Today we visted a new church in our area and had a great time. The kids immediately asked once in the car leaving church, "Can we move to this church?!" They were excited to be there and wanted to go back. Traci and I had a great time as well. It was great to be around old friends again, even though we are the eldest of our friends.
The Pastor preached from Matthew 21:12-16 where Jesus ran the gamblers and money hounds out of the temple and he specifically related the passage to the "passion" that Jesus had for the Church. In the message, the pastor encouraged all of us to want to attend church every time the doors were open as this was the passion of Jesus. I'm not sure that was the point of the passage though. I think that God was sending a greater message.
If you look at verse 14, the bible tells us that once he had run the thieves out of the temple, the blind and the lame came to him and he healed them. But, the "Religious Leaders" (according to The Message translation; the King James calls them, "Chief Priests") were upset when the children began running around shouting about the great things Jesus had done for those blind and lame. In fact, the bible says, "they were indignant", or they were "Feeling or showing anger or annoyance" (according to a google search). Now, why didn't the religious leaders get upset about the gambling and other deeds going on in the temple? Why did they feel it was ok to "defile the temple" but not ok for Jesus to heal people? Did you know that the Jewish culture of that day beleived that if you were blind, cripple, or had any other disability that you or your family had obviously committed a major sin against God and that was your punishment? The blind and cripple were outcasts! They did not meet the standard of the Jewish Church of that day! How fat have we come in today's church following the example of Christ? Or, are we leaning more toward the example of the Jewish culture of Christ's day?
I think the real message of that passage was the love of God! "How rich and pure! How measureless, and Strong!!!!" Such a love that God would send his son to heal the crippled, give the blind their sight, and heal our broken hearts! Jesus didn't care about what the Church of that day thought, rather he was much more concerned about sharing God's love anyway he could. Are we sending the same message? Are we helping people heal, or are we adding to the wounds?
