Getting into trouble
Tuesday, April 12
Getting into trouble
Then 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.’ Mark 11:17
Do you know that not all trouble is bad? There is such a thing as ‘good trouble’. Good trouble is what our Savior is all about. Good trouble is what Jesus got into when he entered the temple courts. Good trouble is necessary when it comes to calling out things that are not right. As He was getting into good trouble Jesus quoted two important Old Testament prophets- Isaiah and Jeremiah. Isaiah revealed that God’s promise of salvation extended further than just Israel. In Jesus’ day, the temple had become a place where walls separated and secluded Israel from the other nations. Jesus intended to crumble those walls and bring all nations together in God’s house.
Isaiah 56:6-7 says, “‘And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’ Jeremiah 7:2-3 says, “‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.’
Both Isaiah and Jeremiah had the difficult task of reminding his stubborn audience that something sacred and holy could become perverted. They were getting into good trouble for the kingdoms sake. Jesus created a disturbance to call them to something better.