Beasts of Burden

Exodus 12:14-13:16 Matthew 20:29-21:22 Psalm 25:16-22 Proverbs 6:12-15

“‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” – Matthew 21:12 TNIV

God gave Moses instructions for worship in the Tabernacle that were of exacting standards. He made it very clear He did not want HIs people bringing the left-overs to use for sacrifices. Honestly, if we were going to select an animal to sacrifice, wouldn’t we tend to choose the old, lame animal we don’t think will live much longer? And if we bring that kind of offering, what does that say about how we see God?

Jesus goes to the Temple and now they have priests examining the sacrifices to make sure they are ‘good enough’. Should your animal pass the test, they will be happy to sell you an animal that is worthy to be sacrificed. It’s just a small matter of changing your worldly money into Temple money, and hey, they’ll even give a little bit of credit for that unworthy animal. After you go on to make your sacrifice, they take the animal you brought and add him to the animals for sale and continue to rake in the profits.

The very institution God gave His people to bring them closer to Him, to give them peace and to ease their burden under the slavery of sin had been corrupted into a get rich scheme that no longer gave people peace or brought them closer to God. Perhaps we don’t have animal sacrifices anymore, but do we have standards that we create and impose on everyone else? Do our churches provide an atmosphere where people can come closer to God and find peace and relief from their burdens? God wants His house to be a house of prayer where anyone and everyone is always welcome, as long as they are not driving others away from Him.

Father God, help us to remember that our churches are places for Your people to worship You. Teach us how to make our churches places where people come to find You and the peace and forgiveness You have to offer, not to burden them further. Amen.