Entering the temple

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

ENTERING THE TEMPLE

Matt 21:12-13

12 Jesus entered the temple area 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. 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.'" 

NIV

This is a well-known event of Jesus driving out all these people from the temple area. It was not they were actually robbers or thieves, but mere business men making a profit from those who traveled great distances to offer sacrifice for sin. As the law demanded certain types of animals for certain sins, it was not always possible for the Jew who lived hundreds of miles from Jerusalem to bring with them thier needed type of sacrifice. So business men took advantage of their need and offered these sacrifice animals at a price. It might be true they may have charged over the fair market price, but that did not make them either a robber or a thief, but merely a shrewd businessman, charging what the market will bear, a practice not uncommon today. Jesus actually quotes two prophets in this one statement.

Isa 56:4-8

4 For this is what the LORD says: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant —  5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. 6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant —  7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations." 8 The Sovereign LORD declares —

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Jer 7:9-11

9 "'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe" — safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.

NIV

The temple was not supposed to be anything but the temple of God, a place of prayer and worship. Would it have been alright with Jesus if those merchants conducted their business outside of the temple area, in the streets of the city? Maybe there is more going on here than just the fact of doing business in the temple. Because Jesus quotes these two prophets there may well be some truth from the words of the prophets. What does it mean to bind ourselves to the Lord, to serve him? What does it mean to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him? What does it mean to keep the Sabbath without desecrating it? What does it mean to hold fast to his covenant? All these things God will bring to his holy mountain and give joy in his house of prayer. Is this just Old Testament truths under the old covenant? Jesus, the new covenant quotes these words and so he brings them into the new covenant as well. Secondly, those who do not steal and murder, or commit adultery and perjury are not robbers. But those who do are. Those who burn incense to Baal and follow other gods and then come to the Temple and declare they are safe are really the robbers. How does all this apply to us today? Do we merely give God lip service? Do we say we have bound ourselves to him, but in reality we are bound more to this life and its pleasures? Do we say we love the name of Jesus, but reality we try harder to make a name for ourselves? Do we talk about keeping the Sabbath holy, but in reality we really do not separate it much from any other day, other than it is church day? Do we really hold fast to the covenant Jesus made with us? He does. Do we truly find joy in prayer or do we simply consider it like a duty, or obligation? Maybe we simply use it to list our needs or wants but pay little to no attention to what the Lord has to say to us. Have we become robbers? Do we have other gods, but claim our gift of eternal life in God? What other gods could we worship? The god of greed, lust, self-interest, self-pleasure. The god of success, or prosperity. The god of education or knowledge. The god of money, or accumulation. The god of more.  There are so many gods we could get involved with it staggers the mind. Yet we come to church and claim or declare our love for God. Have we even turned our church into a business? Do we restrict our ministries to the world based on what is in the treasury? Would it not be better to simply trust God will provide that which he calls us to do? Maybe we even do that in our personal lives. Do we conduct our lives more like a business then a house of prayer or the temple of God? Interestingly Jesus will drive all that out from our lives. He will turn over those tables we have set up. He will chase out anything that will cause his temple from being anything other than what he intends it to be. But we must be willing to give him access to all the temple area. Here we see what Jesus will do when he enters the temple.