God of mercy and might; rain down grace and peace upon the life and needs of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from John 2: 13 When the Passover Feast, celebrated each spring by the Jews, was about to take place, Jesus traveled up to Jerusalem. 14 He found the Temple teeming with people selling cattle and sheep and doves. The loan sharks were also there in full strength. 15 Jesus put together a whip out of strips of leather and chased them out of the Temple, stampeding the sheep and cattle, upending the tables of the loan sharks, spilling coins left and right. 16 He told the dove merchants, "Get your things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a shopping mall!" 17 That's when his disciples remembered the Scripture, "Zeal for your house consumes me." 18 But the Jews were upset. They asked, "What credentials can you present to justify this?" 19 Jesus answered, "Tear down this Temple and in three days I'll put it back together." 20 They were indignant: "It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and you're going to rebuild it in three days?" 21 But Jesus was talking about his body as the Temple. 22 Later, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this. They then put two and two together and believed both what was written in Scripture and what Jesus had said. (The Message)
Our Lenten Journey is taking us to places where faith and doubt collide. It may have already happened within the time we've been on this year's journey or it may be coming. It will be a point where what the scripture says will stand opposite to what we think or believe. It will take our serious time of prayer to know what it is God believes and wants to share with us. It may be we may want to take an easy way out versus a difficult path that is laid before us by God. Imagine Jesus and His journey to Jerusalem. He went in keeping with traditions special to His people and He went wanting to worship and participate in those celebrations like the others. But Jesus found that the focus was not on worship nor celebration, it was on making money. The area that should have prepared people for the worship of God was more like a flea market. There were sacrificial animals for sale there as well as those who could, for a fee, change money for worshipers. After all, who wants to have only a $20 bill when a five or some ones do better in our thinking? Jesus knew that the easy path was to ignore this and simply go on with the tradition. The easy path was never one Jesus took. Jesus formed a whip from leather cords and overturned the tables and drove out the cattle and the "loan sharks." This upset those in charge, for they made a profit from such transactions. They asked Jesus by what authority or "credentials" He did this, and He replied with the not-yet-understood proof of His body after crucifixion.
Our baptism is authority to walk these forty days with God. It is our credential to make tough decisions concerning our faith in God. Our willingness to be a person of prayer and fasting and following God may not make complete sense to us nor to those close to us, but one day it will all make sense later. For now, hold fast to God and know that God is holding fast to you.
PRAYER: Loving God, hold fast to me and to this person praying this as their own prayer. Let us live a life that brings others to such commitment. We pray and ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
