Tags
Anger, Heal, Homeless, Jesus, Jesus Sayings, Matthew 21, Miracle, Miracles, Praise, Religious Leaders, Sick
When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?
Source: Matthew 21:15-16 (The Message)
Jesus, in the eyes of the religious leaders, was doing some outrageous things. If Jesus came into a church today, would he do something similar? Maybe. Probably.
In some churches, I find book stores, food courts, coffee bars and kiosks of every kind. After they have tried to extract every penny out my bank account, eventually a place to worship, if you can call it that.
What don’t you find? The homeless, the hungry, the sick and criminals just let of jail. Why?
What did Jesus do that was outrageous? First, he chased the merchants out of the temple. Jesus told them: “My house was designated a house of prayer; You have made it a hangout for thieves.” Once he kicked them out, then he started healing people. With that, the children started running around praising Jesus. I’ve seen that before and it is glorious.
Imagine the chaos Jesus created. Doves flying everywhere, people being healed and children running around praising Jesus. Oh my! A freak out of the first order of magnitude.
Why did this upset the religious leaders so much? Jesus recognized they were in the “business of religion”. That made Jesus mad. It happens, way too often. Without the power of Jesus, a church will worry about how to market themselves better. Don’t you want to know 4 Must-Know Church Marketing Secrets? If you are really curious, Google is happy to tee up 3,300,000 articles on church marketing.
Who really knew what was going on? Of course primarily the children. And those who were healed.
So, what did Jesus do?
Fed up, Jesus turned on his heel and left the city for Bethany, where he spent the night.
Source: Matthew 21:17 (The Message)
As they say, Jesus got out of Dodge.
Far too many churches market everything except Jesus! On the day of Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit was the only thing “marketed” and it did wonders to bring the people in. We generally say we want that, but the days of denial, fasting, and prayer were necessary then – as they are now. When I think of that, I find it difficult to point to all the other people out there. I’m reminded that what I contribute, has to start with me! Good post.
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Thanks so very much for the great insight.
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Where you find children in church, you find parents, in my opinion. Best marketing tip, in my opinion.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
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Excellent! Love it. Thanks.
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