It’s really hard, at least for me, to not turn something that is profoundly spiritual into a pious display. Jesus loved honest spirituality. And there’s nothing that he hated more than religiosity. As soon as my focus moves from the inside to the outside, I’m in big trouble. That doesn’t mean that it never manifests on the outside. That just cannot be not my primary focus. When it does, the beauty of the spiritual experience evaporates.
I say this in order for you to understand the context in which I want to share what lies ahead. I need to navigate Lent through the timeline of Jesus journey to the cross and beyond. Yesterday I ended up face to face with one of my favorite glimpses of who Jesus really is. It was at the beginning of his ministry, but it also is a critically important aspect of the lent story.
Jesus Clears the Temple Courts
13 When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple courts he found people 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 courts, 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! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 17 His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”[c]
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” John 2:13-19
Wow! Through the three years that the disciples followed Jesus I’m sure their minds were blown often. I’m sure that this was possibly the biggest mind-blowing experience of their lives though. They had to wonder if he had lost his mind. He was messing with the religious structure that they had embraced as the only way to really connect with (and appease) God. But by creating a stampede of cattle and sheep through the most religious sites in their faith, he was committing one of the most incredibly blasphemous acts of his life. He was not only risking his own life, but theirs as well. Did he know what he was doing? Jesus always knows what he’s doing. In fact, he sat down and used rope to make a whip. That takes some time. It was not an act of blind rage… He was sending a message for the ages.
He was signaling to the religious authorities, and to generations of seeking hearts, that this religious system had to go. Connection with God is not a transaction. It’s not quid pro quo. It’s a living, breathing relationship. It’s honest, and private, and filled with a vast and extravagant bond with the divine. It is always initiated by him, and on his timeline… Not ours.
But one more thing. This got him killed. He knew that he had to do it, but knew it was just a matter of time. This was a signal to his followers and to the consumers and benefactors of this failed religious system, that it was coming to an end. He was messing with their cash cow. As Jesus usually does, he was messing with the status quo. Jesus hates the status quo. He is always bringing the new, the real, even the uncomfortable. But he doesn’t do it to draw a crowd, he does it for you and for me.
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” He knew that in just three years he would hang on a cross. That’s what happens when OUR religious systems become our idols. Jesus sits down, makes a whip, and clears the whole thing out. That’s what Lent is all about. It’s about clearing out the house… Spring cleaning? Getting ready for the new, for the resurrection. The end of status quo, and the beginning of the truly beautiful.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this.
Lance Brown Creations 
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