Quick Gospel

John 2:14-17
14 In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15 So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me

Thought:
It is spring, believe it or not to those in the northeast.  So I grew up with a mother that always did "spring house cleaning", and this text brings to mind that fact for me.  No my mother did not stand around whipping her children to clean, but as we go through cycles of cleaning up our houses let us not forget that our bodies are referred to as the Temple of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians.  So as we do our legalistic house cleaning, we should also do our spirtual house cleaning too!  Clean out all the thoughts and things that bog us down, and fill those spaces with Words from God that will enlighten us to go be better people in the world.  There is indeed much more going on in this text, but just re-read it only for the actions that Jesus is doing here as he cleans up the House of God.  Without question he gets rid of all the bad things and removes all the waste that should not be there and he does it in an action that probably only takes 1 or 2 minutes of time.  His quick response should be that easy for us as well as we clean up our "temples".  We should not sit and try to contemplate these things or try to find cause, or reason or even blame with why we still hold on to them.  Just dump them from our lives for good. 

Prayer:
Dear God, we so often get caught up with doing what the world tells us is OK, that we forget to keep our minds clean for you.  Today, let us begin our "house cleaning" stage and depart with all those things that keep us from truley understanding the space that we need in our hearts and minds for you to fill to keep us clean.  Amen