The Scripture reading for December 2, 2014 is Luke 19:45-48 (Gospel) 45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ “ 47 And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, 48 and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him. Todays passage is so short, yet its message is so very to the point. Most of us are familiar with the scene of Jesus driving out the money-changers and the merchants from the Temple in Jerusalem. It is one of those rare instances in which we see Jesus get visibly angry (and physically so); in Johns account of this same event, Jesus actually uses a whip made out of woven cord to get the job done (this description, while likely literal is still unmistakably a play on the fact that there were livestock being sold in the Temple; like the cattle being driven in by the merchants, Jesus drove out the merchants in a similar fashion). But why was Jesus so angry? Sacrifices were made in the Temple, right? And to make a sacrifice you need (1) money to buy the sacrifice and (2) a sacrifice to buy; werent these people, the money-changers and the merchants, actually doing a great service to the people coming there? Oh yes, they were serving the people, but in a way that served themselves even more in the end. They had, as Jesus said, turned the Temple, a house of prayer, and so, a house of worship, into a den of thieves, a bazaar in which piety is minimized and profit is maximized. How does this passage then apply to our own lives? Well, lets talk about worship, first during the time of Jesus, and secondly, in our own present devotional practices. Jesus was so upset with the merchants in the Temple, because the Temples primary purpose was to be a central and shared location where the people of God (at this time, the Jews) could bring offerings of praise, offerings of thanksgiving, offerings of confession and of repentance to the Lord their God. We see this thought-process outlined with the Tabernacle in Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and we see those concepts put into place after King Solomons construction of the Temple in 1 Kings. But like all good things (yes, even worship), the Temple place and the sacrificial system was abused. People with an entrepreneurial (and an unethical spirit) took advantage of the Temples intrinsic needs: money and animals. For example, you want to sacrifice, but have no common currency (perhaps you are a Jew living in the Diaspora who has made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to sacrifice at the Temple), so you need a money-changer. However, you dont know the current rate of exchange. See the problem? It would be very easy for a money-changer to take advantage of your ignorance, and did they! Secondly, once you had your money, you would have to purchase an animal (the Jews were instructed via the Torah to bring the first fruits of their herds and flocks as an offering to God, so already, the process train has been de-railed). How about that scraggly sheep in the corner, the sickly heifer who looks near death? Theyre the cheapest options! Lets give those to God! Worship at the Temple had become capitalistic and apathetic. Lets do it to make money (the merchants); lets do it to, well, get it over with (those offering the sacrifice). While Jewish worship during the time of Jesus looks very different from our own, the mentalities with which people approached (and presently approach) worship are not so different. How often do we come to church because its convenient, its comfortable, its easy, or its fun? How often do view worship as a cheap and quick spiritual high? After all, you dont HAVE to put money in the offering plate. You dont HAVE to sing during the corporate time of worship. You yourself dont HAVE to pray out loud. You dont HAVE to pay attention during the message. And you dont HAVE to worship. But thats because worship is inherently a voluntary act, an act of a free and loving will. Today, Christian, I challenge you to ask yourself, What have I turned the house of God (a house of prayer, and communion, and worship) into? In what way am I a thief, a money-changer, a merchant? After all, when we come into Gods house, we want him to embrace us, we want him to say, I hear your prayer, your confession, your praise, not chase us out in wrath and indignation. Amen.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 16:00:38 +0000
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