Matthew 21:1-17
Reflect
This has got to rate as one the most volatile passages in the Gospel. If your perspective of Jesus is all smooth around the edges, and you’ve got Him boxed into that soft and tender guy image, it didn’t come from an honest reading of the Gospel. Jesus tells His boys to go and get Him some wheels (alright, a donkey and a colt), and simply tell the owner that “The Lord needs them”. Then His entry resembles Toronto after the Raptors won the NBA championship. As if that wasn’t enough of a spectacle, without wasting any time Jesus overpoweringly attacks the establishment and zealously overthrows their ridiculous market system. All this bombastic conduct, without sinning. With the sounds of the market owners gathering their pigeons and tables in the background, the temple has been opened to welcome the most desperate of the marginalized to receive new life. And the response of the elite and powerful: “they were indignant”(v.15).
Apply
Jesus didn’t hesitate to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Are we really following Jesus if we are not doing the same? How have we made an idol out of being comfortable while locally and globally so many suffer? Who is Jesus calling you to courageously advocate for?
Pastor Dan
Pray
- Pray for the Prime Minister, Premier Kenney, Mayor Iveson, your MP, your MLA, and any other government officials God brings to mind.
- Pray for Dave Schneider, our Youth Ministry Pastor.
- Pray for Karen Alksne, our Congregational Life Ministry assistant.
- Pray for our Congregational Life Pastor, Mike Bartusek and his family.