Worthless Currency - March 20
I have this weird thing about Canadian coins. Every once and a while I notice I get one in my pocket. Someone somewhere along the line had the gall to slip me some “worthless” currency (no offense Canucks). I can’t in good conscience pass it on to someone else even though the size is roughly the same. So I have this growing pile of Canadian money.
The good thing is that God in his wisdom has called me to the Detroit area—right next to the Canadian border. Plus, the exchange rate is actually a little better now than all those years when I was “collecting” coins long ago. I could go on a spending spree across the border with all my coins. I could bypass the currency exchange and avoid paying any fees. With all my money I’ve been saving I might be able to buy a… hamburger or something like that. I feel pretty good about holding on to those coins. It’s great to live in Detroit!
In our text today we have Jewish pilgrims who were not happy about the foreign exchange. Jewish families who were displaced at some time in the past from the for corners of the world wanted to come worship the true God during the Passover in the one place to worship Him—the temple in Jerusalem. Many would also wanted to offer sacrifices to God. So instead of dragging an animal from their homeland far away they would just buy the animal in Jerusalem. They would also need to pay the temple tax.
The religious leaders had a system in place to “help” these pilgrims-the currency exchange. Their money was no good in the temple, because it was foreign and it had images of gods and people printed on it. So the priests created thier own currency. Of course the money changers had ways of gaining a nice profit on the exchange.
The temple grounds were now becoming a “den of robbers.” This offended Jesus and that is why he cleanses the temple. Pilgrims came to worship God, but instead as soon as they arrived they were bombarded with people offering their animals and money exchanges. This market placed a stumbling block in the way of worshipping God.
God wants our worship and prayer. The Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver 2 Cor. 9:7. This means that the money that we give is a response not a requirement. God would rather have our hearts than a handful of money.
The truth is God doesn’t always work with an equal exchange rate either. He was willing to exchange his perfect son for our imperfection. That’s a great deal for us. Thank you God!