Scripture: 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.’”
Observation: Jesus’ first act upon entering Jerusalem is to go to the temple courts. What happens next seems incongruous with what we think we know about Jesus. He “drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.”
Might people have wondered whether this was the same man who welcomed the children and invited followers to take up His “easy” yoke and “light” burden, given the chaos He unleashed in the temple courts.
Jesus quotes from Isaiah, “My house will be called a house of prayer,” and Jeremiah, “a den of robbers.” The “money changers” have misused the Lord’s house. How? Public prayer is clearly a function of the temple. It’s holier work than dealing with all that money, right? It turns out there’s a little more to it.
In fact, if we see Jesus’ action in the context of the Torah (the “Law” in Exodus-Deuteronomy) something interesting emerges for us.
The Torah provided the option of offering doves for a sacrifice in order to provide access to all Israelites and avoid limiting the sacrificial offering system only to those who could afford larger animals. There are at least a half dozen mentions of this substitution option in Leviticus and Numbers, such as this one:
Anyone who cannot afford a lamb is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the Lord as a penalty for their sin—one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. (Leviticus 5:7)
Since an offering of small birds was a sanctioned alternative if one could not afford a larger animal, Jesus’ rebuke seems to be less about the money per se and more about turning worship offerings into a commodities business.
Jesus’ problem with the money changers is that they have taken something (“my house”) with a particular purpose (“will be called a house of prayer”) and through their actions have turned into something else (“but you are making it a den of robbers”). Followers of Jesus take care to use things according to the design of God. God had a purpose for the temple, and a missional one at that—the rest of the verse Jesus quotes from Isaiah reads, “my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (emphasis mine). God wants all people to come to a saving knowledge of Him. The money changers were diverting the temple from its true purpose by taking advantage of those needing a way to bring their offerings to the Lord (“robbers”).
Application:
When have you seen something’s original purpose get twisted into something different?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may live according to your purpose for my life. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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At Christmas, it’s easy to let my focus drift from celebrating our Savior to commercial and worldly ideas. The world has twisted the meaning of Christmas, but I’m thankful for my church, family, and friends, who remind me what’s really worth celebrating.