Monday – “A BETTER Temple”
Verse: In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he
also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. John 2:14-15
Read: John 2:13-22
This is one of my favorite passages about Jesus. Clearly Jesus hates religion and this passage reminds us of that. I can’t wait to be with Jesus one day and ask Him, “How long did it take you to make that whip?” and, “While you were making it what were you thinking about?” Usually when I take time away from frustration I end up feeling okay and just leaving it alone. But Jesus took time to make a whip so apparently His frustration only grew!
We can read this passage and quickly identify the idea of dead spirituality. These Jewish people had grown hard to who YAWEH was and now the temple was just another place to get benefits for themselves. The temple originally was meant to be a better place to worship than the pagan temples. Yet, it had been reduced to the same heart attitude of greed and performance based religion. As grand and exquisite as that temple was, Jesus knew there was a better one He was going to make clean. You and I are that temple.
We are now the carriers of the presence of the Spirit of God. But we have to recognize that when Jesus comes into the temple of our lives, He comes with as much passion to drive the sin out of our lives as He had when He drove the merchants and livestock out of the temple. He comes with just as much fervor to rid our lives of the stuff that’s harming us and others.
Take a moment to grow sick of your sin just like Jesus grew sick of the sin that was happening in the temple at His time. Let that disgust help you recognize the need of a Savior. After all, Jesus drives out the sin, not you. He is the one with the whip. He is the one with the passion.
Pray: Jesus, drive out the sin that I have allowed in the outer courts of the temple of my heart.