God’s House
“And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.” Mark 11:17
Jesus always visited the temple when He was in Jerusalem. He normally would visit the courtyard of the temple where the ordinary folks went to worship and pray. This would be the scene that anyone would expect to find, but not on this day. As Jesus walked into the courtyard, He saw tables set up where men called “moneychangers” were working. Since the only money that the temple would accept in payment of the “sanctuary service fee”, a fee for temple upkeep, was half-shekels, the moneychangers exchanged half-shekels for whatever other currency people brought. The thing was though, they were charging a fee for doing so and making quite a tidy profit from the temple worshipers.
They were also selling doves to be used in the burnt offerings and sin offerings. Some Bible commentators believe that they possibly tried to convince travelers who had brought their own doves for sacrifice that their offerings were inferior, and that they needed to buy the “better” ones that the temple merchants sold. I can just picture them as they would make the worshipers feel guilty for bringing these home-grown birds, which were likely the best that they had, and then convincing them to “upgrade” to a more acceptable dove. Typical salesmen: always trying to get you to buy something that you don’t need or more than you need. (We don’t need half the stuff that we have, but we have it usually because we were convinced that we needed it.)
These unscrupulous moneychangers were “ripping off” the worshipers, and this made Jesus very angry. He began to drive them out of the courtyard, overturning the chairs and tables with coins flying in all directions. He did not hurt anyone, but made it clear that His Father’s house was a sacred place, a place of peace, and a place in which to worship His Father. He also would not allow anyone to “carry any vessel” through the temple” (Mark 11:16), meaning that no one was to bring in any merchandise to sell. After all, it was a house of worship and of prayer and not a shopping mall.
Oh, that Jesus’ followers today would have that fervent zeal for the honor of God’s house. Too many of our modern day churches have become places of entertainment rather than places for worship and prayer. When Jesus said that no one was to “carry a vessel” through His Father’s house, I couldn’t help but think about how folks bring in their lattes and coffee cups into the sanctuary as if they are about to view a movie or play. I remember years ago at my former church, we had Vacation Bible School. This one day the children were fed Krystal hamburgers. One boy brought his snack into the sanctuary and took a seat on one of the pews to eat his burger. When one of the ladies saw him, she let him know very quickly and sternly that food and eating was not allowed in the place of worship. I also have objections to the way some folks dress, particularly some women, when they come into God’s house. Yes, I am glad that they are there, but wish that they had covered up a bit more. I do not want to see lots of cleavage and the outline of thongs in church. And I also wish the men and boys would remove their hats when they come inside the house of God. That’s just common courtesy. I know that this sounds judgmental, but my desire is that all people would honor and respect the house of God. To me, worship is not a casual experience, but a sacred, honorable, and sincere privilege to honor the Lord of heaven and earth.