✝️ Faith Not Fences: A Holy Week Reflection by Jennifer Greene-Sullivan
As we walk through Holy Week, we find ourselves standing in the shadow of two powerful moments in Jesus’ final days: His tears over Jerusalem and His righteous anger in the temple courts.
Yesterday, we saw Jesus weep for the city that refused to receive Him:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” — Matthew 23:37 (ESV)
Today, we see Him confront the corruption in the temple, driving out the money changers and crying out:
“It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” — Matthew 21:13 (ESV)
And this morning, I find myself wondering:
Are we, the Church, still making His house a den of robbers?
Are we robbing the lost and the seeking of a chance to worship and to know Jesus because of our self-righteousness or hypocrisy?
Could it be that people stay away from church—not because of Jesus—but because of judgmental followers or their own self-loathing?
Lord, are we robbing the lost and the ones who seek You from a chance to worship and to know You with our attitudes and misrepresentations?
🙏 A Prayer for the Church and Ourselves
Help us, Lord, to see how Jesus would handle our current environment. Help us to be the kind of loving brothers and sisters who offer mercy so that no one rejects the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit because we misrepresented You. Help us be ready—Your hands and feet—offering opportunities to fully love, to extend grace, and to give others the mercy that Jesus showed, even to the people who infuriated Him outside the temple and who would go on to crucify Him just days later. Make us honest, humble, and merciful representations of the Good News. Amen.
🌬️ A Fresh Revelation from a Dirty Filter
Just yesterday, I received an alert from the air purifier in our home—”abnormal poor air quality detected.” When I opened it, I discovered that the prefilter was covered in a thick, two-inch layer of dust, dirt, and hair. It was choking the machine, keeping it from doing the very thing it was designed to do: purify the air.
So I stopped my morning routine. I washed it thoroughly—twice—and scrubbed away the grime. Only after this could the purifier breathe again and return to its purpose.
The Lord used this moment to speak a hard but holy truth: many of us in the Church are functioning with clogged spiritual filters. We’ve become complacent in pews and positions. Our hearts grow layered with self-righteousness, unrepented sin, and lack of true surrender. And just like that dirty prefilter, we can no longer function in our purpose—to reflect Christ and bear fruit.
A lack of fruit leads to no growth, and no growth leads to pew-packers—people who take up space in the temple but fail to function as the hands and feet of Jesus. This is a call to the Church leaders and members alike:
Humble yourselves before the Lord your God.
Strip off the vanity. Lay down the hypocrisy.
Die daily on the cross you were called to carry.
If we’re not going outside the walls to love the lost, how dare we judge the sinner who comes through the doors to seek truth? Don’t become a gatekeeper in God’s house. Don’t block the one Jesus came to save.
Your flesh is the prefilter. It must die, so the Spirit can flow freely.
💭 Reflection Questions:
- Am I welcoming others to Jesus or unintentionally pushing them away?
- What needs to be cleaned, removed, or surrendered in my life so I can breathe again spiritually?
- How can I help create a “house of prayer” in my life, home, or community?
📖 Scripture to Reflect On:
“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’” — Luke 9:23 (ESV)
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