A House of Prayer November 24

I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it. In my mouth it was like sweet honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Revelations 10:10

Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.'" Luke 19:45-46

Piety

Jesus, help us to expel the money-changers from our lives so we can fully rely upon you, your word and your works. Help us to taste the sweetness of your message so that we can endure the bitterness of the suffering we must endure for your sake. Let us hang on your every word and not the word of the advertisers and merchants who commercialize the glorious God-becoming-human Day when you came into the world to save us. Deliver us from evil and grant us peace today so we can do your will. Amen.

Study

Lesson one: Reality contains both the good and the bad. The good and bad exist side by side. The sweet turns sour. The Good News (victory and salvation) also contains the Bad News (the need for suffering and costly grace).

Lesson two: Doing the right thing (choosing rightly) will not always bring admiration but often such acts will bring envy and scorn. The effect is not what was intended.

There will be no “Black Friday” in the temple today. On that annual day when retail sales accounting ledgers finally move into the black (profit) from the red (losses), Jesus is expelling the merchants from the temple. So they will not have a chance to make a profit on the backs of the worshippers.

Jesus intends to cleanse the temple so it will be pure for his teaching. With this story, Luke presents us with another confrontation about the proper role of money in our life and commerce in a life of prayer. The “house of prayer” is presented in direct opposition to the life run by commercial interests. Commerce becomes the “den of thieves.”

Rather than being universally respected for cleansing the temple, Jesus is scorned by the leadership and they begin to seek ways to put him to death.

Such actions were prophesied in the Old Testament where we read in Psalm 69:10 – “Because zeal for your house consumes me, I am scorned by those who scorn you.” His absolute commitment to God’s cause brings on the forces of opposition.

Action

Why not participate in Buy Nothing Day (http://www.adbusters.com/) as a way of reclaiming the holiday spirit from Wal-Mart and Target, Best Buy and Circuit City?

Do you know that the ten “must-have” gadgets (as listed by http://www.cnet.com/) will set you back a cool $10,000? Actually, the products will add up to only $9,442.98 including sales tax but not including gas, parking, tolls, and time. From the Playstation 3 and the 50 inch plasma TV to the Dell notebook computer and the IPod Nano, we are told that our life will not be complete without these gadgets.

No wonder some people estimate that 20 percent of the world’s population consumes 80 percent of the resources.[1] We can put a stop to this imbalance for 24 hours. Try going 24 hours without buying anything. Instead, make some of your year-end charitable contributions early.

“Hit the Malls” (sung to the tune of Deck the Halls)

Holiday’s are not for stressing fa la la la la la la la la
Love your children count your blessings fa la la la la la la la la
Jesus wasn’t into shopping fa la la la la la la la la
So this year give the gift of nothing fa la la la la la la la la.



[1] http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/