Friday 18 November

1 Macc. 4: 36-37, 52-29, 1 Chron 29:10-12, Luke 19: 45-48

A House of Prayer?

Luke’s gospel begins with Zechariah in the temple. It ends with the disciples praising God in the temple. Here Luke presents Jesus as purifying the temple from abuse in order to use it for his own teaching ministry. He does not criticise the institution, but its misuse. The temple provides a place for coming into God’s presence, but it could be used for quite different purposes by both worshippers and ministers. Do we use the church buildings dear to us to help us come closer to Christ and his people, or do other things distract our attention?