Daily Devotional for Saturday, April 25

The Purification by Jesus

“And he went into the temple. and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves,” Luke 19:45, 46.

In Deuteronomy 14:22-26, God made provision for those who could not bring an animal sacrifice to the Temple. If the way was too long, they could sell their animal and bring the proceeds to the place of worship and there, buy what they desired. This was a straightforward and pure system, but generations of humanity corrupt any great system.

I watched an episode recently where the dad encouraged his children to make some money. He gave several ideas, and one was a yard sale. He told them to gather some toys and clothes they did not want anymore and set up a table in the yard. He even contributed items from the garage. The dad then left them to it, went inside and turned on a football game. The kids enjoyed making money so much, they began sneaking into the house and grabbing other items! When the dad went out to check on them later, he discovered his children’s large wad of cash, and many of their household goods, including some precious wedding gifts. He frantically scooped them up and even had to buy back things from people at the sale.

When Jesus entered the Temple in Luke 19, He found His pure, innocent system had been corrupted. What was meant to make worship less burdensome for travelers had become a money-making scheme. He was disgusted and drove out the vendors. He quoted two verses to condemn them. Isaiah 56:7—“for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people”—and Jeremiah 7:11—“Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.” The Lord sees and corrects our corruption.

THOUGHT

“For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (Psalm 69:9).

Kelli Reynolds