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Reflections from Holy Monday: the temple is also within us.

1. Introduction. 

Collect: "Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen."  (Book of Common Prayer.)  

Yesterday — Monday, 06 April — was Holy Monday.  It is, within the western and eastern church traditions, celebrated as the day on which Jesus Christ cleansed the temple of money-lenders and traders.  The narrative appears in all four Gospels (Matthew 21: 12-17; Mark 11: 15-19; Luke 19: 45-48; John 2: 13-16), and detail the way in which Christ physically drove out iniquity and sin from the Father's House, and accused them of having made it a "den of thieves."  (Matthew 21: 13.)  In doing this, Christ sets an example of how we should protect and promote the House of God, and explicitly shows us what is and is not acceptable within its walls.  But, I believe, there is also a deeper narrative at work here: Christ is also imploring us to turn inwards, reflect upon ourselves, and drive out the iniquity from within also.

2. You are also the temple of God. 

It is written, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.  For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are."  (1 Corinthians 3: 16-17; cf., 6: 19-20.)  This charge brings new depth to the meaning of Christ's work in cleansing the temple.  Not only are we to drive iniquity from the church, but there is an implicit command as well: we are to drive it from within ourselves.  In doing so, we are not only refusing to defile the temple of God, — which is ourselves also, — but we are respecting it as the holy place that it is.  We must be cautious and not allow ourselves to be made a "den of thieves".  

3. If you do well, will you not be accepted? (Genesis 4: 7.) 

From the very beginning, God has warned against sin, and commanded that we "should rule over it."  (Genesis 4: 7.)  Sin is the primary vehicle in which we may be found corrupt, as it exaggerates and forms itself based upon our fallen nature, working to make of us a "den of thieves."  Christ warned that it begins within, and proceeds to "evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness."  (Mark 7: 20-23.)  There are also warnings against idolatry, sorcery, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, and envy (Galatians 5: 20-21).  It is written forthright that these attitudes rescind an inheritance to the kingdom of God (Galatians 5: 21).  

So, it is against those works that Christians are commanded to strive.  If we do not, and we commit instead to sin, we are committing also lawlessness (1 John 3: 4) and making slaves of ourselves (John 8: 34).  Willingness to sin corresponds to a willingness to trample the Son of God underfoot and insult the spirit of Grace (Hebrews 10: 29).This turns men into being "lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers God," (2 Timothy 3: 1-4) — behaviours which, if stoked, can appear in anyone, and of which every one is guilty at some point in their lives.  It is a measure of a "form of godliness" whose power we have denied (2 Timothy 3: 5).  

How can we work against this denial of power within?  It has already been stated that the temple of God is also within ourselves, and therefore it consequentially resides within us to look to God.  

4. The Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save (Isaiah 59: 1).

We are only saved by the grace of God in Christ.  The Lord's hand is forever reaching out to all, offering the chance for salvation.  God wishes to reason with us and redeem us (Isaiah 1: 18).  He is also a fierce defender of the saved, against those who seek to destroy it.  The Bible is, if anything, a record of this statement.  Even with the grace of God may we incline ourselves upward to Christ with His will.  When it is done, we are made new: "Therefore," it is written, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."  (2 Corinthians 5:17.)  Being of Christ allows us to begin a journey of redemption, and enjoin to a saving faith which begins with God (Ephesians 2: 8) and comes to fruition with justification and good works (James 2: 18, 24, 26).  

5. Cleansing the inward temple. 

Part of a saving faith and corresponding good works is a rejection of sin.  Whilst this is not to say that we are simply not ever to stumble as people, it is to say that we must, at all times, embody a fear of God and a direction to Christ.  God chastens those whom He has saved and designs it to produce righteousness throughout His people (Hebrews 12: 6-11).  All the same, whether or not God chooses to chastise, our own actions provide a barometer to the sincerity of our faith: how we respond to stumbling paints a vivid picture of our heart's effort.  It leads us to genuflection, humility, and repentance, seeking the grace of mercy and to draw upward against iniquity.  

It was by the very same iniquity, and by a lapse in faith, that people thought it appropriate to engage in usury within the very House of God.  Christ sought to cleanse it.  The same applies to us today, both in its outward and inward expression.  To commit to doing so involves not only a rejection of lawlessness, but also a sincere love of God.  It is an important process that reflects a respect for that which is holy and belonging to the Spirit of Grace, i.e., ourselves as Christ's flock.  
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