Not a house of merchandise!
Jn. 2:16

Welde Tensae

We are now in the MEKURAB week of the lent. The literal meaning of ‘MEKURAB’ is ‘TEMPLE’ or ‘synagogue’. Thus, the issue of the TEMPLE in both its literal and symbolic sense becomes the focus of the church for this week.

St. David has said the following about the house of God, i.e. he Temple, in his psalm: Zeal for your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me; when I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach. Ps 69:9-10

It is right to a man of God, such as St. David, to feal zealous for the safety of the house of God. When the house of God is maltreated or reproached, a true man of God could not feel comfortable. He weeps and fasts for the sake of the house of God though he might be derided.

What is refered as the house of God? First of all, it is the building itself in which God is praised. In the Old Testament, it was David’s zeal to build a temple for God. That zeal was made possible through Solomon, David had a son. God has given that house his perpetual blessing. 1chron. 22:1-10; 1judgs 9:3.

A Christian, including you and me, is therefore, expected to work hard to build a church in areas where it does not exist or is not within the reach of believers. Such a person has followed the example of David who had the will to build and Solomon who has made it possible. God will bless this person because he has built the chosen house of God and, thus, is an instrument in perpetuating the blessing God has given to Solomon. This contribution could be made feasible through organizing Christians, raising funds, etc

In many parts of our country and also abroad, the faithful are in need of having a church where they could talk to God. We may have the fortune or we may have the skill to encourage people and raise funds; we may even have the humility to pray etc. One way or the other, we have to contribute to make the building churches possible. God has given us some talent to be exploited for the benefit of the house of “God. There should not be any energy spared to serve God because that is the very purpose we are created for.

When Solomon’s temple was demolished by the Godless, the focus of devoted believers rested on the reconstruction of that house. That was the prayer of Daniel; and also the prayer of Nehmiah; etc. In our age, many churches are being demolished because of extremists, lack of maintenance and other factors. Our role is to work for the reconstruction or rejuvenation of such houses. We need to contribute our cash, our skill and our spiritual sacrifice (fasting and prayer) for this to happen kings 12:1-16.

The house of God, or temple, could also mean the nations, the worshippers of the Lord as a whole.

The fate of the nations was the concern of God and his devoted serevants of the Old Testament. When he took them out of Egypt, he chose mosses and Jossua who were so zealous for the house of God to dead them Exod 3:7-10; Deut. 34:9 Mosses happened to ask God to delete him from the book of life to save the people he was leading from the curse they brought upon them selves as a result of their sin. Ester has saved her people from destruction following the advice of Mordecai. Esher 7:3-4.

We are in an extremely testing age; we need to be concerned for our common safety as Christians.

In different place of the world, the house of God is being persecuted. Christians have been made victims by extremists who have no rule or room for tolerance and co-existence. We are expected to pray harder because the devil has waged its contemporary war on the church. The name of this war is jihad Islamic Fundamentalism, which works to erase Christianity from the face of the earth. Acts 7:57-60; Neh. 1:1-11.

Each of us are also the house of God. We are expected to be holy enough for God to dwell in us. If I am given to fornication, bribery, idolatry and other evils, it means I am not zealous for the house of God. No dirty personality such as his could serve as a temple or a house of God. It is only the devil who dwells in such as personality. Mt. 15:19; A believer is also expected to pray for his fellow human beings who are house of God. God wants my brothers and sisters to be holy since they are also created to serve as his temples. This demands that I pray not only for myself but also for my fellow brothers and sisters. Mt. 15:31. I am expected to help them attain the sanctity God expects from them in my prayer and advice; I shouldn’t in any way for sake or harm them for such an act is evil in its own way. Exod 20:13-17 jm. 2:15-16.

With this, we could go to the measure our lord and savior has taken to keep the temple worthy of its name as prophecied by David. When our Lord was taken to the temple by his mother as a child; he used to listen to the words of scholars in the temple; he has taught in the temple; he has healed the sick in the temple; etc He has done all this to show that it is a holy place meant to give a holy service. On the contrary, what used to be done in the holy house of God was conducting earthly merchandize. People used to buy and sell things within the premises of the holy house aspiring only earthly gains. He had flogged such people to leave the site only for holy services. Jn. 2:16; Lk. 11:15-17.

