Lent 2018 Devotional: Day Nineteen

"Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves... And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching." --Mark 11:15, 18

When Jesus drives out those who are buying and selling in the temple, it is not the act itself that frightens the chief priests and Pharisees. Maybe those in charge let him complete his protest because they assumed he was an isolated troublemaker. They might have thought they could keep it quiet; this incident could be ignored and swept under the rug. But instead the whole crowd is spellbound. Suddenly he is no longer an isolated threat. He has the power of the people behind him. Now that he might actually be able to hold them accountable as a leader in the community, those in power decide they need to stop him.

What tables of injustice do you see that need to be overturned? How are you strategically working with others, in Jesus' name and for God's good purposes, to address them?

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