May 13, 2012 Waiting

Time to Wait Mark 11:11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. OFTEN the most profound messages come in the simplest phrases. Seeing our Lord walking to the Temple, looking around, and then leaving seems as if it’s a scene out of reality TV where you are doing nothing watching someone else doing nothing. But something is happening here, and it’s good for you to watch the Lord Jesus in action. You say, “He didn’t do anything.” But he did. He is the Son of God, who made a “house check” his priority that day. As Jesus “looks around”, he sees evidence of improper activities in the temple, his “house”, and the temple is at risk. Jesus leaves and prepares to return the next day to do what he must to care for and cleanse his house. Here’s Jesus’ lesson for you: Watch over your house. I’m not talking about the physical house; I’m talking about the “house” of relationships built on the foundational blocks of loving God and loving one another in the Lord’s grace and truth. Your house is to be a loving, nourishing environment for all who enter and all who live there. Whatever blocks that from happening, you must get rid of it. God built his temple to be a loving nourishing environment for his people. Jesus has come to “look around” the temple to know what he must do to protect the temple. On the next day he will act to clean his house from evil. Keep your eyes open. Look around. What must you do to protect your house, to clean it of evil? Pause and consider the threat is constant…constant…constant.