These days, many are making earthly profit out of the church. God knows if the alms collected from the faithful is wisely expended only for the running of spiritual services. There are also business dealers in almost all urban churches competing for space and attention with the faithful who are there to pray. There are lottery vendors, book sellers, etc. within the church disturbing attention and committing sacrilege. As the mass is being said, homily is given or Holy Eucharist is being offered, they disturb the faithful asking them to purchase their commodities. Ear – splitting voices that carry the name of a hymn are also part of this. In his measure of flogging the business dealers out, our Lord and savior is teaching us to keep our churches only for prayer. The very purpose the church exists is to serve as a venue of communication with God. It is never meant to serve as a site of earthly profit making.

Now, the flog is not just in the hand of Christ. It is also with our fathers for he has given them the authority to act. They should make sure that the church’s resource raised as alms from the faithful is not exploited unfairly. They themselves must keep their hands neat from such a crime because those who have tried to use God’s fortune for personal benefit have been condemned. Nabuchedenezar has used the vessels of God’s house as cups for serving wine; Judah of the New Testament, who betrayed the Lord Christ, to crucifixion used to steal from the alms box. Both were condemned because of their unholy deeds. Dn. 5:22-25; Acts 5:1-11;

They must come up with regulations to prevent activities which have reducing the church into a place of noise denying its serenity. Business dealers have to be kept out of the church which is a house reserved only for prayer. Acts 20:28; rev. 1:20.

Within the church, there may be conflicts between believers. Peace has to be restored by reconciling differences since, without peace, the house of God could not be kept holy. 1cor 1:10 -13; acts 15:6; Titus 3:1, 9-10. As our fathers are expected to be holy and vigilant for the church, we are also expected to show ourselves to them. Repentance and purity is expected of us as per the instructions of our fathers. If we are sick in the soul, were could get healed by the words of our authoritative spiritual fathers. They have been ordered to heal the sick and make them holy temples of God. Lk 10:9. Asking for their guidance following the examples of holy families could help us clean ourselves better and thus become holy temples. Acts 10:1-9. A spiritual father is expected to pay a visit and see if a faithful is holy.

For us to become worthy of serving as temples, we need to detach ourselves from fake life. Our spiritual life shall be authentic enough. Col. 2:16. Holiness demands to have worthy deeds and faith at the same time. Jm. 2:14.

To sum up, the ‘house of God’ is not only the church building but also our Christian unity and individual life as believers. Each has to be kept holy because God wants to see it live up to its name. Our spiritual fathers and the ordinary believers has a role to play in this regard. 1pet 5:1-5.

As fathers such as David, Solomon and Nehmiah had the zeal to the physical house of God which has a perpetual role as a place of prayer, we need to show the same zeal for building and maintaining churches. This is specially important in the remote areas of the country and in the Diaspora where there is lack of churches. Regulations have to be in place to keep churches only as places of prayer and not for earthly business. Our common fate as Christians has to be our day to day concern because the devil is working hard to annihilate us through the enemies of the church . The lives of individual believers should also be kept well for God. Our Lord is concerned for the individual life of the believer as much as he was for the building and his community. He was concerned when David fell to fornication; he was concerned when Peter betrayed him; etc. 2sam 12:9; is. 38:5 MK 14:72.

There has to be activities pertinent to the needs of the time for us to attain holiness. Our fathers have to exercise their authorities to keep the physical house, the church, from embezzlement and the noise within its premises. They shall make sure that their gathering is well – nurtured and safe enough. 2Tim. 4:1-8.

They shall also visit individual believers and solve their quarries in the comforting words of God. Each of the ordinary faithful needs to be closer to the church; one has to know his house, the building and the community, and give the relevant service. We have to also care for each other as brothers and sisters.

If we keep our church premise Holy, it means we keep our community holy, if we keep our individual lives holy, then the house of God is kept holy and the devil is flogged out of our lives. That is the holiness of the temple, literally and symbolically Amen!!!

May God Bless us, Amen.