"a Right To Be Angry" Series

There are a few times in the gospels where we read about our Lord becoming angry. This was one of those times. On the previous evening, Sunday evening, Jesus had gone to the temple area with His disciples and looked around. Apparently, what He saw there angered Him very much, for the next day, Monday, He retumed to the temple and "cleaned house" so to speak. That which Jesus saw going on in the temple caused Him to become violently angry.

The Bible speaks of the possibility of one being angry without committing sin. In Psalm 4z4,we are told, "fn your anger do not sin."

I believe this is the kind of anger that Jesus had. We commonly refer to it as "righteous indignation." In other words, Jesus was right to be angry about what He saw going on at the temple. He was angry:

1. Because of what was going on.

God's people had lost their sense of perspective. Rather than looking on the temple as something through which they could serve God, they had come to look on the temple as something that existed to serve them. This was true of both the leadership and the common people.

The religious leadership had come to look on the temple as something that existed to help them make a good living. In those days, every Jew had to pay a temple tax of one half shekel a year. This amounted to almost two day's wages. Now, for ordinary purposes Greek, Roman, Syrian, Egyptian, or Phoenician coinages were all equally valid. But the temple tax had to be paid in shekels of the sanctuary, and was paid at Passover time. Jews came from all over the world with all kinds of currencies, and they would have to exchange their country's currency for temple currency. They were charged a fee for this, and should the money they exchanged exceed the tax they had to pay, they were charged an additional fee. Most pilgrims had to pay fees for exchanging their money that equaled a half day's wage!

The priests also monopolized the sale of sacrificial animals, which had to be without blemish. Though worshipers could buy an animal outside the temple, the temple inspectors would be sure to find something wrong with them, and they would be told to buy their animal from within the temple. Outside, doves might sell for as liule as half a

shekel, while inside, they might sell for as high as l0 shekels! This is why Jesus said that the temple had tumed into a "den of thieves."

But the religious leaders were not the only ones guilty thinking the temple existed only to serve their needs. The common people had come to accept this way of thinking also. In verse 16, Mark tells us that Jesus "would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.' What was this all about? Well, one of the many rules that related to showing respect for the temple said, "A man may not enter into the temple mount with his staff or his sandal or his wallet, or with the dust upon hisfeet, nor may he make of il a short by path."

Now, the outer court of the temple provided an ideal shortcut from the eastern part of the city to the Mount of Olives, and many had developed the habit of using the temple as a short-cut as they did daily activities.

In this, they also demonstrated that they had lost perspective conceming the significance of the temple. Jesus was angry because the people of God had come to believe the temple existed only to serve their needs, rather than to enable them to serve God.

Could this true of us today? Whether we occupy the pulpit or the pew, if we only think of the church in terms of what it can do for us, instead of thinking in terms of how we can serve through it, then Jesus has a right to be angry with us! If we think of the church only in terms of how it can serve us, then that means there is one less person left to serve God through the church; and if everyone took on that attitude, there would be no one left to do anything, and the church would die.

Suppose every member of our church attended as often as you do. Would there be a "house full" every Sunday or would the worship center be empty? Just suppose that every member gave to support its ministries as faithfully as you do. Would we be able to increase our budget, giving more to missions, allotting more money for outreach,

and improving our facilities or other ministries, or would we have to wear our coats during worship in the winter to save money on the utility bill? Just suppose that every member invited as many guests to join us on Sunday as you do. Would we have to make plans to provide more space for worship or Bible study or would we have to try to figure out what we were going to do with all the empty space we had on Sunday? Just suppose every member of our church did as much to serve the Lord through our church as you do. Would our church be growing or would we close the doors?