When reading the Gospels and observing the actions and
hearing the words of Jesus, I am often drawn to His mercy, His grace, His
healing and His forgiveness. Yet in Mark 11, I see something that makes our
Lord very angry. Jesus and his disciples came to Jerusalem and entered the temple
and observed what was essentially a big flea market. Pigeons instead of praise. Wares instead of worship. In righteous anger, Jesus
overturned tables and kicked away the seats of those who were selling goods in
the temple and kept others from coming in and doing the same (v. 15-16). Then
in verse 17, He reveals what prompted His righteous anger--My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the
nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers. The
money-changers were defiling the temple.
1 Corinthians 6:19 tells me that my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit;
given to me by God and my body is not my own. So if my Lord was angry at how
the money-changers defiled the temple, wouldn’t He likewise be angry at me if I
choose to defile my temple—the temple of the Holy Spirit? Jesus called the
temple a house of prayer. Doesn’t that same standard apply to my temple? At the
very least, I should take care of my body, strive to be healthier, eat better
(this is really hard!) and continually view my body as the place where God’s
Spirit lives. But there is something more at stake here.Mark 7:15 says that what defiles me is not what comes in from the outside, but rather what comes out of me. My thoughts. My words. My actions. The things that others observe in me. I truly need the Holy Spirit living inside of me to help guide what comes out from me. John 15:26 refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper and boy do I need help!
My ability to defile the temple is great so my desire to rid the temple of
things that defile it needs to be as passionate as the Lord’s was. Time to flip
some tables and kick some chairs!
