Day Thirty-Six

Day Thirty-Six // April 7 // Abandoned Principles

“To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox –

Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to the adulation of the crowds. His heart was moved by their hopes and dreams… so moved that He wept. Tears of compassion flowed because the people had no idea how to reach the God they sought. Their modes of worship born in the wilderness-journey from Egypt had become hardened, calcified. The religious leaders looked with disdain at the people who could never measure up to their standards. Behind a wall of hypocrisy and greed, the people were blocked on their spiritual quest.

In face of all that, Jesus walked into the Temple. This was the seat of the nation’s identity with God. The Passover He’d come to celebrate would have brought

observant Jews from all over the region to worship. For many of these pilgrims, it would have been a lifetime dream to celebrate the feast in Jerusalem. They would come to the Temple eager to make the required sacrifices and offerings to ensure their standing in the eyes of God and the community.

Long ago, practices were established to help these sincere seekers worship. The animals displayed in the outer courtyard of the Temple, the Gentiles’ courtyard, made it unnecessary for long-distance travelers to bring creatures for sacrifice along with them. Instead, they could be purchased at the Temple site, itself. Likewise, the moneychangers took in coins of all sorts, from all regions, and exchanged them for the accepted currency for the Temple, so that the pilgrims could pay their annual Temple tax.

What started out as an act of help had turned into a hindrance, into a source of manipulation over the years. Animals were sold at outrageous prices. The money changers charged exorbitant exchange rates. What started out as an aid to the faithful had turned into a shocking source of avarice. The sounds and smells of the animals, cattle, sheep and birds, filled the air. The bantering and bargaining between sellers and buyers snuffed out any spiritual atmosphere. The place of prayer was overwhelmed by the economic activities of Temple business.

It is into this chaotic scene that Jesus walks. Remember how Matthew’s Gospel records this moment: “Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”; but you are making it a den of robbers’” (Matthew 21:12-13).

Temple worship had so drifted from its intent, that Jesus said their customs must be abandoned. It remains a stark warning for us. We must be aware of traditions we cling to that have lost their spiritual meaning. We must never hold onto the forms of worship that have lost the heart of worship. Our God is alive and moving. And He is jealous for us. Jesus beckons us to bring down the walls for those who seek God. What do we need to abandon to love Jesus and all those He would give His life for?