Jesus Cleanses the Temple

     This week on the blog, I would like us to reflect on some of the events of Holy Week leading up to Resurrection Sunday.  In the Weekend Sermon, we focused on the Triumphal Entry as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as the people shouted "Hosanna" and waved palm branches.
     When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on that day, He made His way to the Temple, and what He saw taking place there made Him very angry and upset.
     Jesus saw that the Temple had been turned into a marketplace.  It was a place of making money and extorting the people who had come to worship.
    The Bible records that Jesus made a whip and drove the money-changers out of the Temple.  Jesus overturned their tables sending their coins flying.  Jesus told the money-changers to get the animals out of the Temple and to release the doves that they were selling.
    Jesus said that the Father's house was to be a house of prayer, but they had turned it in to a den of thieves and robbers.
     Today, let us reflect on how the Father's house of prayer has been turned into a den of thieves and robbers.  First of all, much of American Christianity is focused upon nothing but money.  It sometimes seems to me that all the preaching has turned to the acquiring of wealth.  Sermons are sold as well as books and a host of Christian merchandise.  Religion has become big business.
     The church has also become entertainment driven.  Church services are operated like a show with just the right music and program to produce the desired effect.
     I think that Jesus if He came into many American churches today would have a lot of money-changers to drive out.
     Let us return the focus of our worship services back to prayer and sincere worship.  Let us stop trying to make the worship service a one-hour entertainment package.  Who said that church can't last for several hours if the Spirit of the Lord is moving and the Word of the Lord is being proclaimed.
     Finally, A word about the significance of Jesus driving the animals out of the Temple.  At one time, animals were needed as part of the sacrificial system.  By sending the animals out of the Temple, Jesus was demonstrating the fact that animal sacrifice would no longer be needed.
     Jesus was the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.  He is the once and for all final sacrifice for sin.  Through His death and resurrection, salvation and forgiveness are available to all people everywhere.