Issue 1404 – Turning the Tables – March 25, 2024
It’s Easter week, the most crucial week in the church. However, I think the Western church pays little attention to it. We make a big deal of the Good Friday and Easter Sunday events but largely ignore the rest.
Indeed, the crucifixion and resurrection are the highlights, but we need to pay attention to the rest of the week.
Yesterday, the church celebrated Palm Sunday, the day of Jesus’ triumphal entry in Jerusalem. The irony is that while celebrating Him, the crowds didn’t understand why Jesus was there, and many would turn on him in a few days.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the rest of the week
Monday –
Jesus overturns the tables in the temple.
Tuesday –
Jesus teaches parables about being the Son of
God.
Wednesday –
Jesus is at his peak of popularity. The priests decide
to get rid of Him.
Maundy Thursday – The Last Supper. We’ll talk about what Maundy means and its importance on
Thursday.
Good Friday – the crucifixion.
Saturday – Jesus rests in the tomb.
Sunday – Resurrection Day.
Flashback: It’s Monday morning in Jerusalem. Jesus enters the temple for worship and sees it being used as a marketplace.
Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. Matthew 21:12-27
The money changers gouge people, exchanging their foreign coins for currency acceptable in buying animals for sacrifice. The animal sellers gouge those buying their sacrificial animals. These vendors are robbing people who have come to worship God.
Of course, Jesus is outraged, as he should be. He had already been to the temple earlier in His ministry and done precisely the same thing.
Even today, many will make their living by bilking those who want to worship God, the poor and the needy. Many peddle false gospels for personal gain. The Lord has no compassion on those rip-off artists.
The tables’ overturning should be a clear warning to those who would take advantage of God’s people. They will face His wrath.
God deplores all sin, but harming His people is high on the list of sins He deplores most.
The Lord loves his people, and an attack or abuse of them is an attack or abuse of Him.
In a few days, He would die to pay the price for our sins. All who trust in Him by faith will be saved. Even the vendors in the temple could be saved if they repented and trusted Him. Perhaps some did, but the text doesn’t tell us.
We have all sinned against Him in our lives. Perhaps our sin is different from the vendors’ on that day, but all sin is against the Lord and must be paid for.
If you are His, praise His name for His love and sacrifice. If you are not His, I urge you to turn to Him before it is too late.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah / Praise God
Kevin
Gleanings From The Word
Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life.
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
Never let the enemy tell you that you are worthless or insignificant. Your value in God’s eyes is so great that it was worth dying for. You are a blessing to the world. You are so precious to God that his plan for heaven will not be complete without you.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the English Standard Version (ESV)