiness in my life.

Reflect

Isaiah 56:6-8;  1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Ponder

Why has God chosen to house the Holy Spirit in people rather than in a physical building?