VS. April 20, 2025 Easter Sunday Devotional
April 20, 2025
MATTHEW 21:12-13 | 12 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. 13 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.”
This week we contrast patience and anger. In this passage we see that during holy week Jesus became angry in the Temple in Jerusalem. Anger is a necessary and righteous response to some of the evil and exploitation in our world. But to be righteous, anger must be directed at the right things, in the right way, to the right degree. Jesus was upset in the first place, because of the way the pilgrims coming to Jerusalem were being treated. They had to have approved sacrifices in order to participate in worship and temple workers could disprove what pilgrims bought and then sell them “proper” animals at an inflated price. Similarly, payment was only accepted in the Temple currency and there was a surcharge for turning other forms of money into an acceptable form. Everyone was required to come to the festival, the city was expensive and so, profit was made in the name of religion at the expense of the vulnerable!
When have you had to stand up for someone who was exploited?
Gracious God,
Help my anger to be righteous—directed at real wrongs, proportionate, and expressed in the right way.
Amen.
