SCRIPTURE: Luke 19:45-48 NLT Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.
THOUGHT: What would you do if you only had one week left to live? It’s actually a question I’ve been asking myself, and I bet it may have crossed your minds as well. This week, Holy Week, we’re looking at what Jesus did with his final days — and it’s worth considering if we want to know what’s important to God.
Jesus spends his last week in the city that he weeps over, the city that kills God’s prophets, and stones those sent to help her (Mt. 23:37). He puts himself in the crosshairs of his enemies, teaching in the temple, holding up religious leadership to scrutiny. So, it is a climactic moment in history when Jesus “cleanses” the temple. He believes, with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength that God intends this place to be a place of prayer, and says so with something akin to violence.
When I consider this scene and the circumstances — this battle he is willing to fight as he faces death, this “hill to die on” so to speak — I think we do well to pay attention. Jesus is laying down his body of flesh and fighting for the body of Christ. He is not seeking to save his life, he is seeking to lose it (Lk. 9:24).
How does prayer stack up for you on the list of things you would die for?
SONG: Nothing Else https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLBvCTV23qw
PRAYER NEEDS: That prayer would become the central focus of the church. That the house of prayer Jesus fought for would be established and the gates of hell could not prevail against it!
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