May 27 2025

Tuesday May 27

Luke 19:45-48 – “My House is a House of Prayer”

45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46 saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' " 47 And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, 48 and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.

Welcome to Pastor's Chat. Today, we’re going to finish Luke chapter 19. We believe this is the last week before Jesus is crucified, and the next Sunday, He will resurrect. As we look at this chapter, starting in verse 28, Jesus goes into Jerusalem on a colt. The people are cheering, but as He draws near to the city, it says in verse 41 that He looked at the city and wept over it. Then He made proclamations concerning the things that were to come.

We need to remember that this what we call Passion Week. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on Sunday morning, and the people cheer Him, celebrate Him, and believe that possibly He is the Messiah who has come to rescue them from the Romans. Jesus sees the city and weeps because He knows they will truly reject Him. Then He goes into the temple according Mark 11:11, “And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.”

Did you notice that it says that after Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He went into the temple, and when He had looked upon all these things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. Also in Mark 11:12, we are told, “The next day, they went out from Bethany, and He was hungry.” So, on Sunday, He’s in Jerusalem, they’re cheering Him, He weeps, makes His proclamation about things to come, and then goes to Bethany, where He spends the night. The next morning, He goes back to Jerusalem, and that’s when He goes to the temple, as you see here. So we conclude that the event that takes place where Jesus is cleansing the temple for the second time is on Monday of Passion Week.

When Jesus comes to the temple on Monday morning, He must have gone first into the Court of the Gentiles, the only place where pagan Gentiles are welcome to come into the temple area, which is outside the main temple area. This is the place where the Jews are supposed to be doing evangelism, witnessing to these Gentiles, and telling them that God is the one and true God and can only be known by faith. But instead, the chief priests, priests, and many of the Levites have turned it into a den of thieves. They’ve turned it into a place where they’re selling goods and sacrifices to people who have come from other lands.

These pilgrims didn’t bring their animals, like pigeons, goats, and sheep for their sacrifices with them. So, they would have to buy these sacrifices. The chief priests and the religious leaders allowed the merchants to set up their little stores in this area of the court of the Gentiles. This area was being used for a "religious marketplace" where Jews from other lands could exchange money and purchase approved sacrifices. The priests managed this business and made a good profit from it.

Jesus goes into this area and proclaims, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” quoting from Isaiah 56:7. In Isaiah 1:11-20, we read the prophesy that people were bringing sacrifices, but their hearts are far from God. Jesus said, “This shall be called the house of prayer,” but you’ve made it a den of thieves. A den of thieves is the place thieves run to hide from the authorities. They’ve made the house of prayer, where God wants His people to pray, into a place where they’re hiding under their religious cloaks to do their business of taking advantage of people.

Instead of praying for and with the people, they’re preying on them. Doesn’t that say so much about religion even today? We run to the place of religion, and there we hide in our sins, try to act religious, yet at the same time, we’re doing those things with a heart full of sin, not repenting. Our churches, where we should be praying and seeking the face of God, has become a place where we try to hide our sins under the cloak of religion. Said to say, our churches have become a “den of thieves”.

May God help us today to do what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 1:16-18: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.”

Come to Jesus today, to the blood of His cross, and let’s make His house truly a house of prayer where we seek His face with clean hands and clean hearts.

God bless!