Daily Reading: John 2
Zeal for your house will consume me. (John 2.17)
Devotional Thought: In John 2, two stories are set in contrast. At a wedding in Cana of Galilee, he changed water into wine. It was his first miracle. Miracles consume the imagination of many, don't they? Performing this miracle was indeed important, but that is not what consumed Jesus. We find out about that in the second story when Jesus cleared the temple of money-changers and profit-makers. Zeal for the house of God consumed Jesus. So great was his zeal for the house of God, that we find two accounts of Jesus clearing the temple – at the beginning of his ministry and then three years later at the end of his ministry.
Jesus was infuriated that people – especially religious leaders – would turn his Father’s house into a market! In so doing, they were preventing Gentiles from worshiping in the outer court of the temple, effectively blocking their “access” to God. When the disciples saw Jesus' reaction, they remembered the despair of the King in Psalm 69.9: "Zeal for your house consumes me!"
I am so grateful that zeal for God’s house consumed Jesus! He not only ensured that Gentiles could worship in God’s house in Jerusalem 20 centuries ago, he also – by his sacrifice on the cross – has made a way for all to come before the heavenly throne of God in prayer. "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations" (Mark 11.17). Thanks be to God for Jesus’ passion to bring people into the presence of God almighty!
May God inspire in each one of us such a zeal and passion. May he make us to become fervent prayer warriors who will seek to remove all impediments and obstacles that prevent people from knowing him!
Prayer: Lord, zeal for your house consumes me. Help me, as a person of prayer, to bring the needs of others before you. May I not neglect the house of my God. Amen.
Psalm of the Day: 33.8-15
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
13 The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
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