Righteous Anger

Here is a photo of my son Daniel (left) and Peggy and Larry's son Josh (right) enjoying life on the Wolf trampoline!

Now let's read John 2: 13-17 and focus on verse 16...."....take these away! Do not make My Father's House a house of merchandise!"

Here we see a differing dimension of Jesus. To say it bluntly, He was "ticked-off ". He went to the temple to celebrate Passover, and found merchants ripping people off. Folks came a long way to worship at the temple during this Passover celebration. If you look into their tradition, they would sacrifice some of the best animals of their flock to recognize their sins before God. Since people were traveling long distances, it was more convenient to buy a lamb, goat, or dove as a sacrifice at the temple, than travel with one. Demand probably out-stripped supply at the temple and the prices for these animals were outrageous. Plus people would come from lands of differing currencies. So of course there were currency exchange people called "money changers" charging unfair exchange rates. So what did Jesus see. He saw a place set up in front of His Father's House, The Temple, for the sole purpose of taking advantage of His followers. It was like a tourist trap. We have all seen them. It's like getting off a plane at an airport, you have a splitting headache and no aspirin. You go into one of those convenient stores at the airport terminal and you get a small packet of Tylenol for $4.00. Rip off! But they have you, your pounding head, knowing that the closest reasonably priced Tylenol is 4 miles away! This example pales in comparison to the frustration that Jesus saw out front of His Temple, but it gives you a flavor.

Now thinking about the Temple and it's purpose, to me, it is a place for worshippers of God to focus on Him and have a place to get relief from their sins. Often times you look at a temple or church as a place to serve God. This is true. But really it is a place for God to reach us and help us! It is God's house, a place we can come to in order to get right with Him. To see a place like this misused was appalling to Jesus! In applying this to our lives, I think of the Temple of today. The temple was a physical place. As we move into the New Testament of the Bible, the temple is our bodies, soul and spirit. It begs the question on how we are allowing our Temple of God to be used? Is it a place of refuge and renewal with the Lord or is it a place where people go to get ripped-off. Does Jesus need to enter our life (our temple) and turn over some tables? What are some of the tables in our lives needing over-turning by Christ...The table of Cheating on our Taxes....The table of Lust.....The table of Jealousy....The table of Hanging around the wrong people....The table of Acting like someone you are not....The table of Denying Christ. We need not only to invite Jesus into our temple, but to work with Him to dismantle the things not of Him in an aggressive way!

"Dear Lord, From these verses we can see your righteous anger to those things that are of you, but also things that are being misused. Cleanse me Oh Lord, search me for the things not of You and drive them out! Amen."