Jesus Has Cleared The Temple
Read John 2:12-25. These are my thoughts, or my ponderings on this passage of scripture……..
Defense Mechanisms….I had this situation come up recently where I found myself defending a thought, a belief. I was in the presence of friends. We were talking about a religious matter which centered totally on the size (number in attendance) of church congregations. We were talking about the draw backs of large congregations, as opposed to smaller congregations. The gist was that the larger the congregation, the less personal attention was given to individual members. I found myself becoming defensive in the conversation……making a comment(s) solely because of that defensiveness. I hope that makes sense to you. As soon as possible I apologized to the person that I made the defensive comment to. This person was very gracious and everything turned out for the good. The reason for telling you this is to make a point……..
To defend someone or something, is to drive danger or attack~protect, guard~away from; to retain or seek to retain. In my case it was a ”defense reaction”. That means that I was covering for a threatening situation. I won’t even “defend” why I had the reaction, because it doesn’t matter. What does matter, is that we defend what is truthful and worthy of defending, in the eyes of God. As Christians, our defense mechanisms or reaction information should be based on information we receive from the Lord, not our individual feelings or emotions.
In the scripture reading for today, we see Jesus entering into the temple courts defending and reacting to a situation. What was it that Jesus reacted to, and so dramatically defended?
Yes, the scripture says He made a whip out of cords and drove the animals, doves and money changers out of the temple. But why did He do it?
It was all about defending what is worthy and true.
God’s world, His temple is not for worldly business, religious exercises or the pros and cons of large or small congregations . We (I) can defend the silliest things sometimes. If we are going to defend religion, may we defend the one we claim to be religious to…..God….His Son…..His resurrection and power….the Body of Christ. May we clear ourselves (the temple of the Holy Spirit) of all unrighteousness.
Last Sunday our Pastor asked the question (scripture reference Job 9:2), “how can a mortal be righteous before God”? It is only by the blood of Jesus Christ that we can be righteous before God…..nothing else! For me, I am so blessed to know that….period….No Defense Mechanism Needed!
As for verses 23-25…It is to ponder: ”Many BELIEVED in Jesus’ name, when they saw the miracles which He did. But He (Jesus) did not commit to them because He knows……………..He knows their (our) hearts…………..
Thought to ponder: How is your defense mechanism? What is it that you defend, or are prepared to defend?
Tomorrow….John chapter 3
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
