January 12: Accepting His Love.
HIS DETERMINATION.
"Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a robbers' den."--Mark 11:17
Parents contend for their children's well-being; they even fight with an attacker when a child's safety is at stake. A woman, whose car was stolen with her little child inside, fought the attacker and wouldn't let go; her child was more important to her than her own life. She appeared in the news with both hands bandaged due to the injuries she sustained, but she was happily holding her child.
Jesus was determined to defend all His children from religious, economic, and ethnic abuses. The temple had become a fruitless institution, just like the fig-less tree (Matthew 21:18-22). It was time to do something about it, so Jesus cleansed the temple from the business-like environment and the merchants in the court of the Gentiles. Just in case anyone missed what He was doing, Jesus began to teach them what this was all about. "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a robbers' den" (Mark 11:17). Mark quotes more fully than the other Gospels the citations from the Scriptures that Jesus used to explain His actions and in doing so helps us interpret the heart of the matter. The first part of the teaching of Jesus comes from Isaiah 56:7; Mark includes the words "for all the nations" from that passage. Jesus was protecting the original intention for which the temple was designed: everyone was welcome to come to pray and worship the God of heaven and earth. But the religious leaders of the day, with no regard for "all the nations," had taken the only place where non-Jews could worship and turned it into a shady marketplace. No foreigner could be at peace with God in that noisy place, and Jesus was defending them! Just like a zealous mother defends her children, Jesus is determined to defend the right of everyone to come as they are to receive His blessing! All seekers are welcome in His Presence. Jesus fought so hard for us on the cross that His hands and feet sustained irreversible injuries!
My Response:_____________________________________________________
HIS DETERMINATION.
"Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a robbers' den."--Mark 11:17
Parents contend for their children's well-being; they even fight with an attacker when a child's safety is at stake. A woman, whose car was stolen with her little child inside, fought the attacker and wouldn't let go; her child was more important to her than her own life. She appeared in the news with both hands bandaged due to the injuries she sustained, but she was happily holding her child.
Jesus was determined to defend all His children from religious, economic, and ethnic abuses. The temple had become a fruitless institution, just like the fig-less tree (Matthew 21:18-22). It was time to do something about it, so Jesus cleansed the temple from the business-like environment and the merchants in the court of the Gentiles. Just in case anyone missed what He was doing, Jesus began to teach them what this was all about. "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a robbers' den" (Mark 11:17). Mark quotes more fully than the other Gospels the citations from the Scriptures that Jesus used to explain His actions and in doing so helps us interpret the heart of the matter. The first part of the teaching of Jesus comes from Isaiah 56:7; Mark includes the words "for all the nations" from that passage. Jesus was protecting the original intention for which the temple was designed: everyone was welcome to come to pray and worship the God of heaven and earth. But the religious leaders of the day, with no regard for "all the nations," had taken the only place where non-Jews could worship and turned it into a shady marketplace. No foreigner could be at peace with God in that noisy place, and Jesus was defending them! Just like a zealous mother defends her children, Jesus is determined to defend the right of everyone to come as they are to receive His blessing! All seekers are welcome in His Presence. Jesus fought so hard for us on the cross that His hands and feet sustained irreversible injuries!
My Response:_____________________________________________________
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