Palm Sunday was yesterday. The day of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the city He loved and caused Him to weep. The people hailed Him as King, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had now seen.
And so marked the beginning of Holy Week. Or Jesus’ final week of life on this earth.
I woke up with one thought on my mind … What did Jesus do on Monday?
Seriously, what does one do after a reception and celebration such as He had been given?
Taking my coffee and my Bible, I began to search for the answer. What did Jesus do on Monday?
Interesting to me, the next story in both Matthew (chapter 21) and Luke (chapter 19) is of Jesus entering the Temple. Perhaps it was Monday or Tuesday, we don’t know for certain. With as good with details as Dr. Luke was, he does not pinpoint the day for my inquiring mind.
What we do know for certain is Jesus was not happy with the activities being held in the Temple. He turned over the tables of the money changers and those selling doves. To them He said …
“It is written, ‘And My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a robbers’ den.”
(Luke 19:46, NASB)
After His triumphal entry, Jesus went right back to His Father’s business. Monday was a normal day. No fanfare. No taking a day off.
He cleansed and restored the Temple to its original purpose – to be a place of worship.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20. NASB)
We may not know for certain which day of the week Jesus restored the Temple to a place of worship. What we do know is He still restores temples today. May we let Him clean our temples, turning every corner of it over so nothing remains hidden and uncleansed.
“But
an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be
His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
(John 4:23-24, NASB)
May He prepare our temples and make us people who truly worship Him,
and Him alone.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
Somehow I never thought about what He would have done the day after this grand reception. But how apt that He would go on to the next things about His Father's business. I'm thankful He is still cleansing temples today.
ReplyDelete