Turning Over The Tables

     I love Jesus. I love Jesus because He did not put up with the religious leaders of His day. No, I know what you are thinking that I missed the whole salvation thing, the power in His blood, His death and more importantly His resurrection. But I love Jesus because He was a real man. Worldly men, in this life, crave power and I believe live in such a way that they continue to lust after it. Even many so-called religious leaders today also lust after and wield power in their feeble attempt to keep God holy. As if God needs any help with that?

    There is nothing new under the sun. Footnote here, I owe  king Solomon for that one liner,because he nailed it. If we were to time travel back to the days when Jesus was growing up in Israel, we would see some all to familiar scams. Some of the religious leaders were making large profits off God's requirements that were contained in the law. Basically, it worked like this. Man is sinful, in fact our hearts are desperately wicked with no hope of redemption on our own merit. So these Rabi's, scribes and other powerful men with religious titles had figured out how to make money in the Temple. Once every calendar year it was required for all practicing Jews to come and sacrifice a lamb to atone for their sins. In the book of Leviticus we find all the rules and regulations for these sacrifices. One rule was that the sacrificial  lamb had to be without spot or blemish so you would have to find and pay someone in the Temple employment  to inspect your offering.

    I kinda think it must have been like haggling with a used car salesman on the car lot or maybe it was like an over zealous cop who pulls you over and wants to give you a ticket to up his quota for the day. This religious person or maybe priest would 99.9% of the time find a blemish and turn down your offering. However, I imagine the conversation went something like this..."Come right this way, Mr. Jacob, please look over here we have some very nice year old lambs. Fed with only the best feed and who were raised to have only the purest, snow white wool and at such a bargain today! For you, Mr. Jacob, 30 pieces of temple currency"  Says the half shaved, dirty temple shepherd  while scratching himself. "Whats that? you don't have temple currency? Mr. Jacob, well that's really not a problem my brother Chaim over here will trade your Roman coins for Temple coins at a very low  10 to 1 exchange rate step right over here and we will get you clean in God's eyes". The temple lamb probably constituted all the other rejected lambs left behind by all the Israelite travelers.

    Do you see why I love Jesus? Jesus  was the The Lamb of God who was without spot or blemish! Jesus offered His life for us on a Roman cross at no cost and while we were yet sinners. Friends, salvation is a gift from God. Praise be to Him.
  
   You cant fleece the flock of God and continue in it for very long! God will be satisfied. But that is what some churches are doing today , fleecing the flock. The fleecing comes in different ways wearing many disguises. Jesus said, you can tell what kind of tree you have by the fruit it bears. When a large portion of church revenue goes back into peoples lives who  need help, that is when God is satisfied. Its hard to find fault when missionaries are digging water wells in a hot, dry village in Africa! Or a team of Southern Californians go down into Peru to bring medical supplies that they purchased with their own money to freely give to the native Indians living in the mountains. That is what having a heart like Jesus is all about.  But woe to the churches who have a false front, the pastor has his name on a parking space and rarely acts like a servant at all! Can he be seen picking up trash on the church grounds or unclogging a bathroom toilet? In fact, if the pastor has become too important to serve maybe he should step down from the pulpit?
    Jesus on the very night before He would give up His life looked forward to celebrating the Passover meal with His disciples. Remember Jesus is our Passover Lamb. As they lay on the floor reclining before the Passover meal an argument arose among all the disciples as to which one of them was the greatest. I wonder if that has ever happened in any of our present day churches? So our Lord, Jesus, stopped what He was doing, girded His loins with a towel and  filled a basin with water. He then, starting with the closest man to Him, bent down and gently washed all of their feet one after another. Do you see why I love Jesus? Jesus showed us by His example how to be great in God's kingdom by serving others, putting others first. So you wanna be great in God's kingdom then start by washing someones feet.