Temple

“‘‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:14).

Christ Chasing the Money Lenders from the Temple (Matthias Stom)

There is one time in the New Testament, where it is really clear that Christ got angry.  And He did not just get angry, He got really really angry.

Now, the anger of Christ was the anger of God.  It was a righteous anger.  This means that it was not a sinful anger.  He did not call names or swear or say mean and hurtful things.  Instead, He saw a wrong – an injustice, a sin an offence – and He called it out.  He stood in the face of that sin and spoke in anger about that sin.  And that was when – in the days before He suffered and died on the Cross – He overturned the tables of the moneylenders in the temple.  He disrupted the sin in its very essence, thereby preventing those sinners from giving further offence to God through their sinfulness.

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:12-14).

And I have been thinking about that.  Clearly Christ – God the Son – would not tolerate blasphemy.  The First Commandment – and therefore the most important commandment – is the commandment to have no other God than God.  By using the Temple in a commercial and financial way, the people blasphemed.  They were doing Earthly things inside a Holy Place.  And Christ’s reaction to this was uncompromising.  He did not make excuses or wait for things to settle.  On this – serious sin – He disrupted immediately.

And I have been reflecting on this today.  You see, through Baptism, I am a Temple of the Holy Spirit.  My soul (and my body too) belongs to God.  How much have I caused Him anger through the Earthly things that consume me?  Does Christ come into my soul and overturn the tables there?  Does He think of my soul as a “den of robbers.” (Matthew 21:14)?  Is He overturning the tables in my own heart where I trade in God’s Holy Place?

And it occurs to me that it really is a Holy Place inside my soul.  It was created as a Temple to House God.  My Angel lives in constant union with me in my soul.  And despite all of this, I continue to trade and make it a “den of robbers.” (Matthew 21:14).

And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about the impact of all of this on my life.  And it seems to me that I have spent a lifetime exchanging money and buying and selling in the temple.  And I wonder how angry all of this has made my God…?

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.