The Second Sunday in Lent (CL)

Matthew 21:12-22
12 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. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“ ‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Mt 21:12–22). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Jesus comes into his Father's house and finds it in a depraved state. People are buying and selling like they do in the market place. The market place or public square is where many people are cheated and some expect to get cheated. But God requested a temple to be a place of prayer and respect. Jesus is filled with anger and overturns the tables and money-changers.

But here should be the real focus. Children were still crying out "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Children sometimes seem to be a little more honest about things than adults. Adults will see a place of worship as a place of entertainment or a show. Adults can see the house of God as a community center. But God's house is a place of prayer.

I once heard a pastor say, "Your church is such a nice and welcoming place because you can see the children running and playing around the altar." Is the Altar just another "kitchen table"? Is the holy place where God has promised to dwell with his people a place of games? If Jesus came into your church would he find children crying "Hosanna to the Son of David" or running and screaming from the man turning over tables?

I am not sure what the answer is even for my own Church. But I would hope that God would look at our Churches as a place of prayer. Our Father's house is supposed to be a place of prayer. It is a place where people should not be solicited or surrounded by requests for money, but a place of quiet reflection and prayer. The Church should be a place where the people of God gather together to meet their loving Lord and Savior who does hold a whip in his hand.