Dear Family and Friends,

Did you know that one third of the four Gospels are devoted to the final week of Jesus’ life?

The authors obviously thought that week was important. So do we!

With that in mind and with Easter just around the corner, let’s spend the next few weeks being inspired by the words of God that describe that week.

We’ll start with Monday of Passion Week.

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.’”  ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

On the surface it appears Jesus resented the commercialization of God’s house.

People were traveling from afar to atone for their sins. Many arrived in Jerusalem with the wrong currency (Roman coins would not do) and needing an animal to sacrifice.

So the money changers and pigeon sellers charged what the market could bear.

They were like the concessionaires at this year’s Super Bowl who charged $50 for a hotdog, popcorn and beer.

Furthermore, the money changers and sellers were doing business inside the temple grounds, the sacred place for solemn acts of worship and prayer.

These alone were good reasons for Jesus to be angry.

But perhaps Jesus had more in mind as He turned the temple right side up.

Perhaps Jesus was trying to say that in a few short days He would be the temple. 

The place set aside to meet with God was the temple. Jesus would soon take its place. 

And perhaps Jesus intended the cleansing as a sign of what was to come.

That rather than having to pay for the atonement of sins, the forgiveness of sins would forevermore cost nothing. That money changers and pigeon sellers would no longer be needed. 

That by the grace of God, forgiveness would become a free gift.

Let me close with this confession.

I can be an ingrate at times with a tendency to not give free stuff much value. To me, free often means worth less.

For example, free promotional or patronage type gifts usually go unused until they finally end up in the trash.

If you are like me and tend to ascribe value to items based on cost, let’s not allow our relationship with Jesus to be valued in the same way.

Just because we didn’t have to pick up the tab doesn’t mean the relationship was free.

It surely wasn’t. Someone paid – on our behalf – a cost that we ourselves could not have afforded.

Let’s spend our week being grateful and returning the love Jesus has for us. 

In love always,