Thursday, June 08, 2023

¹² Then Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves. ¹³ He said to them, “It’s written, My house will be called a house of prayer.  But you’ve made it a hideout for crooks.”

¹⁴ People who were blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and legal experts saw the amazing things he was doing and the children shouting in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were angry. ¹⁶ They said to Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

“Yes,” he answered. “Haven’t you ever read, From the mouths of babies and infants you’ve arranged praise for yourself?” ¹⁷ Then he left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

       A Hideout for Crooks.  People often repeat the age-old statement: “The church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints.”  It’s a way of reminding ourselves and others that the nature of humanity is brokenness and sinfulness, and we bring it all – the filthy rags of our lives – to the Lord’s House, expecting that our encounter with Jesus will lead to forgiveness, freedom, healing, wholeness.  That’s what we expect when we go to church.

       And that’s what Israel expected too.  The people of God brought all their filthy rags to the Temple, seeking to encounter the God who dwelled among His people, looking for love and compassion from those who had been charged with shepherding them.  What they received instead was extortion from what Jesus called “Crooks.”  So, Jesus cleansed the temple.  He turned everything upside down or right-side up.  And then, He went about doing what the Priests should have been doing, ministering to the hurting and the hounded, the lost and wounded sheep of Israel.  O God, make me more and more aware of the ways I can offer your freedom and healing to the wounded sheep before me.  Amen!