Beyond our Facination with Church Buildings

Scripture Verses that caught my attention today: Mark 11:15-17 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Observation: In Mark 11 Jesus goes to the temple three times. First he goes late in the evening, doing little more than looking around and then leaving. Next is the encounter found in the verses above. Finally he goes back again the next day whereupon people confront him in regard the authority by which he does such things.

Application: I find Jesus’ relationship to the temple interesting. On the one hand it is clearly a special place for him. He spent much time there. On the other hand, he will indicate elsewhere that all will eventually be thrown down—without one stone left upon another. That which people admire is not always long-standing.

I think of the farm that we live on. The one barn is well over 150 years old and we hope to preserve it. Still, its life is limited by the limitation of our own resources, the cumulative affects of time, and, possibly, the lack of interest in the mind of whoever comes after us. It will be a sad day whenever it eventually comes down, but life will go on. It’s just a building. There’s no need to get overly caught up in it.

Same goes for church buildings and temples. Over time they come and go. Like home décor, styles of architecture come and go and are often determined largely by the availability of resources (financial and otherwise) at the time. I find it interesting that the incredibly beautiful Jerusalem Temple was totally destroyed by the Romans roughly 40 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Lots of people were spiritually devastated by that event. But only those who had placed their faith in the building. Not those who had placed their faith in the crucified and risen leader of the movement.

Prayer: Lord, temples and church buildings are interesting. There are lots of beautiful ones in Europe and even America today that are largely empty. But you teach us that the church is ultimately not a building but, rather, your people gathered in every time and every place. For that I give you thanks. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(Readings today included: Job 23-24 and Mark 11-12)