As I prepare to celebrate Easter, the definitive
event of what is and must be the foundation for every Christian, I’m confronted
with Jesus’ pre-crucifixion words in Mark 11:
“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of
prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
Jesus spoke these words even as He drove the
moneychangers and crooked venders out of the temple’s outer courts where they
preyed upon those purchasing sacrifices for Passover in accordance to Jewish
law and tradition. The outer courts (as opposed to the inner courts where only
Jews were allowed) were intended…or rather God ordained, for non-Jews,
the “Gentiles” to
witness a people dedicated to the worship of God,
and honoring Him for the grace and mercy He poured out on His people. This was
the place for “the nations” to interact with God’s people, those who were to be
interceding for the nations before God. Outsiders were supposed to experience
something different here, to witness a people set apart and living uniquely as
a result of their relationship with God. An experience to bring the outsider
in, as they themselves responded to God in worship and prayer as a fulfillment
of God’s original call to Abraham:
“…I will
make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so
that you will be a blessing…and in you all the families of the earth shall be
blessed.” (Gen. 12:2).
However, those visiting the temple during Passover
were instead confronted with a people, and a system that had grown up designed
to fleece them of every penny, sending them away empty handed and un-fulfilled,
scarred in their attempt to know this merciful God.
Jesus’ response to this scene removes any thought
of a weak and trembling savior. His shocking actions confront us with the Holy
and righteous fire of God. “...And making a whip of cords, he drove them all
out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the
money-changers and overturned their tables.” (John 2).
Wrath was flung at those who would not extend the grace and
mercy they themselves had received, yet chose to ignor.
So what’s this mean for me? This thought has
haunted me since delving into Mark 11 during this past Palm Sunday's sermon.
The temple is long gone, but Christ now dwells within His people (1 Cor. 3, Eph. 2, 1 Pet. 2). What does it mean for those who
follow Christ to be “a house of prayer for the nations”?
Am I a house of prayer for “the nations”?
Are those around me encouraged toward prayer when
they witness my life? Does my life reveal the glory that dwells within, the way
the Temple pointed to God’s love and provision for His people through a
sacrifice for the sin that separated them from Him? Like the Temple, does
my life ultimately point towards the final, all fulfilling sacrifice of Christ
that removed the un penetrable barrier between sinful man and Holy God?
In so many ways, like the venders in the temple
courts, I see how short I fall on a daily basis, still wallowing in my own
self-centeredness and sin. Stuck in the mud, muting the glory that is meant for
those around me to see.
But then there’s Easter...
That terrifying, hope filled morning beyond the
Cross where the dead come to life! Where Christ triumphed over the grave
because there was nothing left… no weight, no sin, no power of Hell that could
hold Him down! This is the Christ that lives in me. That dwells in His people
as living temples of flesh and blood, not a cold, dead temple of stone. I am…we
are His living temple, designed and formed to be a place for the Nations to
encounter the risen Christ and the mercy and grace that flow through Him. Not
because we are making ourselves so, but because we are already made so by His
loving sacrifice and mighty hands.
We may be broken vessels, simple jars of clay, but
the treasure and hope contained within surpass all deepest desires and highest
hopes. We were made to exist in and share this very glory with all the nations
that surround us every minute of the day.
“…But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to
show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” (2 Cor. 4:7)
