Cleansed

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

CLEANSED

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

There are a few things of interest here. First, according to the gospel of John, Jesus cleansed the temple once before. John records this event shortly after the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine at Cana. He went to Jerusalem for the Passover, and this is when he made a whip from cords and drove them out. John records that Jesus said at that time, “Get them out of here, “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market”. So, what Matthew records for us are the second time Jesus cleanses the temple as well as Matthew leaving out some details that Mark and Luke include. What appears to have happened is that after this entrance into Jerusalem, Jesus and the twelve returned to Bethany for the evening, and on the way, he cursed the fig tree, which in the morning upon the return to Jerusalem the tree have withered, and Jesus teaches his disciples a lesson. However, let us get to this moment of Jesus cleansing the temple. Although Jesus is cleansing the physical temple in Jerusalem, there is a spiritual truth we should see here. Because we have been called the temple of God. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, makes the point regarding what does the temple of God have in common with idols. He makes the point that we are the temple of the living God. Then, it would make perfect sense to consider that Jesus cleanses the temple of the living God, which then means that Jesus cleanses our hearts. He drives out the merchants, the material selling and buying of things, the money changers, the greed of the material world. Jesus is saying that we, as the temple of the living God should be devoted to prayer, or being in constant communication with God. Prayer is not always some moment when we wax on with elegant words for some special need. However, prayer is a time of speaking to God, as well as listening to God. When we examine many of the times the men of the bible prayed, the Lord answered, and that would have meant they would have needed to listen for his answer. All too often we pray but immediately move on to the next moment of our day. Prayer is also considered as worship. In the time of Jesus, the temple or the synagogue was the place Jews went to pray, although the temple was also the place for sacrifices to God. We, being the temple of the living God, are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices which is our reasonable act of worship, and being the temple of the living God, we are a place of prayer. This would mean we should be in constant communication with God. Therefore, because Jesus has entered our hearts, we are a cleansed house of prayer.