"Jesus Clears the Temple"

"It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers' coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. Then going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, "Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father's house into a marketplace." Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: "Passion for God's house will consume me.""  (John 2:13-17 NLT) 

  "Passion for your house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me." (Psalm 69:9 NTL) 

  Maybe you haven't thought about how this is important to some of those that deny Jesus is God, but it is, as there are some which use this as a proof that Jesus had sinned; as they say, His anger proves that He is a sinner, just like us. There actually is a footnote in the NLT for the quote in John 2:17, that says, "Concern for God's house will be my undoing." 

  Growing up, this was one of those things I misunderstood as something wrong, as if what Jesus did was something against organized religion, or as something which was proof that the church was not meant to ask for money. I know it sounds weird, but having grown up being taught what I was taught, things were just not always shown in the proper Light! 

  This is proof to me that we need to prove the Scriptures! Not that we need to prove what the Word of God says, but that we need to search for the proper meaning, which is not going to be proven wrong by anything else written in the Word of God! If it says in one verse, Jesus is God, then anything written that might seem opposing that verse, needs to be determined as meaning something entirely different. 

  If you are just a little bit skeptic, then you need to park right there and get yourself fixed! In a really weird sort of way, this is a good illustration of what Jesus was demonstrating when He cleared the Temple; as it was, the place which was to be used for worship, was made into a marketplace. In the simplest way I can say: The place which was meant for honoring God, was being made into a place where God was being used for profit; which is using God to honor men! 

  Regardless of what you might have experienced in your own churches, if you are in the business of serving God, then you are in the wrong business; the gift of being God's servant is that He takes care of all your needs, which isn't a business, it is an honor...

"But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:9-10 NLT)