A House of Prayer
Why did Jesus scourge the money changers and sacrifice-sellers from the temple in Jerusalem? They had set up their wares in the first court of the temple – the court of the Gentiles. This was an area set aside for non-Jews to come and pray. The provision of such a place in the temple recognised the number of Old Testament scriptures that spoke of God’s desire to reach and bless the Gentiles (non-Jews).
Jesus was righteously angry. The temple leaders had turned this part of the temple into an excuse for taking exorbitant sums of money from Gentiles. Gentiles were told their money would defile the temple and so had to have it replaced by temple money. The currency rate gave the Gentiles a pittance to give for the vast sums they handed over. The Gentiles were constantly told their sacrifices were not clean and were forced to buy sacrifices from the temple at massive mark ups – sometimes twenty to thirty times the actual value. No wonder Jesus challenged the religious leaders of His day for making money more important than God (Luke 16:14). Any non-Jew with a heart for God was only allowed into this first court of the temple – to be surrounded by screeching birds, noisy animals and money hungry temple workers all calling the unwary to come to them to get the best deal. As Jesus overturned the tables He quoted Isaiah 56:7 “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”
The Jewish leaders and the temple had failed God. It was time for both to be replaced and a new people raised up who would produce the fruit God was looking for (Matthew 21:43). His heart was still to bless the nations of the earth.
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