Tag Archives: the Temple

Holy House Cleaning

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 “Is it not written, ‘My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” Mark 11:17 ESV1

Read Matthew 21:12-16, Mark 11:15-19 & Luke 19:45-48

Ah! Spring! The birds are chirping. The sun is shining. The days are getting longer. After a long, cold winter, it is time for Spring Cleaning. Now is my chance to open up the windows and air out the house allowing the warm breeze with its earthy smell to penetrate every room. Now, I have the opportunity to move every piece of furniture and clean from behind and under all that has been hiding during the previously dark and dreary season. Now, I can finally wash the windows inside and out removing all the grime that has collected upon them over the last few months. I love that fresh, inviting feeling my home emanates after a thorough cleaning. I’m not the only one who realizes the need for this type of deep cleaning. Jesus was known to do a little Spring Cleaning Himself. One Spring day, just before Passover, …

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Preparing for the Future

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“Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near” Luke 21:28 ESV1

Read Matthew 24, Mark 13 & Luke 21

I am planning for a cross-country journey to attend a five-week discipleship program. I have been excitedly preparing for my trip for weeks. I went through my wardrobe, picked out appropriate attire, and purchased supplement pieces. I shopped for toiletries, snacks, office supplies, and little conveniences I would like to have available for myself while I am there. I cooked, assembled, and froze a variety of single-serving meals for my husband to eat while I am gone. I deep-cleaned my vehicle, inside and out, and made appointments for an oil change and a tire rotation. I cleaned my house, stocked up on nonperishable groceries, and used up perishable items. I paid bills, watered plants, sent out cards, and arranged for people to take care of some of my responsibilities while I am gone. I made phone calls, finished up tasks and obligations, got a haircut, gave my husband a haircut, and alerted the necessary people of my planned absence. Basically, I have done everything I was able and knew to do to get ready for this opportunity. I would rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.

Planning and providing for the future is extremely helpful, in fact, essential. But sometimes the more immediately urgent needs receive our utmost attention while we overlook the most necessary ways of planning for what is to come. In one of His parables, Jesus broached the topic of being alert to signs that point to the need to prepare for the forthcoming.

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Living with the Lover of Souls

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And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.   Luke 2:36-37 ESV1

Read Luke 2:21-24 & 36-38

Why was this old woman living in the temple? The temple wasn’t a house. It wasn’t a hotel. It had no bedrooms, no restrooms, no kitchens. Most of it didn’t even have a roof. As a woman, Anna wouldn’t have even been allowed in the roofed part. Where did she sleep? What did she eat and drink? Where did she bathe? From where did she get her clothes, and how did she keep them clean and mended? Who cared for her when she was sick?

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Sharing Secrets with God

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Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  Luke 2:23-26 ESV1

Read Luke 2:21-35

There were undoubtedly many reasons why God chose Mary and Joseph to raise His Son. One of those reasons was that they were obedient to His commandments. When Jesus was eight days old, “they brought Him up to Jerusalem [to the temple] to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’) [see Exodus 13:2 & 12]  and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons’ [see Leviticus 12:8]” (Luke 22b-24). At that time, Jesus was also circumcised and officially named. But more waited at the temple for the young family than tradition.

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