Matthew 21-22; Proverbs 7
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There was a particular part of Matthew chapter 21 that was of
interest to me, so I decided to read each of the gospels’ accounts of that same
story. I don’t always do this, but
sometimes it is nice to get the same story written from different perspectives,
and you get additional details that way as well. The part I’m talking about is Jesus at the Temple and The
Fig Tree Withering, which can also be found in Mark chapter 11, Luke chapter
19, and John chapter 2.
This story of the actions and teachings of Jesus was of particular
interest to me because we see Jesus truly fed up … a holy anger like He had not
shown before. He was normally very
gentle and compassionate, but here in one chapter you read about Jesus turning
over tables and cursing a tree.
Things that are so obviously important to Him need to be important to us
as well … so why was He so mad?
Not only did Jesus enter the temple to find a marketplace set up,
but it was also ripping people off and making it hard for regular people to
worship. People would come to
Jerusalem from all over to worship at the temple, and when they got there they
would have to exchange their money for “Temple” money basically, and the money
changers were making huge profits from this. People would also have to buy the animals for their
sacrifices here, which were far more expensive than anywhere else. Jesus could not stand this. In John it says that Jesus actually
made a whip out of cords and drove out the sheep and cattle and he scattered
the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables! Jesus says, “My house will be called a
house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:17)
And then when Jesus was walking near the city He cursed a fig tree
because He was hungry and the tree had only leaves and no fruit. He didn’t curse it out of selfish anger
because He wanted something to eat.
It was because the tree had been created to bear fruit and since it
didn’t it was useless and unpleasing to God.
Some thoughts on all of this: Don’t put on a front so that you appear to be something that
in actuality you are not. God does
not like hypocrisy. God does not
like it when people are taken advantage of. God cares about all people of all nations. He wants all people to have the
opportunity to worship Him freely.
God cares about prayer. He
cares about the church … it is His house and it should always represent what He
cares about. His house should be a
“house of prayer” that is open for all.
And finally, holy anger is okay.
When things don’t line up with what is right and what God cares about,
we should be bothered and take action in response.
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