Robbers

Matthew 21:12-13 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.”


I think human beings can find a way to take advantage of people in almost any situation. In this gospel account about Jesus clearing the temple court of the moneychangers, we see one of the most extreme. The leaders of the temple held positions of power and influence which made it possible for them to commit legal robbery. They exploited the people with a system that they devised as the only way to fulfill the law. It is no wonder that Jesus wanted this exploitation to end, but it us perhaps equally clear that he knew this would be the fuse to anger of the Sanhedrin. God can even use greed to achieve his purpose when necessary.


In this world we live in robbers are everywhere, if we look at the world through God's eyes. It was no coincidence that the early church from the first century shared things in common and made sure that people did not go without. It is no coincidence that the thriving eras of church growth in recent centuries had to do with the founding of huge Christian charitable foundations. 


We have experienced a change in values that echoes few other times in American history. You have heard the shift loudly growing since the 1980s. It reverberates under the catch phrase "The me first generation". Self- fulfillment, self-actualization, and other descriptions of the phenomena are not consistent with a Christian life. Jesus would have trouble with modern robbers as well as those in the past.