Holy Monday

“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’ ””
{‭‭Matthew‬ ‭21:12-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬}
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In perhaps the most important week in history, Jesus saw fit to cleanse the temple in Jerusalem. He did this with passion and righteous anger because the house of God is that important. From the Old Testament to the time of Jesus, these man-made buildings were more than just that, they were the place where God Himself would come to earth and be present. This wasn’t an uncontrolled fit of rage against those opposing Jesus and His teaching, it was Jesus taking a stand against irreverent behavior and demonstrating the gravity of acknowledging the holiness of God. God is perfect and cannot be in the presence of imperfection, so His temple must be holy if we want Him in our midst.
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When Jesus died for us and rose again, conquering death and the power of sin, God established a new temple. Because the death of Jesus tore the veil between God and man, God can now dwell within us. The perfect sacrifice of Christ is enough to cover our imperfections so we can be in the presence of God. We are now His temple, and we must be careful to care for that temple.
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On Holy Monday Jesus wasn’t simply flipping tables, He was driving pride, greed, and fear out of the temple in Jerusalem. Today we look into our hearts, God’s dwelling
place, and search for those things that we may have allowed back in. We ask Jesus to cleanse and purify us in honor of the holiness of God so that we are fit to serve Him with our lives.
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“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
{‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:19-20‬ ‭NLT‬‬}
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{HPZ 3.29.2021}