House of Prayer ...

Tuesday, April 11, 2017. Do you know the following situation: you try to do some work, but it is overlain by special interests from different sides. Some people have a sense of power and influence, and it determines all they do. This can be much stronger than any particular interest in the contents or the concrete product, service or scientific question.

Cleaning up …

We come to a story in the gospel of Luke today, where Jesus is also digging into this mixture of interest. He is teaching in the temple - but the temple is used to pursue all different kind of things. Let us hear:

45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” 47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. (from Luke 19)

The story seems to be so typical. There is someone looking for a pure heart. It is Jesus here. But there are all the sellers of things, who to some extent serve the visitors, but who also have the temple as a basis of their income. This is not completely bad in principle, but it does not fit to the role which the temple has - it it seems obvious that the way it is practiced is completely missing the goal.

The power game …

And there are the chief priests and scribes and principal men of the people. These are people who know how to gain power and how to keep in power. They have practiced it, and they would not be where they are and what they are if they would not know how to do it. We also need to keep in mind that all this is not without God's approval. Power is given to men - to serve in it and with it! Power and responsibility is a service to others.

But the leaders here see Jesus as a threat. They are seeking a way to destroy him. For a moment, their hands are bound by the circumstances. But very soon, as we know, they succeed by bringing Jesus to the cross killing him.

The situation is threatening. But Jesus has a clear focus: my house shall be a house of prayer! In our own life, we will face similar situations. But now, Jesus has died and risen. He has gone through all of this already, and he lives! We can focus on the Lord, on the eternal God and savior. We can pray, and it will not be vain. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts