The Temple

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE TEMPLE

John 2:12-17

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days. 13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"  17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."  

NIV

It seems we always see this in the historical setting about the temple in Jerusalem. There is attention given to the mood of Jesus, and anger being righteous indignation. This gives us the idea we can have that kind of anger, but it has to be about God being offended, not about us being offended. However, lets look at this temple. All this selling of animals for the use of sacrifices just does not seem right, Jesus made it clear he thought it was terrible. We believe the whole thing started out as a way to help the pilgrims coming to the temple who needed a sacrifice for their sin. It might have been too difficult for them to bring the animal without spot or blemish from miles away, so someone had the bright idea, and maybe it was even the priests to offer sacrificial animals right there in the colonnade of the temple. That could not have been all bad, but then it might have mushroomed into a full-fledged commerce by the time Jesus showed up. Then there is the other idea, that his knowing he was the sacrifice for sin and this was the beginning of the end of animal sacrifice. But within the context, he was upset the temple had become a place of commerce rather than a place of prayer and worship. Sometimes we wonder if we have not done, in some way, what Jesus was upset about. Have we turned our churches into a place of commerce, in some way, rather than a house of prayer and worship? We know it isn’t right to judge those mega churches, that have large coffee houses and book stores right in the church buildings, or maybe we should say on their church campus. It might be for good motives, but isn’t it a market in the church? Do we smaller churches without the book stores and coffee houses have any offenses to God going on within, that resemble some kind of market? We wonder with all our efforts of evangelism, is it a form of marketing some program. We wonder if we aren’t simply trying to market church. We know Jesus said to go out into all the world. But were talking about church here, what goes on in the temple, not what we are supposed to be doing in the streets, on the highway and byway of life. Is our church a place of prayer and worship or a place of programs? For the most part, many churches may well be a house of prayer and worship. Then we should consider seeing this on a personal level, after all we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are supposed to offer a sacrifice. We are supposed to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is our acceptable form of spiritual worship. Have we turned ourselves into a form of market, selling good deeds, or selling check lists for people to use as a method of sacrifice? Are we selling our own rules and regulations as a form of sacrifice? It is just something to think about. Maybe it has nothing to do with the temple being turned into a market at all. Maybe this is just about what happened in Israel, or maybe not. What should the temple be like?