{"id":557,"date":"2025-11-12T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/?p=557&2025"},"modified":"2025-11-10T17:00:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T00:00:59","slug":"a-place-for-prayer-matthew-21-12-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/a-place-for-prayer-matthew-21-12-17\/","title":{"rendered":"A Place for Prayer: Matthew 21:12-17"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"spoiler spoiler-style-2\"><div class=\"spoiler-title\">Focus Passage: Matthew 21:12-17 (GW)<\/div><div class=\"spoiler-content\">\r\n<p><sup>12\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus went into the temple courtyard and threw out everyone who was buying and selling there. He overturned the moneychangers\u2019 tables and the chairs of those who sold pigeons.  <sup>13\u00a0<\/sup>He told them, \u201cScripture says, \u2018My house will be called a house of prayer,\u2019 but you\u2019re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>14\u00a0<\/sup>Blind and lame people came to him in the temple courtyard, and he healed them.<\/p> <p><sup>15\u00a0<\/sup>When the chief priests and the experts in Moses\u2019 Teachings saw the amazing miracles he performed and the children shouting in the temple courtyard, \u201cHosanna to the Son of David!\u201d they were irritated.  <sup>16\u00a0<\/sup>They said to him, \u201cDo you hear what these children are saying?\u201d<\/p><p>Jesus replied, \u201cYes, I do. Have you never read, \u2018From the mouths of little children and infants, you have created praise\u2019?\u201d<\/p> <p><sup>17\u00a0<\/sup>He left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"passage-read-more\">Read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew 21:12-17&amp;version=gw\" title=\"Read the passage on BibleGateway.com\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"hyperlink-underlined\">Matthew 21:12-17<\/a> in context and\/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!<\/p><\/div><\/div>\r\n<p>In our event in this passage, Jesus arrives at the temple just days before He would be arrested and crucified. Upon entering the temple courtyard, Jesus sees it as a marketplace more than a place for worship, and it bothers Him.<\/p>\r\n<p>He chases the moneychangers and everyone who is buying and selling out, before sitting down to teach, heal, and point people to God.<\/p>\r\n<p>What I find incredibly interesting about this event is that this was during the week. With how legalistic and rule-following the religious leaders were on the Sabbath, we can easily assume there was no commerce happening on the Sabbath day of the week. However, the other six days were likely interpreted as being free days where the temple was just another gathering place.<\/p>\r\n<p>While the \u201ccommerce\u201d that was happening was loosely related to worship, it had fallen far from what God had intended. The people Jesus threw out of the temple saw church as a business, instead of seeing it as a place for people to worship God.<\/p>\r\n<p>Jesus tells those present, \u201c<strong>Scripture says, \u2018My house will be called a house of prayer,\u2019 but you\u2019re turning it into a gathering place for thieves!<\/strong>\u201d (v. 13)<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Looking at when Jesus says these words, I get the impression that our churches and the places we worship should be places of prayer \u2013 places where we can go to focus on God regardless of the day of the week. I wonder if we are limiting our idea of church to simply being a place we go once on the weekend, and maybe once during the week, when Jesus has something bigger in mind?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<div id=\"aj-wrap-up--557\" class=\"aj-wrap-up\"><p><em>This thought was inspired by studying the <strong>Walking With Jesus<\/strong> \u201cReflective Bible Study\u201d package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, <a class=\"underline\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/\" title=\"Check out Reflective Bible Study!\">click here<\/a> and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!<\/em><\/p><p><em><a class=\"underline\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\" onClick=\"rbs_aj_inline_subscribe(this, '557');\">Subscribe<\/a> to this blog and never miss an insight.<\/em><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In our event in this passage, Jesus arrives at the temple just days before He would be arrested and crucified. Upon entering the temple courtyard, Jesus sees it as a marketplace more than a place for worship, and it bothers Him. He chases the moneychangers and everyone who is buying and selling out, before sitting [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"nelio_content":{"autoShareEndMode":"never","automationSources":{"useCustomSentences":false,"customSentences":[]},"efiAlt":"","efiUrl":"","followers":[2],"highlights":[],"isAutoShareEnabled":false,"networkImageIds":[],"permalinkQueryArgs":[],"series":[],"suggestedReferences":[]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Place for Prayer: Matthew 21:12-17 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reflectivebiblestudy.com\/gospeladventure\/a-place-for-prayer-matthew-21-12-17\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Place for Prayer: Matthew 21:12-17 - Reflective Bible Study Gospel Adventure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In our event in this passage, Jesus arrives at the temple just days before He would be arrested and crucified. 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