Greetings Dear Reader,
After entering Jerusalem to the praise of the masses, Jesus had gone to the Temple the previous day. He had left because it was late in the day. He returns after spending the night in Bethany. He goes to the Temple again and finds his Father’s house filled with merchants and thieves. He encounters those who change common money to “holy money” at a greedy and onerous exchange rate.
The entire scene is one where people are celebrating their redemption by commerce and avarice. He knows he is there to die. He is aware of what the Father is planning and sees the way the people for whom he is about to die treat the celebration of deliverance. The Passover Lamb is fully aware of how those for whom he will die are treating his Father’s house.
I cannot begin to understand how he felt in that moment. The entire idea of this annual celebration is to commemorate how the Father delivered his people from bondage in Egypt. It is to recall the promise that One is coming to deliver them from eternal bondage to sin. Instead, the leadership cheats and robs their own people. They grow rich off of the faith of common people who have traveled far to obey the Father.
When we make ministry of any kind about money, we are guilty of the same thing. Jesus promises that the Father will supply all of our needs but we still think we have to take up an offering. We use guilt and manipulation to coerce money from the faithful. We evidence that we love money more in our embrace of it over faith.
I have attended a couple of churches that do not take up an offering and rarely talk about money. They have boxes in discrete locations for those who wish to donate to the ministry. They both have enough for their programs and are able to be generous to others in need. Unfortunately, I have also been in churches where the offering was the pinnacle of the service. The contrast is stark and obvious.
I find that I am wondering where the love is. I am not only pondering where it can be found but where it is directed. When Jesus cleanses the Temple, he is loving his Father and the purpose of the Temple. He is loving the common Jew who is being robbed by the priests and vendors.
The temple leadership is loving money, which Jesus has already proclaimed to be the root of all evil. The love of money feeds evil. The love of God motivates one to be generous. The GOD-man cleansing the Temple is doing so to prepare it for the ultimate sacrifice that is about to occur.
Where is the love? It is in the heart of the Son of God putting the place of sacrifice above the greed of those entrusted with caring for it. It is in the heart that sees that the Father provides a sacrifice for himself and does not need to rob us to sustain it. I think we must agree, Dear Reader, that in almost every place the church needs to improve its approach to money and love.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
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