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“Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving Him a royal welcome…calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son! Blessed is He who comes in God’s name! Hosanna in highest heaven!” As He made His entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?” The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.” He went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text: ‘My house was designated as a house of prayer; you have made it into a hangout for thieves.’ Now there was room for the blind and the crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and He healed them,” Mth. 21:8-14.
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Jesus’ response in the Temple is His only outburst of physical anger we see recorded in Scripture. I am intrigued by this single instance from our sinless Lord. Scripture warns us, ‘in your anger do not sin.’ Jesus leveled angry words at the Pharisees whose mission in life was to make themselves look better by making others look worse (by their standards, not God’s). But, this is the only instance Jesus is physical with His anger. I’m intrigued by what brought Him to this point.
Being fully God, He knew His time was almost up. The next several days that lay before Him would be the worst in all of history. The Man who spent His days unbinding the bound from their physical, mental and spiritual afflictions would soon be returning to His Father. There were so many who still needed Him, but His time to teach and heal was coming to a close. After He cleans out the Temple, the Bible says “Now there was room for the blind and the crippled to get in. They came to see Jesus and He healed them.” All the merchandising was clogging up the Temple entrance; there were people trying to get to God who could not. What could make God more angry?
This was supposed to be God’s house; a house of prayer. This was supposed to be the place where the playing field was evened; we all come before God desperate and in need. This was where the hopeless came to find hope. This was supposed to be where God seekers came to bring their praise. However, what Jesus found was a flea market of petty activity keeping out those too easily pushed aside. Those who longed for a touch from the Healer would only be allowed in for a fee. Would an outsider watching the Temple buying/selling scene be able to tell anyone, anything about God from what they saw? Would they presume this God worship was all about an exchange of money for goods? Where was God in all this? No wonder He was disgusted!
I remember having a small sense of this feeling while at a mall during Christmas shopping season. I had gone in pursuit of gifts like everyone else. Not finding what I had hoped and feeling very overwhelmed by the chaos that surrounded, I sat on a stairwell to watch. I felt God saying, ‘watch this and tell Me what you think.’
The mall was decked out in the finest silver and gold décor. Trees were trimmed exquisitely. Brilliant red bows festively draped long expanses. Lights twinkled. The setting should have been magical, so rimmed with beauty. But, instead I found a sour feeling welling up. I watched the hurrying and scurrying to increase; I watched the stress and the shoving; I watched people physically weighted down by their packages and mentally weighted down by seasonal expectations and I wondered, ‘is all this merchandising blocking the way to those trying to get to Jesus?’ A tradition started because of three exquisite gifts to honor the King of the world has morphed into a ritual of activity that keeps us from experiencing what was intended by the birth of our Savior, a celebration of God stepping into our world to pay a debt we could not.
In my attempt to take back Christmas from those who would only look to profit, I’ve looked for ways to have Christmas traditions be a portal to Him. For years our family has filled shoe boxes for Samaritan’s Purse. This is one of highlights of the Christmas season. This year I put a twist on it. I told the boys to save their God money (money they set aside to honor God) towards their Christmas boxes and I would match whatever they saved.
Their response breathed life into the idea of taking back Christmas. They saved and saved and decided they wanted to use some of their ‘spend’ money too. The Dollar Store never saw such thoughtful and intentional shoppers! They were continually asking, ‘do you think this will last a long time,’ ‘do you think my boy would like this?’ ‘will this break easy?’ I understood the intent behind each question. They wanted their box to be special to the child who might be receiving this as his/her only gift. We prayed for the children we will someday meet in heaven. We prayed Jesus would make us mindful about reaching into the lives of the ‘least of these’ in our everyday walking around lives.
To my amazement, we shopped for about 45 minutes and each of those boys forgot to ask for something for themselves. It was not until leaving time that Tad asked to buy a dinosaur ‘fossil’ from his spend baggie which he promptly excavated all over his bed when we got home! In the past the boys have always asked for items throughout the entire shopping trip. Sometimes I would allow them to choose one thing, at the end, that all three had to agree on. Those negotiations could go on forever! Sometimes I said, ‘no, today we are focusing on what we can give, not what we can get.’ Today though, they had directed their energy and purpose towards someone they will never meet this side of eternity. We regularly say, ‘with great blessing comes great responsibility to bless’ (Luke 12:48) and I saw them owning that as their own. They realized the abundance of what God had given to them and desired to be that blessing to someone else!
