Tuesday, June 20, 2017

INSULTING DIVINITY



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

After this, He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts, He found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”

John 2:12-17

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus had saved the day at the wedding feast, converting water to wine so as to spare the embarrassment of a shortage of imbibement for the master of the banquet and others in attendance. As we covered in yesterday’s devotion, it constituted the first miracle Jesus conducted and quite a miracle it was.

So what would Jesus do next?

As we see in today’s passage, He caused quite a scene in the city of Jerusalem. Look at these words as we continue to study from the second chapter of John:

After this, He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts, He found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”  John 2:12-17

From Cana, Jesus traveled to Capernaum, not alone but with a whole host of family members and disciples. Ultimately, they were heading to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover as was Jewish custom.

Before we go to Israel’s holy city and cover what Jesus did there, we need to not gloss over the fact that Jesus was not an only child. We know Joseph and Mary parented Jesus but what gets lost sometimes is that they had other children. Mark, Chapter 6, verse 3 tells us:

Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?”

Now most students of the Bible know the New Testament Book of James is attributed to Jesus’ brother but he wasn’t the only male sibling. The scripture from Mark tell us there were also Joseph, Judas, and Simon. We also learn that Jesus had sisters even though we aren’t introduced to them in the Bible outside of their mention here. The main takeaway was that Jesus had quite a family outside of Himself.

From Capernaum, Jesus and His entourage traveled to Jerusalem, a distance of 85 miles so it took some time to get there. Considering that people could walk close to 20 miles a day, the trip would have taken nearly five days total.

After arriving in Jerusalem, we read where He paid a visit to the temple courts and what a sight He saw there. For in the place where the Gentiles were allowed to come, worship, and pray unto God, the Israelites had erected a marketplace of sorts, one filled with people selling animals for temple sacrifices and exchanging money. The scene drew the anger of Jesus who chose to take action.

The scriptures tell us He fashioned a “whip out of cords” and proceeded to drive out everyone “from the temple courts” including all the animals. He then overturned the tables of the money changers, scattering their coins everywhere.

I’m sure everyone present who saw what was happening had to wonder what had gotten into this man who was a Passover festival visitor in their city. Jesus made sure they knew why He had done what He did saying:

“Get these out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a market!”

God’s temple was to be a holy, sacred place reserved for honoring Him with worship, atoning sacrifices, and prayer but there was no opportunity for any of those things to be done within the Court of the Gentiles with the market taking over the grounds. Essentially, the Israelites had insulted divinity by failing to respect the consecrated ground they were on.

Well, as Jesus was consumed by a passionate rage to restore reverence, His disciples harkened back to the Psalms and these words of David:

“Zeal for Your house will consume Me.” Psalm 69:3

Jesus loved His Father and was not about to allow anyone or anything to disrespect or desecrate Him in any way. The Gentiles deserved a place to worship God just as much as the Jews did and Jesus was going to make sure that happened by standing up for what was right and just. He wasn’t afraid to make a stand for the Lord, even when He knew it would draw negative reviews within the Jewish community in Jerusalem, especially from the religious leaders of the day.

Friends, we need to learn from and then follow the lead of Jesus here. For every day, I think we see instances where people insult divinity either by the things they do or the things they say. When we see those things happening, will we be as bold and brash as Jesus, calling people out and defending the sanctity of God, our Father in the process?

My prayer is that we all will do whatever needs to be done to honor the Lord above all things, even if it means we need to ruffle a few feathers. In those times, when courage and strength is needed, rest assured God will give you everything you need to carry out His work, now and forever more.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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