Jesus’ Life: Chapter 13 – Jesus’ Final Ministry In Jerusalem
It’s a joy when people listen and do as you ask. Don’t you think? It usually means they agree with your reasoning and respect your judgement.
Following Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree, he went to the Temple Courts in Jerusalem but sadly, and once again, he found the whole area converted into a marketplace and filled with farm animals, doves, money changers, sellers and buyers.
Jesus repeated what he had previously done; he overturned their tables and chairs and drove everyone out. He said, “It is written, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are turning it into a den of robbers!”
Jesus was clearly very upset, the Jews had not listened to his previous reasoning, the Temple and its courts were a place dedicated, by them, to God for prayer. It should, therefore, have been treated as a sacred place. (Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-17, Luke 19:45-46)
Thought
We may not always agree with other communities ideology but we should respect their ways of life and all that they hold to be Sacred.
Reflection
Lord Jesus, deliver me from the ills of my enemies. Guide me in my daily ways so that I never allow my observances in your Sacred places to be disrespectful.
Prayer: Guidance (Basil Caesarea)
Steer the ship of my life, good Lord,
to your quiet harbour,
where I can be safe from the storms of evil and conflict.
Show me the course I should take.
Renew in me the gift of discernment,
so that I can always see the right direction in which I should go.
And give me the strength and the courage to choose the right course,
even when the sea is rough and the waves are high,
knowing that through enduring hardship and danger,
in your name, I shall find comfort and peace.