Jesus begins to talk about the Scribes and Pharisees as being hypocrites and calling them by a name that would of been unclean to them, I begin to wonder what are those religious leaders thinking. Had Jesus become a rebel leader, had he become rebel in their ranks. If we only look at the one side of religious leaders what we see is a person not desiring to obey the law or religious leaders, it sound like talk of a rebel rouser. It does not mean it was not the truth, it had to do with causing discord. Anyone going against a religious leader is really sometimes biting off more then he gambled for. However did Christ support the temple of his day. We know he taught in the temple. We know he taught from the book of Isaiah in his early ministry about who he was. This is what we must decide is if Jesus is who he claime to be and is the Pharisees blind to it as God declared they would be or is Jesus a rebel. Jesus healed the sick, calmed the waves and taught daily in open fields and city streets gathering people to him. President Trump has a way with words, he always will. He signs things into law unless we see those laws in writing we have no clue whether what President speaks is true. If we take the last few weeks before the impeachment trial and put it with impeachment from the House, President Trump does not seem to face reality, but he declare he doing so much for religious right. Has anyone of the religious people taken time to read what he signing. Let us go a step further what is Jesus declaring rebellion against the religious leaders of his day perhaps not, he asking people to question his words to see if they are true and then decide who to follow. A politician will lie that is his nature and his call as politician. Yet what he does is something else for the people, hopefully to protect and enable them if he a good politician. Words of a politician is only as good as what actually occurs in changing of laws to help the people.

Jesus calling the hypocrites or is he only stating a fact. Pharisees were praying in widows house long prayers. If you ever done nursing home work, ever did visitation in ministry, or just took time to visit the elderly, some politeness is often faked, not out of fear but out of politeness and respect for one elders. There is a form of respect that is often done with no rebellion shown, but once outside the doors there might be disrespect? No the disrepect came when you pretended to take time with someone never truly listening to them. Instead you did your duty, and in the Pharisees case they said long prayers with no meaning but to the widow's house they were in. Word's without faith by the Pharisees. Now if Christ is who He claimed to be he could see the Pharisees heart in these thing, but in truth the people did not know the heart of the Pharisees. Jesus had the people at a disadvantage. Yet he speaking about something all people do when they visit with no real care about a person. I remember this one friend, that never asked me how I was or even seem to take note of anything. Maybe should not call this person even friend when I think about this person that way, but what connected us was things we enjoyed and did that make us friends? One can share with another human with no other bond but the one thing you share with them, but usually most people at least ask how you are. The point being an instructor or teacher cares often little for the student beyong the pleasantries and need not to know beyond that point of anything being wrong. Yet some teachers and instructors care beyond the teaching, and gets involved in their students lives. Preachers, and even Pharisees would of gotten involved from time to time in person's life, look how much time they spent listen to Jesus even if it was only to try and entrap and ensnare him.

Jesus is speaking as if these leaders had no care for the people. No they cared why because they sought to destroy Jesus because how it was infecting the crowd of people. They knew what at the time of Christ that anything stirring a crowd could cause the soldiers to come in to either shut the situation down, to kill or to set fear among a group of people doing no harm, or such a group had the ability to cause a huge stir that would concern the government to take some time of action to quiet them and to break them apart. It also had to do with money, for the crowd that was following Jesus would of been giving money to Jesus perhaps instead of them. Then we got to think Judas by himself carried the one money bag, could not of been much there. Then we have to think Jews brough sacrifices to the temple, maybe the why people in the crowd were being feed was by animals being brought and cooked over open fire pit. No recorded of it. Yet the Priesthood relied on the sacrifice being brought for food, sacrifice and reselling no doubt. They were loosing money.

The Priesthood swore by the money and treasury of the temple perhaps boasting of its wealth and means to take care of them, and yet when they did so they were swearing by God because they also swore by the temple of God. Yet they had forsaken God and seeking treasure within that had been given by the people. A church with no money can not give money to help anyone. A church with money can either only help themselves or can help everyone else. Either way money not used in mission can only be stored for the care of a church and those within the building that leaders chose to use that money for. Pharisees were swearing by God because of the wealth not because they seen it as being God's provision. Instead they swore by the temple and things within it not seeing it as being God's. It is like someone being on welfare saying they got a check and are provided for but never seeing it as being taxpayers money or that they are sponging off others because one is to lazy to work. There is a difference between a lazy person and one that is sick. Different between someone that is sick in need of help and assistance and someone able. Our government does its best to weed out those abusing the system, but people fall through the cracks.

The point being where did the money come from the heart of man that cared about obeying God even down to the sacriicial law that became a tax master. Priesthood prostylete, or convert people to Jewish faith to only then become a tax master to the people with sacrifices instead of stressing the issues of love, mercy and faith being more important then the sacrifice. Realize Jesus could see the heart of man, we can not. We judge from what we see not the soul. Is our president acting in love or the need for popularity. I am concerned for our nation as the impeachment trial proceeds. We has people need to pray for our nation and our representatives of our nation. We need to pray for our religious leaders in our land to care more about the ministry of the people and the dispersement of God's heritage to the needs of the people in need across our own land. Many people are already finding financial relief in recent year and changes being made. While others are still watching to see if it will last.

God's people can be generous but there money is precious for the work of the ministry. When I think of Christ ministry he was reaching the needs of the people because of who he was. He was turning over the money changers tables in the temple because they sold within the house of God the way the heathens did in their temple. People were making God's house a den of theives, instead a house where people came who had need and also a house that was provided for by God's people. No longer a place of sacrifice but a place of thievery. They learned it from the Priesthood, for the wicked religious leaders in Israel when they seen the wealth by performance of the religious art. True faith there is no money in it, and only money in places where the people where thieves try to steal from it in order to become rich. People in ministry must stand guard over God's people and their desire to steal from the people for their own profit.

Yes If Jesus was not the Son of God, the Messiah he would of been a rebel rouser in his day, but instead he came to show the people what faith, mercy and love truly was. If we did not know Christ prophesied his death, his death we would look very just by the religious leaders, but in truth with the resurrection it declared there sin. That why changed happened with some of the religious leaders that understood about repentance and got saved. We must be aware the temple would be destroyed as predict in Daniel once more in either 70 AD or 90 AD bout forty to sixty years after Christ ascension. With only a partical picture we see many things about Jesus that is not true. Only to adhere to one passage one can make out a good tale of a lie, but knowing scripture one can see a panoramic view of Jesus ministry on earth and his words to the Priesthood being a warning and well as it being one things that caused even more tention between Jesus ministry and the priesthood. Without the resurrection there was no hope, beyond the rules of the temple, and the sacrifical law for payment for sin through sacrificial lamb, Christ became our sacrificial lamb for sin. Our payment for our sins. We sacrifice today to help others and to give to our churches if we have it to give. Is your church a giver or only a taker. Does your church have it to give, if not are you doing your part?

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son Jesus who declare hard truths to the religious world about things everyone can be guilty of. Help us to live for you because you will to give even your Son's life for us. In Jesus precious name, Amen.

Continual Scripture Study for Devotion:

Matthew 21:12-13 KJV
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.