Luke 19:45-48

He entered into the temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’* but you have made it a ‘den of robbers’!”

He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him. They couldn’t find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.

I think that the thing I love the most about Jesus and Christianity is the fact that I am free. I am a direct relative of God through Jesus Christ and I am not to be any man’s slave. I am only a slave of Jesus Christ. Jesus and Christianity have a way of quickly exposing tyrannical leadership. Notice what is happening in these verses.

The temple was the house of Jesus. He had every right and responsibility to clean it up. Anyone He didn’t see fit to be there was to be physically removed if necessary. This kind of thing that Jesus did when He was here is sometimes overlooked by people who think that Jesus was passive. Jesus took ownership of that for which He was responsible. He didn’t let people violate His house. This was a little “war” and Jesus was fighting it.

Notice that Jesus has set the people against the tyrannical and evil rulers of His day. The leaders were actually trying to find a way to kill Jesus but they couldn’t because the people really liked Him and listened to everything He said! Had there been a vote, it sounds like Jesus would have won and the existing leaders would have lost. There was a huge difference between the will of the people and the leadership!

It is good for a free people like the people of the United States to keep in mind that these things happen. We need to be on guard for those who would be “playing dirty” when they oppose what the people decide. These leaders that everyone thought were good, were actually plotting to kill Jesus. These kinds of actions are happening even in the United States today against the will of the people as more and more parts of Christianity are under attack. Jesus and Christianity need to be preserved in a society because they aid in the exposure of wicked leadership. It is no wonder that evil leaders wish to remove Christianity from public life, look what they did to Jesus.

Notice, also that the opposition wasn’t just from Rome. It included those who were in religious leadership positions as well. We must also be critical of our religious leadership as I would hope you will be of me right now. I encourage you to pay attention to Jesus Himself and to His Word first.