Monday Family Devotional
Jesus Cleanses the Temple

On the day after Jesus entered Jerusalem, he went to the temple. The temple was the most important place for God’s people to worship. It was where they came to pray, offer sacrifices for sin, and remember that God lived among them.

But when Jesus arrived, he saw something troubling. Instead of people praying and worshipping, the temple had become crowded with people buying and selling animals and exchanging money, using the temple to cheat and take advantage of people. What was meant to be a place of worship had become a place of business and lying.

So Jesus overturned the tables and forced those people out. He said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.” Jesus wasn’t losing his temper or out of control. He cared deeply about honouring God and protecting true worship.

Imagine if you cleaned your room so carefully so it could be a quiet and tidy place to read, or play. But then someone came in and started messing everything up! You would be upset, because the room was meant for something better.

That’s what happened in the temple. God designed it to be a place where people worshipped and met with him. Jesus was showing that God deserves worship that comes from the heart. Soon, Jesus would do something even greater. Through his death and resurrection, he would make a way for people everywhere to come to God.

1. Why was Jesus upset when he saw what was happening in the temple?
2. What does this story teach us about how important it is to worship God?
3. How can we worship God together as a family?

Lord Jesus, thank you that you care about true worship. Help our hearts to love you deeply and honour you rightly, more than anything else. Teach us to worship you with joy and reverence. In your name. Amen.