A CLEAN TEMPLE
Mark 11:15-18 NKJV
15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”
18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.
Here was another situation where Jesus was not pleased. He was not pleased with the disciples when they tried to prevent the little children from coming to Him. And He was not pleased when He saw what was going on in the temple. Verse eleven tells us that Jesus went into the temple and looked around at all things. The hour was late, and He did not do anything. But the next day, everything changed.
Jesus went back into the temple and started cleaning house, literally. All four gospel writers mention Jesus cleansing the temple. John tells us Jesus made a whip of cords and drove out the oxen and sheep and overturned the tables of the money changers. No, Jesus was not happy. Nothing is said that He ever hurt anyone with the whip, but used it to drive out the livestock. But we can see that this was important to Him.
Jesus’ main problem was the misuse of the temple. God said it would be a house of prayer for all nations. A place that was separate from the marketplace. Also, a safe place separate from shady business dealings. In Jesus’ words, the temple had become a den of thieves. People often don’t know how to process the cleansing of the temple. For some, this behavior is not congruent with their idea of a Jesus, meek and mild. For others, this is a justification for their “holy anger” at unrighteous behavior in people. We always have to keep in mind that when Jesus was angry, it was typically at the religious people who kept others away from God. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes were the ones who saw the displeasure of Jesus. And of course, the merchants and money changers who were ripping people off. Jesus wanted a clean temple.
APPLICATION
There is another perspective we can add to this example of Jesus cleaning the temple. God still wants a clean temple. But now, we are not talking about a clean building, but the temple of our bodies. Here are two verses that speak to us being the temple. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19 NKJV. Both of these verses were written to the church in Corinth. Corinth, in Paul’s day, was well known for being a wild, sexually promiscuous city. Paul is appealing to people coming out of a very fleshy lifestyle to live clean before God, because our bodies are now the temple of the living God. The move from the emphasis on a physical building as the temple to the believer being the temple is one of the great mysteries of the New Covenant that Jesus made available to us.
Jesus wanted the temple to be clean, and He still does. Now it’s up to us to cleanse ourselves. In 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Many health-conscious people believe in eating clean. As God-conscious children, we believe in living clean.
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for enabling me to live clean before You. My body is the temple of Your Holy Spirit, and I purpose to glorify You in my body. I will live as a clean temple.