I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 21-22.

    One thing that I always like to point out about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is that Jesus entered not just as a king, but as a king who is entering his city after victory. This is the week BEFORE His crucifixion and Jesus is declaring that He has already won His victory. It is in light of this understanding that I read the story of Jesus driving the merchants out of the Temple. Jesus entered the Temple as a victorious king. He has defeated His enemies, now it is time to clean up the corruption at home. The problem Jesus was addressing was not the business practices of the merchants. It was the fact that they were there at all. The presence of the merchants interfered with the ability of those who could go no further into the Temple to worship. What are we doing which interferes with worship by those who have not yet joined the Church, those who have are still seeking?

    The following day Jesus tells three parables about what it means to faithfully obey God. It is not a question of what we say when God calls us. It is what we do when it is time to do what God called us to do. The first parable is a contrast between those who reject the idea of appearing righteous, but choose to do what is right vs those who wish to be perceived of righteous without doing what is right. The second parable is about those who abuse the authority given to them by God. Finally, we have a parable about those who initially accepted God’s invitation, but when it was time to act on that invitation they could not be bothered. All of this tells us that it is not enough to say that we will do God’s will, we need to do God’s will. It is not enough to accept God’s invitation, we have to act on that invitation.