Focus Passage

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, ¹³ And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. ¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. Matthew 21:12-14

Introduction

Upon seeing the mischief being done in the temple, Jesus made the above statement as a rebuke to those who were misusing God’s house. Now if God’s house was being misused, it stands to reason there is a proper use of God’s house. But the people decided to use God’s house as a money-making operation.

What is the proper use of God’s house, according to Jesus? The correct answer would be prayer, especially considering it’s a house of prayer. So then, in this series we will be looking at what prayer is, what prayer is not, as well as what constitutes effective prayer.

But for now, let’s look at Jesus’ verbiage here. He says they have made God’s house a den of thieves. A den is simply where people congregate. The word that stood out to me as I looked into this passage is the word “thieves.” What is a thief? A thief is someone who steals something from someone. Basically, it is one who transfers property (usually to self) without consent from the one who owns it or is the steward of it.

In the text, the people were buying and selling. So on the surface, the business transactions look legitimate. I see the seller and the consumer, but where is the thief in the scenario? In order to have theft, you need to be able to identify what the stolen goods were and there must be a victim. So it seems those 2 burdens are not met. However, upon closer observation, both burdens are proven in the text.

The Accusation and Explanation

The evidence of theft is actually found in the unchallenged accusation the Lord made. They took God’s house and turned it into a den of thieves. This makes God the victim. The people had taken something from God (His house) and repurposed it to be used for their own greed. What goods were taken? Once the money changers repurposed God’s house, people were not able to receive from it what they went there for. Thus, cheating them of what they should have received at the House of Prayer. You see, once God’s house was repurposed, God’s people could not receive what they should have received.

Imagine you own a chicken restaurant, but the restaurant was turned into a clothing store. Now you can get clothes, but you cannot get chicken. This is what happened to the House of Prayer. It was confiscated and converted into a money-making venue. As a consequence, when someone needed the benefits of prayer, they could not find them at the temple…because of the conversion that had taken place.

Notice what happened once Jesus dealt with the money changers and those who were buying and selling in the temple. The blind and lame came to Him and He healed them. How long, I wonder, had they waited in the temple for their healing? How many people left the temple because their needs were not met when they went.

This is one of the reasons why I hold no bad feelings towards people who don’t go to church, in particular those who once went but do not go now. I’m not saying this to mean they shouldn’t, but that I understand. God’s house is a House of Prayer, it is a place where healing should take place, but many, like in this passage have turned it into something else. If you went to a hospital because you were sick and found out they converted it into a dance studio, you probably wouldn’t go back there unless you wanted to dance. I think you get my point.

To be clear, I’m not making an argument against church attendance, but I am making the argument that the Father’s House is a House of Prayer and it is to be a place where people go and find healing. And I’m making the argument that if people are not receiving healing when they come, there is a serious problem…a problem that is not to be ignored but dealt with boldly.

Conclusion

So you see in our focus passage when God’s house is used for its intended purpose, people are healed. But once it’s converted to some other purpose, God is robbed and the people are left out. Why weren’t the lame and blind healed prior? They were not healed because the people who should have been praying in the House of Prayer were too busy making money to care about the problems of others.