Welcome to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast written and produced by the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. Thank you for joining us today. This is Holy Week, a time when Christians everywhere observe the days leading up to the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ. This week, we present a special set of podcasts that day by day, trace the activities and words of Jesus during this time. Again, thank you for joining us on this journey.

In this scene, an event which is recorded in all four gospels, Jesus calls out injustice toward the poor and marginalized, and toward God. The temple, intended to be a place of reverence and worship, had become a mechanism of oppression. The poorest people, who could afford only the minimal sacrifice, were being taken advantage of the most. They were subject to price gouging, and because they had to exchange their currency for temple-approved coins prior to the sale—often at unfair rates—they were doubly wronged.

The money changers and merchants in the temple courts were participating in a system of social and divine injustice. Jesus, in overturning the tables and clearing out the temple, was protesting that system and its oppression of the vulnerable, under the guise of religious practice. In doing so, Jesus was also restoring the temple to its right purpose, realigning worship with God’s will and removing the barriers that kept people from experiencing God’s presence.

Religion at its best leads humanity closer to God and into personal and social holiness. Religion at its worst has, throughout human history, served as a means for some groups to suppress and disadvantage others, obstructing the relationship between humanity and God.

As we remember Jesus’ journey toward the cross during this Holy Week, and especially as we read of Jesus clearing the temple, I cannot help but think of those places Jesus might enter and clear out in righteous anger and indignation if he were here now. Where might Jesus be calling us today, as His followers, to go, turn over some tables?

Lord Jesus, forgive us when we, in our human frailty, have turned your house of worship into a den of thieves. Open our eyes to the ways our religious practice might serve to harm the vulnerable or to hinder those who seek you. Call us into those places where tables need overturning, that you might restore all your people into right relationship with you. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the...