Point for Meditation: Mark 11:17 - “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Do we take shortcuts through the Church? Are we seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Or are we sometimes not treating this time and this place with proper respect?

After having gone into Jerusalem in the Triumphant Entry, Jesus went back to Bethany to stay the night and in the morning (5 days until Passover), came back into the city. Mark 11:12-19 has the story:

Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. ¹³And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.

¹⁵So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹⁶And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. ¹⁷Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” ¹⁸And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. ¹⁹When evening had come, He went out of the city.

Not only were people buying and selling in the temple, but people were also using the temple as a shortcut. In order to get from one side of the city to the other to sell in the marketplace, going through the temple court was a shortcut—and in verse 16, that’s what Jesus is stopping people from doing.

Do we hold the Church—the Body of Christ, the assembly of God, the pillar and ground of the truth—in high esteem as we should? God’s temple is now the spiritual body of believers called the Church—it’s a place of honor, and a place of prayer for all those whom God calls. Do we figuratively use it as a shortcut? Do we think of it as the social gathering place we make plans with our friends at? Or do we keep the Sabbath in order to earn salvation? Are we using the Church as a physical means of obedience in order to get blessings?

Today’s Point for Meditation: Mark 11:17 - “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Do we take shortcuts through the Church? Are we seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Or are we sometimes not treating this time and this place with proper respect?