Thrash Monday

A Quick Look: Matthew 21: 12 – 16

Really Read It: Matthew 21: 1 – 22, Mark 11: 1 – 24

Memorize: John 4: 23 – 24

This is not the Palm Sunday story. It is not the cross or the Jesus rising from the dead story. Those almost have to be studied in the spring. This story goes right with them, but Sunday-school teachers never get to it because they are so busy with those other stories on Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday.

In many houses, April is the time to stick colored eggs and cartoon rabbits to your windows? Do you have little Easter baskets for the mantle? Do you have a picture of a cross or an empty tomb? I might not be a fan of all of those decorations, but I would like to suggest you add some more. How about some decorations for Palm Sunday? You could make a palm branch frame for a picture of a donkey. And then continue from Palm Sunday to Thrash Monday. To remember Jesus on the Monday before he went to the cross, turn your kitchen table on its side and scatter money all over the floor. Flip at least half of the chairs and toss three or four animal cages into the mix. It will make meals a bit of a challenge, but it is worth it to remember the big mess that Jesus made in the temple.

But why? Why did Jesus make such a mess?

He explained it this way. “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”

On Palm Sunday, Jesus was in a little parade, and all the fans at the parade did the right thing. They praised and cheered with strength. Most parades are pointless; they go nowhere and nothing happens. In Christ’s parade something happened and he went somewhere. He went to the temple.

The temple then and the church now look quite different and very different things happen in them. I have never seen a guy in a robe kill and burn a goat at church. But the purpose is the same. The temple is the place to meet God, a house of prayer, a room for worship. Jesus entered the temple on Sunday evening and looked around. The next morning, Thrash Monday, he went back into the temple and made a mess. He drove out the people who were selling in the temple. All of these people were selling animals. The people who bought the animals then took them into the Temple and gave them to God, killed them for God. Some pet lovers think that Jesus wanted to stop them from killing all those animals. Sorry, that wasn’t it. Jesus wanted to take the greed out of His house. He had to get the greed out of His worship. He overturned tables. He made a mess, but he wasn’t in a rage of anger. If anger had taken over Jesus, he would have torn the place up Sunday night when he went there the first time. He waited for the right time to make a mess.

His mess was a message. Jesus wanted regular people to have a place to meet God. He wanted His people to have a house of prayer and a room used just for worship. No one could find God in that temple because God wasn’t there. Jesus drove out the people who were stopping God. And as soon as they were gone, Jesus brought that activity of God into the temple. He healed the blind and the lame. A healing God will heal bodies in His house, if He is really there. The children began to worship. True worship will come from children and adults. Worship is our response when God comes down. Worship gets God to come down. God will come where people show that they want him.

Jesus wrecked that temple which was full of worthless worship. Hundreds of people filled the temple and did religious things, but they did nothing to stir the heart of God. God made zero response to their worship. What kind of worship comes out of your mouth? What kind of worship comes from your heart? When you stand in your church, does God see a reason to listen? When it’s kids’ church time and all the kids sing, do you stir the heart of God? When your family gathers in the living room pray, do you say empty words? In your room at night when you talk to God, does he hear worthless worship? On Thrash Monday the message of Jesus was that religious activity is not what He wants in His house. He wants His people to gather and show with strength and passion and heart that they want God to step into that room and be God. It is a special room for God's use only. It is a special time for God's use only.

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Nathan is amazed to see God move in power every week at his church. You can see what is happening: http://www.worldrevivalchurch.com

You can find more of Nathan’s writing on lulu and helium.