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Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Donne: den of thieves

Meditation:
Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”
—Matthew 21:12-13 (NIV)

Quotation:
You rob, and spoil, and eat his people as bread, by extortion, and bribery, and deceitful weights and measures, and deluding oaths in buying and selling, and then come hither, and so make God your receiver, and his house a den of thieves. His house is sanctum sanctorum, the holiest of holies, and you make it only sanctuarium; it should be a place sanctified by your devotions, and you make it only a sanctuary to privilege malefactors, a place that may redeem you from the ill opinion of men, who must in charity be bound to think well of you, because they see you here.
... John Donne (1573-1631), Works of John Donne, vol. III, London: John W. Parker, 1839, Sermon LXVIII, p. 217 (see the book)
See also Matt. 21:12-13; Ps. 47:2; 65:5; 69:9; 97:2; Isa. 56:6-7; Jer. 7:11; John 2:13-17

Quiet time reflection:
Lord, You are cleansing Your church.
 
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  by Robert McAnally Adams,
  Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day
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