His disciples remembered that the scripture says,
"My devotion to your house, O God, burns in me like a fire." –John
2:17 (TEV)
Jesus
goes to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival; one of three festivals that were
‘required attendance’ for all Jewish males.
In
the Temple he discovers, not a focus on prayer but a focus on money! Wealth/Mammon is the chief rival to the one,
true God. Today, as in Jesus’ time, the
lure/love of money draws us away from a devotion to God, the source of our true
wealth.
People
came to the Temple needing to buy animals for sacrifice and pay the half shekel
temple tax. The money-changers would
take the local Roman coin and change it into the Jewish coin necessary to pay
the tax (for a fee). Turning the Temple
into a marketplace took the focus away from the relationship with the one, true
God.
This
brings to mind all the distractions that keep us from hearing and talking to the
one God in our lives that seeks to love & bless, guide & strengthen us. Do ‘marketplaces’ keep you from focusing on
the call to prayer and deeper connection with the God who is your life?
Pray...for
yourself and for us all...that we may turn away from the marketplaces that
distract us from connecting with the One who is our life...our health...and our
most satisfying wealth.
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