Monday, March 30th | Daily Devotion
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.’” –Matthew 21:12-13
TRANSCRIPTION:
Good morning. Grace and peace be unto all of you, my Father’s children.
Here we are on the Monday of Holy Week — and over these next several days, we walk together the path that leads to the cross. In the Christian faith and tradition, this is a high and holy week. Each day carries weight. Each event along this road deepens our understanding of the full meaning of Jesus’ ministry and the sacrifice that awaits at the end of it.
Yesterday, Palm Sunday opened us with the triumphal entry. Today we arrive at Monday — and what happens on this day is significant enough that all four Gospel writers recorded it. We read it here from Matthew, the 21st chapter.
Jesus enters the temple and finds it operating as a marketplace. The context matters. This is Passover week — one of the highest moments in the Jewish faith calendar. People have traveled from far and near to observe it, and many of them could not carry with them everything required for proper worship.
So a system had developed inside the temple courts to supply what they needed. That system, on its surface, was practical. But the people running it understood exactly what they had: a captive audience with a religious obligation. And they exploited it. They inflated prices. They profited off the holy. They turned a house of prayer into a place of extraction.
And Jesus — who John tells us arrived with a whip — was not moved by quiet disappointment. He was moved by righteous indignation. He overturned the tables. He drove them out. He reclaimed the space and called it back to its purpose: My house shall be called a house of prayer.
There is something deeply instructive here for us as we enter this week of atonement, repentance, and restoration. Jesus did not look at what was wrong and walk past it. He did not accommodate the corruption because it had become normalized. He spoke up. He acted. He realigned what had been pulled out of place — and He did it on behalf of the people who were being taken advantage of, the ones who had no power to push back.
So the question this Monday puts before each of us is personal and pressing: what is God calling you to be a voice for? Where have you been silent when conviction says you ought to speak? What has been pulled out of alignment in your home, your community, your sphere of influence — and what would it look like for you to overturn the table?
We are not all called to dramatic gestures. But we are all called to something. This Monday gives us our marching orders — and they are written plainly in Matthew 21.
Have an incredible Monday. God bless you.
🔥 Holy Week Revival begins tonight and you do not want to miss it. Dr. Santarvis Brown will be in the building for an extraordinary opening night.
📅 Tonight — and Tuesday & Wednesday as well
🕖 7:00 PM | 211 DeMott Lane, Somerset, NJ
Don’t meet us there, beat us there. Details at cbcsomerset.org.