A Place for Prayer

12Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13“It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’^e but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’^f ” (Matthew 21:12-13)

Thoughts: Jesus is talking not simply about the commercialization of the church (that is always a real danger too), but about the corruption of faith in God.  The money changers served a purpose. The Old Testament prescribed a sacrifice for sins, guilt, fellowship, or a burnt offering.  To buy the materials or animals for the offering you had to pay money.  Only the purest animals could be used- and they were raised near the Temple (the sacrificial lambs were raised near Bethlehem).  If someone traveled from another country they probably would need to exchange their country's currency for the Temple drachma or money.  The problem was that they were charging extravagant rates- making a killing off of the faith- off of the church- off of God for selfish gain. The money changers were a visible and well-known symbol of a deeper corruption.  The Temple was not about rules and laws.  It certainly was not about keeping the status quo.  The Temple leaders were the center of Jesus opposition because they had the most status and privilege to lose.  The den of robbers was that they were the tenants who were rejecting the landlord. 
     Jeremiah (7:11) used this "den of robbers" image right before the destruction of the first Temple.  The faith of God had become corrupted in his day too.  Now before the second Temple's destruction in 70 AD, Jesus comes to note that the faith and Temple had been corrupted again. 
    A "den of robbers" points to a hiding place for those who are corrupting.  The Temple was not necessarily the robbing place- but the place where the robbers felt at home and safe.  There is a false safety that can come from a surface religion and a surface building.  The Pharisees, Jesus said were like "whitewashed tombs." That is, they looked good on the surface, but the inside was empty.  Our task is to make the heart of the church- and the heart of our worship at the church- prayer (talking to God).  We can too easily leave God out.  Prayer- about everything- puts God in.  Put Him in.  Pray about all things, and you will find you will grow much closer to Him. 

Prayer: Lord, keep me from corrupting my faith or having a false security in exterior things.  Instead, let my heart be filled with prayer and devotion to you.