Being fully God, He knew His time was almost up. The next several days that lay before Him would be the worst in all of history. The Man who spent His days unbinding the bound from their physical, mental and spiritual afflictions would soon be returning to His Father. There were so many who still needed Him, but His time to teach and heal was coming to a close. After He cleans out the Temple, the Bible says “Now there was room for the blind and the crippled to get in. They came to see Jesus and He healed them.” All the merchandising was clogging up the Temple entrance; there were people trying to get to God who could not. What could make God more angry?
This was supposed to be God’s house; a house of prayer. This was supposed to be the place where the playing field was evened; we all come before God desperate and in need. This was where the hopeless came to find hope. This was supposed to be where God seekers came to bring their praise. However, what Jesus found was a flea market of petty activity keeping out those too easily pushed aside. Those who longed for a touch from the Healer would only be allowed in for a fee. Would an outsider watching the Temple buying/selling scene be able to tell anyone, anything about God from what they saw? Would they presume this God worship was all about an exchange of money for goods? Where was God in all this? No wonder He was disgusted!
I remember having a small sense of this feeling while at a mall during Christmas shopping season. I had gone in pursuit of gifts like everyone else. Not finding what I had hoped and feeling very overwhelmed by the chaos that surrounded, I sat on a stairwell to watch. I felt God saying, ‘watch this and tell Me what you think.’
The mall was decked out in the finest silver and gold décor. Trees were trimmed exquisitely. Brilliant red bows festively draped long expanses. Lights twinkled. The setting should have been magical, so rimmed with beauty. But, instead I found a sour feeling welling up. I watched the hurrying and scurrying to increase; I watched the stress and the shoving; I watched people physically weighted down by their packages and mentally weighted down by seasonal expectations and I wondered, ‘is all this merchandising blocking the way to those trying to get to Jesus?’ A tradition started because of three exquisite gifts to honor the King of the world has morphed into a ritual of activity that keeps us from experiencing what was intended by the birth of our Savior, a celebration of God stepping into our world to pay a debt we could not.
In my attempt to take back Christmas from those who would only look to profit, I’ve looked for ways to have Christmas traditions be a portal to Him. For years our family has filled shoe boxes for Samaritan’s Purse. This is one of highlights of the Christmas season. This year I put a twist on it. I told the boys to save their God money (money they set aside to honor God) towards their Christmas boxes and I would match whatever they saved.
Their response breathed life into the idea of taking back Christmas. They saved and saved and decided they wanted to use some of their ‘spend’ money too. The Dollar Store never saw such thoughtful and intentional shoppers! They were continually asking, ‘do you think this will last a long time,’ ‘do you think my boy would like this?’ ‘will this break easy?’ I understood the intent behind each question. They wanted their box to be special to the child who might be receiving this as his/her only gift. We prayed for the children we will someday meet in heaven. We prayed Jesus would make us mindful about reaching into the lives of the ‘least of these’ in our everyday walking around lives.
To my amazement, we shopped for about 45 minutes and each of those boys forgot to ask for something for themselves. It was not until leaving time that Tad asked to buy a dinosaur ‘fossil’ from his spend baggie which he promptly excavated all over his bed when we got home! In the past the boys have always asked for items throughout the entire shopping trip. Sometimes I would allow them to choose one thing, at the end, that all three had to agree on. Those negotiations could go on forever! Sometimes I said, ‘no, today we are focusing on what we can give, not what we can get.’ Today though, they had directed their energy and purpose towards someone they will never meet this side of eternity. We regularly say, ‘with great blessing comes great responsibility to bless’ (Luke 12:48) and I saw them owning that as their own. They realized the abundance of what God had given to them and desired to be that blessing to someone else!
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If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to Me, you’ll find both yourself and Me,” Math 10:38.
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If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to Me, you’ll find both yourself and Me,” Math 10:38.
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