Jesus Defended His Father's House

Jesus Defended His Father’s House

And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple
John 2.15

At an early age Jesus had revealed his sense of calling into the family business. Oh, I am not talking about Joseph’s carpentry shop, I mean the work of Christ’s Father. You may recall the incident in Luke 2.41-51, when a precocious twelve year old Jesus first revealed his matchless knowledge of all things pertaining to the kingdom of God, the Lord declared at that time that he already knew his calling,

“I must be about my Father’s business.”
Luke 2.49

Years later, when he again came to his Father’s main place of business, the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus was absolutely outraged by what it had been turned into. During what was supposed to have been a season of spiritual renewal that drew from the deep history of God’s merciful deliverance of Israel from its bondage in Egypt Jesus instead walked in to the middle of a marketplace. And a disreputable market at that!

There was business being transacted in his Father’s house all right, but it wasn’t the family’s business at all, it was more like a business expo! There was so much buying and selling and trading going on that it made the courts of the temple more closely resemble the floor of the stock exchange than a house of prayer. And what most upset Jesus was that it was clear, that this was nothing extraordinary, “business as usual” in the temple had come to mean commerce and profiteering. As far as Jesus could tell, what was going on did not seem to trouble so much as one person there. This is not to say that all Israel approved of the temple “trade show,” but it had been quite a long time since the voice of any prophet had challenged what had become the system.

Well, as any good and devoted son would do, but perhaps as only the Son could do, Jesus dared to defend his Father’s house. And with singular violence, for there is no other place in the gospels where we find the Lord so, well, Rambo-like, Christ unleashed a storm of righteous fury, his disciples called it “zeal,” that wrecked the marketplace and drove out the tradesmen who had set up shop in the temple.

As I mentioned above, it wasn’t as if all Israel felt that what was going on in the temple was right, it was simply that no one dared to defend God’s house against the worldly influences that had transformed it into one of the ancient world’s most successful commercial enterprises. But then, threatening the pocketbook is always risky business. And today the temptations to allow the work of the kingdom to be conducted like a business have not gone away; they might be stronger than ever.

And this is why we now see churches big and small, and no few denominational bodies, being run like businesses, with the bottom line measured in dollars and cents, rather than the saving of souls. The building up and preservation of endowments occupies a place of far greater importance than the building up of the Kingdom for many who are supposed to be leaders of God’s flock. Innovation and entrepreneurialism are esteemed by the Church, while zeal for God’s house is seen as quaint at best, and far more likely to be condemned as fundamentalist extremism.

Someone has observed of our modern culture, and the Church sadly is perhaps more acculturate than ever, that our culture “worships work, works at play, and plays at worship.” Clearly, Jesus would probably quickly look for some cords if he were to walk into the middle of no few modern day ministries in action. Like ancient Israel, it isn’t as if there are not Christians who know that something is wrong, who know that our Father’s houses have again been made into houses of trade. It’s just that very few of us would dare to defend the Father’s house against what has become the powerful and profitable status quo. But that’s what Jesus did.


Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4