Making a whip of cords, he
drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured
out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. John
2.15
Jesus had gone into the temple
and had seen the way in which people had desecrated the sanctity of God’s
dwelling place. He saw those who sold cattle, sheep and doves. He found money
changers established there to carry on lucrative trade in the house of God.
Luke records Jesus as saying: “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house
of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” (Luke 19.46)
Jesus cleansed the temple. He
drove out the objects of desecration, removing the taint from that Godly place.
I note that He did not expel the delinquent people, but He rebuked them and
exhorted them to right behaviour. In His sinless state He was perfectly
qualified to bring about this release.
And what about me? Paul tells
me that my body is a temple of God. But I abuse it. With errant thoughts,
careless words and disobedient actions I desecrate this holy place that God has
called me to. I try not to do this, and I believe I must continue to work
towards keeping myself clean for Him. But, even as I do, I realise that I will
not succeed on my own. Just as Jesus cleansed the temple at Jerusalem, so He is
the only one that can cleanse me. He can set me free. He can purify me and
consecrate me into my holy purpose. Hallelujah!
Gracious God,
I come to You as a sinner. I am guilty of misbehaving and misusing Your
holy temple, which is my body. Forgive me, Lord. I try to keep pure, but I
cannot achieve this on my own.
You are my Saviour and my salvation. I rejoice in You and I offer
myself freely to Your cleansing and restoring power. I ask You to work in me,
remove what is displeasing and replace it with more Christ-likeness.
No comments:
Post a Comment