Remember Jesus

making the judgment that the religious folks in Jerusalem had made God's

House "a place of business" (John 2:16) rather than a House

of Prayer? His observation was made in lights of massive commerce taking

place within the temple compound - currency exchanges, selling and buying

of sacrificial animals. Many people were turning a nice little profit

within the House of God.

Now, bear with

me for a little Greek language study. If you trace that word "business"

found in John 2:16 to its Greek origin, you'll discover the Greek word

transliterated into English, emporion.

That Greek

word emporion is almost identical with our English word, emporium, which

is defined as "a large store with a large variety of things to sell."

Our shopping malls across the land feature food courts or food emporiums.

You can buy and eat Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Middle-Eastern, and American

fast foods. Take your pick. Buy, eat up, and get out.

Jesus was not

necessarily condemning the sacrificial system, in which his earthly parents

participated by offering two doves after the days of Mary's purification.

But he was condemning the evolutionary reality that the Temple had become

a place of one-stop shopping. By providing for all the religious supplies,

the focus had been taken off prayer.

Perhaps, the

bane of the contemporary church is that we feel we must provide more and

more to satisfy the diversity of wants and needs of our people while all

the time overlooking the one necessary thing: prayer.

You must agree

with me that our church models are models of religious emporiums: a little

something for everyone, yet little of prayer for anyone.

I have good

news for all churches, especially the smaller churches. You don't have

to have a jogging track to be on track with the purposes of God. You don't

have to have a 12-step program to be in step with the heart of God. You

don't have to have marriage and parenting classes for the hearts of the

fathers to be turned