Today’s reading is Luke 19: 41-48

Today’s reading produces one of my favorite funny sayings – Why people ask you what would Jesus do, always remember making a whip and flipping over tables is an option! Today’s story is quite informative, though. What was happening here is this.  Most people would not have had access to the animals that would be necessary for the sacrifices that were required.  After coming to the Temple and to Jerusalem, they would have been in need of purchasing what they needed for worship.  However, the Roman money they would have been using could not have been used in the Temple, it had Ceasar upon it and he was worshiped by many as a god.  You could not use such unholy money in the Temple for worship. So, you would have had to first exchange your Roman money for Temple money to buy one of the animals needed for sacrifice. And of course, the “money changers” would have made a little profit in all of this.

So, see how hard and complicated it was to worship?  See how many steps the typical person would have had to go through just to ensure that they could fulfill the law and worship?  It too hard, too complicated, and too many people were making money off it.

The house of prayer had turned into a den of thieves.

Jesus wanted all people to have free access to worship, regardless of if they could afford it or not.  He didn’t want anyone standing in the way of anyone worshiping God.  So, to make this point, He drove out those that were keeping this from happening.

Now, this upset a lot of people. But Jesus had come to die for the sins of the world. And He wanted to make sure that all had access to that life-changing grace.

Today, may we be thankful for all that Jesus has done to bring us to the father.

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