John 2:13-14 / When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep, doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.
V.15 - So He made a whip out of cords.........
I love this passage for various reasons....We get to see a Jesus who is passionate for His heavenly Father's house. Passionate to the point that He is going to right a terrible wrong. I'm pretty sure that the intent of having such things as animals and money changers there at the temple was done for good reasons.
Make life a little easier for those who come to offer sacrifices. Kind of a one-stop-shopping center for all your temple needs. But having a "good" idea is not always the same as having a "GOD" idea. Making things easier doesn't always translate into what God desires. What's more, the whole one-stop-shopping place quickly devolved into a money making scheme.
I can't prove this, and it's just a thought that came to me. But do you think maybe the Temple officials gave special privilege's to those who maybe made a special contribution to them? Kind of like selling the best spots to ply their ware to the public.
The other thing that kind of stood out to me is the fact that Jesus took some chords and made a whip. This must have taken some time to do. To sit down and tie together and fashion a whip that he was going to use. Now we are not told that He actually struck anyone with it, but I can totally understand that for that brief moment in time, the flame and fire of His passion for God the Father was unleashed.
But while He was fashioning this whip, what must He have been thinking? What was on His mind? Was He remembering passages from the Old Testament that referred to the House of the Lord? Other passages of this event made reference to Jesus saying, "You have turned My Father's house into a den of thieves....it is a HOUSE OF PRAYER."
For some time now, I've have been stirred to look back over what I claim to believe. Kind of a spiritual inventory, to make sure that I haven't taken the things of God and turned them into belief's and concepts that only profit me. Kind of like turning Temple life into a spiritual K-mart. I don't want to find out that even though I claim to be a follower of Christ, that my life is driven by wrong belief in what is dear to the heart of God.
Let me ask you the same question that was asked of me: "If Jesus were to walk through your temple (Remember that our bodies are considered to be temple for the Lord..the place where the Holy Spirit takes up residence)....if Jesus walked through your heart, would He be pleased, or are there places where you have allowed the world to set up business? Would Jesus pull aside and fashion a whip to awaken you to the fact that such needed to be turned over and driven out. Just as Jesus had a passion for His Father's house, that same passion burns for humanity that all would come to salvation. That those who have received such salvation would not allow the things of this world to become established under the guise of religion in our hearts.
Think on this today....
God on you...
Michael b.
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