Hanging on his words

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

HANGING ON HIS WORDS

Luke 19:45-48

45 Then he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were selling. 46 "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"  47 Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

NIV

Having thought through how we consider the house of God our church and what appears to be a normal way for us to act in the sanctuary, there is this other truth we should look into. This is his last week arriving in Jerusalem on the day of the Sabbath, which would be Sunday on a calendar, he is spending his days teaching at the temple. It was most likely one of the colonnades where he taught the people. Luke does not record what he taught, but we know two people groups are reacting completely differently to his presence at the temple. The first are the chief priests, teachers of the law, along with the leaders among the people. Matthew records conversations between Jesus and those who were looking for a way to kill him. Some of it was about by what authority does he teach these things. However, we do not have the full exchange recorded by Luke, he just says they were trying to find a way to kill him. The other people group were hanging on his every word. Nothing has changed over these last two thousand-plus years, since the time Jesus taught at the temple. There are people today who want to put to death anything that has to do with Jesus or God. First, it was taking prayer out of the schools, then not wanting any reference to God in the public square. We could spend weeks going on and on about the ways this people group is trying to kill the idea of God. But it is the other people group that we find ourselves attached to, as we hang on every word of Jesus, in fact, on every word of God. We base our lives on the word of God. We form our way of life because of our faith in Jesus and the truth of his word. If we have an opinion it is because it aligns with the word of God, in fact, some might say that we are too opinionated and unwilling to accept any other idea about how to live. We do not know about everything that went on in the culture of that day, but today we think there is one other people group, the apathetic group. These are the people who sort of are right knowing God exists but have no concerns regarding him, or his word. They are not trying to kill the idea of God but they are in no way hanging on his every word. We must always be true to our faith, and our belief in every word of God. All of the scriptures are God-breathed, so we hang on every word.