If you are joining us in reading through the Gospel of Matthew today’s reading is Matthew 21:1-17 and the devotion is taken from verses 12-13. 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.’” We are now at the point in Jesus’ life where he’s made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This begins the seven days prior to his crucifixion. He begins the week as a hero and he ends the week on the cross. Let’s examine for a moment why Jesus did what he did. First it is important to realize the service that these moneychangers and animal workers performed. People who traveled to Jerusalem to sacrifice at the temple would not necessarily be able to carry the animal or animals with them. Therefore they would need someone who could provide animals for sacrifice. But this is where the service ended and the corruption began. This activity was basically a moneymaking, profit laden business. There was no thought as to the purity of the animals that were sold and the prices they charged were significantly higher than those that would’ve been charged had they not been in Jerusalem. In addition the priests came up with a methodology of money changing so the people were robbed when they exchanged public money for religious money. I think there is one other reason why this activity might be viewed as wrong in Jesus’ eyes. This activity was being done inside the temple, or more accurately on the temple grounds. That means that the priests were involved one way or another in this business enterprise. No place in the Old Testament is it mentioned that someone could not sell an animal to another for the purpose of sacrifice. As a matter of fact, not everyone would have been a farmer or herdsman and therefore would need to go to that herdsman for his sacrificial offering. But it was a private affair and not one that the priests, who should’ve been set aside for righteous deeds, should be involved with. While we no longer have sacrifices we need to be careful that the activities that we do inside our buildings glorify God and are not set up to produce a profit for the church.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 10:00:00 +0000