Cleansing the Temple {Matthew 21}
12:30 AM
September
11, 2018
Sometime
we can be so familiar and comfortable with these Scripture readings, that we
are unaffected when we read or hear them.
And so I pray that you are seeking to be changed every day by these
teachings from Jesus.
The
past few months have had me turned inside out.
No, nothing has been a big burden, but I knew each time I had to write a
post that the Lord was leading me somewhere.
And it seems my heart is His desire and I believe there are still rooms
I haven’t allowed God to control. And so
as I prayed for God to change me and show me what needed His attention, I was
lead to Jesus cleansing the Temple.
Clearly
Jesus was angry at what He found in the temple, and He takes drastic measures
to cleanse it. Not only was there money
trafficking in the exchange of money for the temple tax, and the selling of
animals, but also the extortion and racketeering that went along with it.
But
this is a different Jesus than what we imagine Him to be. So often we think of Him as loving and understanding,
that He lets us get away with anything.
It’s like He tells us, “It’s alright – it doesn’t matter.” Many people think Jesus is that way. But clearly the action we see here of Him
cleansing the Temple is His anger. He
drove the people out of the Temple.
The
disciples realized and we must as well, that our hearts have to refuse to put
up with impurities. God does not
compromise with evil.
Anyone
can come to Jesus no matter how wrong and evil they have been – murderers, prostitutes,
swindlers, liars, perverts, drunkards, bitter-hard-hearted cynics, religious
hypocrites, proud snobs – anyone who realizes there is something wrong in their
life, and that something has gripped them, and they want to be free, can come
to Jesus. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I
will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Here’s
what we have to understand – Jesus is not going to leave you the way you
are. He’s not going to settle for
the clutter, compromise, extortion, and racket – whatever may be defiling and
corrupting the Temple courts. He may
leave you alone for a while. I think
many of us have experienced this or are experiencing this right now. Just because He loves us and deals with us patiently,
we tend to think that He’s going to let us get by with some of the comfortable,
but wrongful habits we have built into our lives. If we mistake that delay for acceptance, we
are in for a surprise! If we refuse to
deal with what He puts His finger on, one day we will find Him coming with
flaming eyes and we will find all that traffic in immorality is driven out
whether we like it or not.
It’s
like the Pharisees - they make their outward actions look good, but allow
sinful habits – pornography, a bitter, unforgiving spirit towards another, an
evil lustful habit, a private indulgence, to be hidden in their lives. Yes, without a doubt, one day, these people
will discover that their Lord has changed His attitude towards them. He is no longer tolerant, understanding and
patient. And their world falls
apart. All that evil they thought was
hidden has been exposed. “What I tell you now in the darkness, shout
abroad when daybreak comes. What I whisper
in your ears, shout from the housetops for all to hear!” Matthew 10:27
Many
people involved in the traffic in the Temple were unaware that there was
anything wrong with it. Money-changing
was necessary. Selling animals was
necessary. But that could have been
carried on outside the Temple. But
through the years, it crept inside the Temple until people were unaware that
anything was wrong with the practice.
But our Lord knew. He refused to
compromise with it, or put up with it, and forced the issue so people saw what
God saw when He looked at the Temple. We
are dealing with a God of reality, a God who cannot be fooled, a God who will
always deal in loving forgiveness with anyone who does not defend his
evil. When we admit it, when we come
asking to be cleansed, and freed, He never turns us away, He never deals with
us harshly. But when we come justifying
our actions, excusing them, fooling ourselves, we find Him refusing to commit
Himself to us.
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