The Father’s House of prayer

In John 2:13-25 we read about the “cleansing of the temple” and we find an unusual picture of Jesus with a whip in his hand and with zealous words and actions against those who changed the temple, his Father’s House of prayer, into a market place.

The passage tells us that the key question about this strange incident is what grants Jesus the authority to disrupt both the worship and economic activities in the temple in such a harsh way?

The answer is clear.  It is his Father’s house. He was more than a pilgrim visiting the temple. He is the Son of the God who dwells in that temple and as such he has the authority to take control of all the temple’s activities.

Jesus appears in Jerusalem making a bold statement for his authority to represent and reveal the God of the temple, whom he knows intimately as his Father.  As the Son of God, Jesus will not tolerate the abuse of people’s need to worship and serve God for personal agendas and gain. Jesus will neither accept nor bless participation in God’s work which is the result of wicked self satisfying motives. 

The challenge for churches today is to follow the example of Jesus when they structure their own activities only in ways that sincerely and reverently serve to reveal God to the world and provide for a “God-hungry-and-thirsty-world” the opportunity to worship the Lord and have their spiritual needs met. There should be zero-tolerance for any other agenda than to provide to God’s people a house of prayer and a revelation of the love, grace and glory of God.

When non-believers look at how Christians participate as members of God’s household, what picture do they get of the God worshiped in that particular “house of God?”