Spring Cleaning // Holy Monday [Holy Week]

Spring Cleaning
Author: Bruce Lane, Executive Pastor
Day 2: Holy Monday
Scripture Reading: Matthew 21:12-17
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Growing up, one of our family chores was cleaning the garage. It mostly involved sweeping out dirt, leaves, or grass clippings and tidying up the place. But every spring, we had to do a deep clean. We had to take everything out of the garage…and I mean, everything. Once it was empty, we began the deep clean process. We cleaned it so well you could almost eat off the floor. It wasn’t until Mom or Dad inspected it that we were allowed to put everything back in place once again.

During the last week of Jesus’ life, He returned to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. When He entered the temple complex, Jesus expected to see people praying for needs and praising and thanking God for His provision. Unfortunately, He saw money changers and merchants exploiting the people and overcharging them with outrageous exchange rates and exorbitant convenience fees. And, because they set up shop in the Court of Gentiles, they made it useless as a place of prayer and worship for the Gentiles. Jesus was filled with such a wave of righteous anger that He overturned the tables and drove the money changers out.

– Matthew 21:12-13

Just as Jesus cleansed the temple complex, we must be willing to drive out or let go of those things that separate us from Him. We need to do a home inspection and a deep clean. We must drive out those things that cause us to stumble, those sins that ensnare us. Just as Jesus removed the merchants and the money changers so that people could worship and praise Him, we must do a thorough spring cleaning with the help of the Holy Spirit and remove anything that blocks our relationship with Him.

After the temple complex was cleared, the blind and the lame once again came to Jesus to be healed, as explained in verse 14. When we are cleansed from those things in our lives that cause us to stumble, those sins that trap us, those things that crowd out God, we can once again come to Jesus and be healed and draw closer to Him in worship and praise.