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The House of Prayer Reformed: Holy Week – Monday

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A Sermon Preached at the ACK St.  Hellen’s Parish on Monday 2nd April, 2012 in the Holy Week

Texts:

  • Mathew 21:12-22

Introduction

According to Mathew, the events recorded in Mathew 21:12-17, appears to had taken place on Palm Sunday after Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, while the events of Mathew 21:18-22 according to Mathew, took place on Monday. Jerusalem, being both the religious and political headquarters, became the centre of focus for Christ’s final personal ministry on earth. It is for this purpose therefore, that Christ started with the reformation of the Temple worship. There are three crucial aspects of Christ’s ministry in Jerusalem on this day:

  1. The Spiritual Restoration

When Christ entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, His first stop was the Temple. The Temple worship was very crucial in the religious life of the Jews. The Temple:

  1. Signified the presence of God among His people: dating back to wilderness day, the presence of God was represented by the ark of the covenant, then the Tent of Meeting and finally after the conquest and the monarchical period, the Temple.
  2. The Temple was the place of sacrificial worship
  3. The Temple was the meeting point between God and His people
  4. The Temple was the symbol of identity for God’s people
  5. The Temple was the symbol of spirituality

In the OT, when Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, destroyed the Temple during his conquest of Jerusalem, it was as if God himself had left His people. The lamentation of the Psalmist in Psalm 137 clearly captures the desperate spiritual state of the Jews after the destruction of the Temple:

Psalm 137 “1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. 7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” 8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us— 9 he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”

When almost, after 70 years the foundations for the rebuilding of the Temple was laid, the people greatly rejoiced:

Ezra 3:10-13 “10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD: “He is good; his love to Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.  12 But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.  13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.”

The rebuilt Temple, therefore, stood until the time of Christ (only that just before Christ, Herod carried out repairs in order to please the Jews who opposed him. The repair work looked like rebuilding the Temple all over again). It is sad that the Temple had lost the purpose for which it was originally built. The people now focused on business or economic benefits rather than on worship. Christ reminds them, quoting Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11, the purpose for which it was built to be:

Mathew 21:13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”

May this Holy week help to remind us the purpose for which the church exists in the community:

  1. The church is the conscience of the society. It keeps the society alert as far as sin and morals are concerned. A church which no longer informs the society needs to be restored this week by the Lord Jesus Christ.
  2. The church is a mark and a symbol of holiness or the sacred. The church must remain the church in order to reflect the glory and the holiness of God. What business goes on in our church or in our parish?
  3. The church is the salt and the light to the community. The church must influence the community positively and spiritually. The church must offer and dictate the agenda for the community. A church which follows and copies the community systems and behaviours must be restored by Christ this week.

The church which has made the society comfortable in her and at the same she is comfortable in the society should be ready to face Christ’s cleansing wrath. The church must convict the society of God’s righteousness and reflect that righteousness. When the church has lost her influence power, it can as well as be equated with any secular organisation.

  1. The Beneficiaries of the Church’s Poor Spiritual State

It is interesting that when Christ had restored the spiritual state of the Temple and God was performing miracles again, the beneficiaries of the former state of the Temple were not happy. Mathew records that,

Mathew 21:14-16 “14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. 16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.”

What is our picture or understanding of the church today? Is it still a spiritual organism, where the only vision and only vision is heaven – people getting saved and growing spiritually; the evidence of the working of the Holy Spirit, etc? Or is it just an institution where jobs are created; a business venture – where all rules and principles of competition in business are employed?

When Christ looks at the church today, is He seeing the beneficiaries of the poor state of the church today who are only after material gains and are no longer bothered about the things of God? The beneficiaries who no longer preach salvation or lead people to Christ; there is no longer healing? The beneficiaries who oppose praise and worship in the church today? The blind and the lame went to Christ in the Temple and He healed them, while the children praised God – ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ BUT the beneficiaries, chief priests and the teachers of the law… were indignant.

  1. Spiritual Productivity
  • Mathew 21:18-22 – the fig tree withers

At that time in Jerusalem, people from far and near had crowded into Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover; the great feast commemorating the nation’s liberation from Egypt. Due to the large number of people, not all could find lodgings in Jerusalem. Therefore, Jesus and His disciples stayed at the nearby town of Bethany. Each day they walked the two miles trip into Jerusalem.

Mathew, informs us that, “Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry” (V.18) but he doesn’t tell us why Jesus did not find any fruit on the fig tree. Was it time for fruits? Of course Jesus would not have gone to the tree. The tree was green with leaves but not a single fruit – green but not productive. Israel was green but not bearing fruits.

For me, this is a big challenge. The tree may bear fruits in seasons however; believers / Christians must bear fruits at all times. Every time, we must bear spiritual fruits. A Christian’s life should not be seasonal – it is not a matter of being spiritual only at particular times of the year! A Christian must be a Christian all times, in all places and in every circumstance.

The only requirement for spiritual productivity is faith. Spiritual productivity leads to an exercise of faith.

Conclusion

“The house of prayer reformed” is crucial in the restoration of the spiritually, not only of the church but of an individual. This Holy Week, when God looks at our church; at my life would He begin a cleansing service? We thank God that at the ACK St. Hellen’s Parish in the Diocese of Nairobi, we are seeing God at work. Some of the things, God is doing in our midst, among others includes; especially yesterday during the Palm Sunday:

  1. The Lord is raising up powerful praise and worship team in the church. Yesterday, it was awesome being in the presence of God in praise and worship.
  2. We had healing services in the 1st and 2nd services (English & Kiswahili). People just came forward to be prayed for.
  3. During the 3rd (Kikuyu) service, we had admission and readmission of new believers, dedication of babies, water baptism of 43 children and 1 adult. The adult, after being explained to why we baptise, knelt at the altar to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord before baptism.

God is working in our lives and I can confess that there are no “beneficiaries” who are standing in the way of people to hinder us from experiencing God. We are still thirsting for God this Holy Week that we may exercise the faith.

Monday in Holy Week, 2nd April 2012

Rev. Simon J. Oriedo; (BSc, BD (Hons.), PGD (Ecumm.), MABS, MED.)

P.O. Box 14814 – 00100, Nairobi – Kenya

Tel: +254 722 838 023 / 735 621 172 / 772 838 023