This is a devotional I originally wrote for 2009 Lenten Series published by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma.
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Devotion for 8 April 2009
He was teaching and saying, ‘Is it not written,
“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”?
But you have made it a den of robbers.’
- Mark 11:17
Jesus angrily overturning tables in the temple makes for a great action movie, but what does Mark’s short clip really show us as travelers on a Lenten journey? Jesus’ words point us back to the scripts of Isaiah and Jeremiah. Isaiah 56:1-8 portrays God’s community as welcoming foreigners, gathering in outcasts, creating a house of prayer for all people. Jeremiah 7:1-15 paints a dark picture for those who deal unjustly with their neighbors.
On this Wednesday before the dark night of Gethsemane, it is easy for us to fast forward and condemn the fickle Jewish crowds or curse the brutal Roman executioners. Sometimes we even skip straight to “the good part” where we become righteous participants in the death of Christ – inheriting the hope of resurrection – forgetting the rest of the film altogether.
In our haste to create a blockbuster, we just might miss the message: create welcoming places for all people, or as we Disciples might say, “We really are ‘Better Together.’” Scene by scene, like an acclaimed director, God crafts that vision of wholeness across the ages. Isaiah called on the people to create a welcoming house of prayer. Jeremiah warned against becoming self-righteous bouncers at the door. Jesus brought that vision into the temple. From one generation to the next, God calls God’s beloved children to continue the story.
These final days of Lent give us a chance to pause, overturn some tables, rewrite the script, and live out our call as the stewards of God’s house of prayer.
Prayer:
Ancient God, Ever New,
Open us to risk, seeing as Jesus sees.
Transform our lives into houses of prayer.
In the name of the living Christ,
Amen.
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