“My house shall be called a house of prayer.” —Matthew 21:13
“Hosanna to the Son of David!” shouted the crowds when Jesus entered Jerusalem. They acknowledged Him as Messiah, the long-awaited deliverer of Israel. They were excited!
After all, nobody had ever done miracles like He did. Such a wide variety of miracles, with power they had never seen before. They were expectant, anticipating another miracle, only this time against their cruel Roman oppressors.
Can you imagine what He is going to do to them? Surely, He came to lift the Roman boot off our necks!
Then Jesus did the unexpected. He ignored the Romans and went straight to the heart of the nation: the Temple. He carried no weapons, and no army backed him up. His mind was not on politics. What was first and foremost on the mind and heart of Jesus was God’s Temple—His house.
He came looking for something, and He did not find it.
He was looking for prayer. Instead, He found money-changers and sellers of merchandise set up in the courts designated for prayer. No place to pray! Jesus was angrier over the corruption of the Temple than anything the Romans were doing.
As He turned over the tables and drove out all those who bought and sold, He exclaimed, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves.”
Tables, chairs, and coins all went flying, and nobody said anything or attempted to interfere. Before thousands of worshipers and bewildered merchants, priests, and peasants, Jesus shook that place to its core. When someone hindered His people from praying, Jesus got mad and went to battle on their behalf.
Perhaps there is no other place in Scripture that gives us a clearer picture of God’s heart regarding prayer. After salvation itself, it’s the priority. Without prayer there is no personal relationship with the Father. He longs for that relationship.
The New Testament says there is now another temple, one made up of believers like you and me (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). God wants His house to be a house of prayer—still.
Jesus chose His battle that day in Jerusalem, and it was for prayer.
What battle do we choose? Will we fight to keep our temple a place of prayer?
