Pure Devotion

“And He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And He was teaching them and saying to them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations”’? But you have made it a den of robbers."—Mark 11:16-17

God loves the nations. He loves people, all kinds of people, and He wants people to have an opportunity to know Him. We can see this on the day after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the start of Passion Week. Jesus made His way to the Temple—the dwelling place of Almighty God. He stopped men from carrying anything through the Temple and was teaching everyone there that God’s Temple was a house of prayer, not just for Jews, but also for the “nations.”

It was to be a place for all of the nations. Even in Jesus’ final week on earth He is thinking about those who were far from God—in foreign lands, in foreign faiths, and far away from Him. He wanted everyone to have the opportunity to know God. That was the purpose of the Jewish Temple. It was the manifest dwelling place of Almighty God, but God is not just the God of the Jews only. He is the God who rules over all creation. He had chosen Israel to be a light to the nations, and He placed the Temple in their midst so that the world might see God in them.

The Jewish Temple was first constructed by King Solomon to be the dwelling place of God in the midst of the nation of Israel. It lasted for 374 years until it was destroyed by the Babylonians as an act of judgment by God in 586 B.C. A second Temple was constructed in 515 B.C. at the same location, only to be destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. as a second act of judgment by God.

Our passage for today occurs approximately 40 years before the Temple’s second and final destruction. Jesus enters the Temple to see that it had become corrupt. He had already cleansed the Temple at the beginning of His ministry, but here He is again, during His last week on earth, back to where He started. He is purifying it, or restoring it back to its original order and purpose. It was a holiday week when Jews came from distant places to celebrate and sacrifice at the Jewish Temple. Pilgrims were everywhere, rooms were booked, the streets were crowded, and business was booming in Jerusalem. But, like any holiday, there were those who sought to be making a profit from others’ devotion. There were moneychangers, individuals who set up a currency exchange in the Temple precincts (area around the Temple). They took the money from the pilgrims coming from far away, offering to exchange it at exorbitant prices, for the currency required of the annual Temple tax which would also allow them to purchase pigeons, lambs, oil, salt, etc., for various sin and thanksgiving sacrifices. But Jesus comes to the Temple to drive them out. Why? Because the pious devotion of many Jews was being used to nourish the moneychangers’ corruption. The Temple was not to be a place to make money, but to foster devotion, heart care, and a resolute love for Almighty God. Christ came to cleanse the Temple because He cared. He didn’t want those with a passion for God to be used by others with impure motives and for personal profit. He showed how much He loved the nations and how much He valued prayer. He wanted the Temple to be the place between God and man—a holy place set apart for sacred communion, an intimate relationship between the Creator and His creation, where man could pour out the pains and sorrows of his heart before God, but it had become polluted. Jesus was enraged at such a deliberate disregard for the meeting place between God and man. In righteous indignation, He turned over the tables and drove out those who were making a quick profit from shaking down pious pilgrims. His zeal reveals God’s heart for the nations and His heart for the purity of prayer.

Has your pursuit of God become polluted? Has your fervor waned so that you’ve begun to coast off of others’ passion? Or are we pursuing God in wholehearted devotion, knowing that He wants to use us as Temples of the Holy Spirit? Christ came to cleanse the Jewish Temple, but once we come to know Him, we are given His Holy Spirit and we become God’s temples (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:19). We are to be clean and holy temples, free from the pollution of sin, using our lives as a means to bring the nations to Christ (Matthew 28:19-20). Are we doing that? Do we love the nations so much that we are willing to take a great step of faith, even at the risk of loss of reputation? Are we willing to show our devotion and zeal for Christ in ways that others might deem to be “too radical”? And do we value prayer as much as Jesus does? May God grant us the purity of devotion and righteous zeal that Christ Himself possessed, and may we value close communion with God as He did, so that we might know Him and make Him known. Amen.