Mark 11:1-19

“Then He taught, saying to them, ‘Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a den of thieves.’” (Mark 11:17, NKJV)

Jesus had just been hailed as the Messiah by the crowds. They shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.” But were they ready for Him to exercise His kingly duty? After the triumphal entry, Jesus went into the temple and looked around at everything, but it was late in the day. So, He came back to the temple the next day and began to drive out those who bought and sold, overturning the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. This was all in the court of the Gentiles, which was the closest a non-Jew could come to God. Rather than being a house of prayer, it had become a noisy marketplace! The chief priests let this happen because they were profiting from it. They cared more about making money than about praying or reaching the lost. But Jesus cleaned house, and they wanted to destroy Him for it.

What if Jesus were to visit our churches today? Would we feel uncomfortable when He looked around? Would He find our churches to be places of prayer for the nations where the Word is taught and people are coming to faith in Him? Or would He find them to be places of performances, where much attention is given to catering to the flesh but little to feeding the spirit?

And what if Jesus were to enter our temple—the temple of our bodies? What would He find that we are meditating on? What would He hear when we open our mouths and speak? Are we meditating on good and noble things? Are we considering His Word and how we can practice it? Or are we thinking about the people who have wronged us and how we can pay them back? Are we saying wholesome things that edify? Or are we saying things about others that we would never want said about us?

David wrote:

“Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:12–14, NKJV)

Perhaps a little housecleaning would do us some good.