The market and money-changers’ tables had been set up at the temple in the Court of The Gentiles; it said to the gentile God-fearers, “You are not welcome here”. Jesus drove the money changers out with this word, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations (He used the Greek ethnos from which we get ethnic). But you have made it a robbers’ den” (Mark 11:11,15-17). Racism angered Jesus! The next action that Jesus made against racism is when, as the ascended Christ, He poured out His Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, communicating to all ethnic groups present (Acts 2:5-11) the good news of the Gospel. Jesus took a negative stand against racism in the cleansing of the temple and a positive stand when He announced the good news, through the languages of Pentecost, to all the ethnic groups present. He also made that same Spirit universally available to everyone, no matter the color of their skin or their ethnic background.
Lord Jesus, give us a heart like yours for all races. Bring us that kind of Pentecost. Give us the kind of filling that goes beyond a self-serving emotionalism to a righteous expression of your universal Kingdom. Amen!
