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the Temple of God
"Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all
those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned
the tables of the money changers and the seats of those
who sold doves." Matt 21:12
Jesus had just come into the city riding upon the wave of popular
opinion. He could have been crowned King in a heartbeat. The
people were behind Him 100%. So what does Jesus do? He goes
to the Temple -- not to be crowned King, but to clean it out. Don't
be mislead, it wasn't the sheep, doves, and other critters that were
the problem. No, the Temple was a place where people brought
those things for sacrificial offerings to God. The Temple was not
like your Church. It was not filled with silence. People were milling
around. Their sacrifices were bleating, cooing, mooing. Kids were
shouting and playing in the outer fringes. Preachers were proclaiming
their messages in full voice. In one part, blood would spurt from
animals slaughtered in preparation for the Alter of Burnt Offering.
There was the constant scent of sweaty bodies, fresh blood and
guts, roasting meat, burning incense. All of this was typical.
No, it wasn't these things that upset Jesus, it was the money
changers. There was a scam going on in the Temple.
It went something like this. If poor Joseph Ben Judah brought
his sheep for a sin offering, it wasn't good enough for the priests.
They would carefully inspect it and find some small flaw -- it
wasn't perfect. The priest would send the poor fellow to the
merchants -- authorized, of course -- "Across the court and
turn right at Solomon's porch. You can't miss it! Ben Judas
has perfect sheep -- already inspected by the High Priest
himself!" Of course the trade in value of Joseph's sheep was
not good because of that flaw. Joseph would loose his sheep
and a good bit of cash to make sure that his prayers would be
heard.
The scam of the whole thing is that Joseph's sheep would be
sold to the next fellow in line -- at a sizable profit, of course.
That's what bothered Jesus. In the name of God, good people
were being ripped off -- AND IN GOD'S HOUSE AT THAT! So
Jesus jumps from the triumph into the war -- the real war --
the war against sin, not Rome. He could not tolerate sin on
any level. It's a shame that we aren't like Jesus.
"What," you say, "I try to be. What do you mean?" It's too
bad we find ourselves tolerating sin. "WHAT? I don't tolerate
sin at all!" Sure you do. So do I. Have you watched any
sitcoms lately? Did you laugh? What did you laugh at? Was
it One of woman one Survivor in a tiny Bikini issuing sexual
innuendoes? Or was it the vulgarities of Bart Simpson that
caused you to chuckle? You don't watch those? How about
NYPD Blues or Phillie? Do you blush at the occasional nudity?
Are you bothered by the multiplicity of sexual innuendoes?
The violence?
Do you realize that thirty years ago two people would not
appear in bed with each other on TV unless one foot of
each was on the floor? And they were wearing pajamas --
printed ones -- with full arms and legs! Do you remember
when Rhett Butler's famous "Quite frankly, Scarlett, I don't
give a . . ." almost got the film banned -- and bought a
gasp from the audience? Not at all like the language on TV
today, is it?
See, we do tolerate sin. And not just TV sin. We tolerate it
on all levels. It is no surprise that we have situations like the
bombing in Oklahoma City, or Horror of The World Trade Center,
or the shootings in our schools, The Pentagon, or the drug
epidemic, or the vast number of abortions that have killed
millions of babies. All of these things will happen in a nation
that has forgotten how to blush, that tolerates sin.
Let's be more like Jesus. It's time that we clean out our temples
-- the throne room of God that is our own hearts.
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