my Father's house

Reading John 2:12-25 (The Cleansing of the Temple)
"Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"

With this story John continues to lay out his themes for the rest of the gospel. The story points to the identity of Jesus as the Messiah, addresses the question of his authority, links him to Old Testament Scriptures, presents him as the watershed between belief and unbelief, illustrates the religious stagnation that had infected the Temple worship, and foreshadows his death, burial, and resurrection while presenting him as the true Temple of God.

Why was Jesus so angry about what was going on in the Temple courts? The animals that were being sold were to be used for the prescribed ritual sacrifices. The money changers were there to ensure that the Temple tax could be paid in the proper currency. I think that the reason for the cleansing goes beyond the suggestion that these merchants were overcharging for their services. I believe that Jesus would have cleansed the Temple courts even if they had been conducting this business at cost or as a non-profit service. The Temple and its courts were to be a place for worship and prayer alone. All preparations were to be made outside the gates and the worshippers were to take nothing in but their own readiness to present themselves to God.

Jesus' disciples remembered "that it is written:'Zeal for your house will consume me.'" We are the new Temple of God. We are that Temple both individually and collectively. In his zeal for God's house what would Jesus overturn and chase out of the Temple courts of our lives? There is a space that should not be cluttered, even with the accompaniments of our religious faith, and into which we are to bring only ourselves. Yet so often every space in our lives is filled with "things," religious and otherwise. Is there a time and place in my life that represents the Temple and it's courts, where nothing enters but my prepared heart and the sacrifices that I bring to God? Have I allowed that place to become slowly filled with clutter and activity? Take a look at the geography of your life today. Find the temple courts and look honestly at what has been going on there.