Cleaning

[cmc]

Cleaning Temples
Key Passage: Mark 11:15-25
Topic: Worship/Praise/Worthiness; Sin/Temptation

And they came to Jerusalem. And he [Jesus] entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. (Mark 11:15-16, ESV)

Everyone knows that you have to go where the people are in order to sell your product. It's also well-known that demand drives prices higher. To the shrewd businessperson in Jesus' day, the temple during Passover was a prime location.

Hundreds of people from many countries would stream into Jerusalem to worship God at the temple and offer sacrifices. Because it's difficult to travel with the animals needed for sacrifice, many animal vendors were stationed at the temple. And since these vendors would only take "local" money, moneychangers were on hand to convert "foreign" currency, taking a small cut for themselves.

And while we can point fingers at the merchants in the temple, where were the temple leaders in charge of managing the house of God? How in the world could these religious leaders allow extortion and price-gouging to take place in the temple courts?

Maybe they had been promised a cut of the profits as well, but the Bible doesn't say. What is clear, though, is that the people in charge of the temple had no fear or reverence toward the God who dwelled there.

Today, the body of the Christian is God's temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17), and to be honest, we allow much worse things to fill our hearts.

If there's anything crowding out your worship today, ask Jesus to help take it away. He's been cleaning temples for almost 2000 years now.




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