Get Out

John 2:13-25

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, Zeal for your house will consume me. At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

Blog

When Jesus found people using the Temple in Jerusalem as a marketplace, He got angry and lashed-out; literally.  The Prince of Peace became the aggressor.  He didn’t flinch and acted swiftly.  He whipped, spilled, overturned, and demanded.  To Him, His Father’s building was Holy and worthy of nothing less.  It was His Temple.  This story is a reminder to us all of the vigilance needed in our own Temples.  “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”  1 Corinthians 6:19-20  When we feel the darkness of this world encroaching on our own inner Temples, we are to act swiftly like Jesus did.  We are to whip, to spill, to overturn, to demand……to kick and scream.  Whether it’s drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, adultery, or any of the myriad of other tools that the devil tries to bring into our Holy Temples, we are to fight and kick them out.  We have the power to rebuke as we are the stewards of our earthly Temples.  “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7  As the Saints that we are (even when we don’t feel Saintly), we are to fight.  Tell the devil to “get out” and he must leave.  You have the same power that Jesus shared with Pontius Pilate, “Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”  Matthew 26:53  Leverage and live by it.  Call upon it.  Command it.  You’re in charge of you through your Faith in Christ.