"A House of Prayer"

“And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:15-17 ESV)

Luke has brought us to Jesus’ Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem. We so quickly saw all the miraculous events that led up to His crucifixion, death, and burial. I don’t want to get to this heartbreaking part of the Good News about Jesus so quickly. But that is the way John Mark recorded the life and ministry of Jesus. How many times have you said, “If the gospel writers had only recorded more of Jesus' life, miracles, and ministry. I just want to know more about my Jesus.” In the Gospel of John, he records these words. “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Everybody wants to know just a little more about Jesus. Still, God in His wisdom has given us everything we need to know so that we “may believe in his name.” I know, I know, but I still want to know more about my Savior.

Luke quickly takes us from Jesus' teaching that entering the Kingdom of Heaven is not possible by human effort to the truth that “all things are possible with God.” Luke, over and over again, tells us that God will make a way for us to have eternal life.

In the parables, teachings, conflicts with the Jewish leadership, and His compassion in healing the sick and raising the dead, all point us to Jesus as the one who “makes all things possible.” Now we see that Jesus sends two of his disciples to find “a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat.” Now, to many of us, this sounds a bit strange. How in the world can the King of Kings show His glory by riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey? But the Jewish leadership and many of Jesus' followers knew exactly what this meant. Jesus was fulfilling a 500-year-old prophecy from Zachariah 9:9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This trip into Jerusalem is known as Palm Sunday, when Jesus’ time had come to publicly, without any doubt, announce that He was the King of the Jews and the promised Messiah.

After his triumphant entry, riding on a colt of a donkey, after having the whole city shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus immediately goes to the Jewish temple, and His heart is broken; He is outraged by what He sees. They were carrying on commerce in the courtyard of the Holy Temple, not just buying and selling things and exchanging money from different countries, so that travelers coming to Jerusalem could buy sacrifices to be offered for their sins. But these merchants were cheating people in the very temple of God.

Jesus turned over their money tables and began to teach in the court of the Gentiles on the Temple mount by saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”  

The very people that Jesus came to save, the very people that God the Father had chosen to be called by His name, these people had turned their backs on God’s grace and mercy. They were using this holy occasion to defile the Temple, cheat traveling Jews, and ridicule this Passover festival. 

Jesus understood what it cost the Father to save the Jews that were slaves in Egypt, their freedom and their salvation from the angel of death. It was the blood of the sacrificed lamb placed on the doorpost and lentils of each believing Jewish house that showed the angel of death to pass over these homes. It was an event that pointed to the cross on which Jesus had to shed His very blood to secure forgiveness for each of us who have been persuaded to put our faith in Him. These merchants were saying that the blood of the Passover lamb and the blood Jesus would shed meant nothing to them. It cost God the Father nothing to secure eternal life for the human race. When in reality it cost the Father the death of His beloved Son. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

I know that Palm Sunday and Easter have come and gone, but as we read about the cost of salvation, please don’t treat the sacrifice of Jesus like it means nothing. Please remember when Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?  He meant that for us also. We need to be a thankful people to a God who chose us to be called by His holy name. We need to make sure that we live what Jesus intended. “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.” 

We need to remember the grace of our God.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"