jesus cleans up his house

A “House of Prayer” Defiled

However, this was not the only reason Jesus was unhappy. He was also upset that the temple’s function as “a house of prayer,” was being set aside and disturbed. In the Protestant tradition, we tend to think that the basic and perhaps only significant function of the church building is to be a place where we gather to hear the Word of God proclaimed. Certainly that is an extremely important dimension of a church building. But Jesus did not refer to the temple as a “house of preaching.” He called it a “house of prayer.”
I spoke recently with a friend who is a Roman Catholic. He makes it a practice to visit Roman Catholic churches and spend time in prayer there. He told me he had heard about the beautiful sanctuary we had built at Saint Andrew’s, so he decided to visit our church and pray there. However, when he came to Saint Andrew’s, he found the sanctuary locked. When he shared this experience, I immediately began to fumble around for an explanation. I mentioned insurance issues, concerns about theft, and so on. I even told him that he was welcome to go to the office and ask for access to the sanctuary, and the staff would unlock the doors and let him in. But even as I said those words, I knew they were hollow. I knew it was not right that the church should be kept locked all day. I decided then and there that I wanted to see our church’s doors open for prayer every day, and I really did not care how much it would cost for the insurance. I want to see our people on their way to work, on their way home from work, by themselves or in groups coming into the sanctuary and spending time in prayer, because unless that happens, we just have a pretty building. God’s people ought to come to God’s house for worship, for edification, and for instruction, but also for prayer.
I am not saying that the only legitimate place to pray is in the church. Obviously we are free to pray at home, in our prayer closets, and wherever we are. But the sanctuaries of our churches need to be known as houses of prayer.


Sproul, R. C. (2013). Matthew (pp. 603–604). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.