Repurposing is one of the latest fads in home decorating and design. You take an old object and use it as part of your new design, often to be used from something totally different. I have seen a bicycle used as the stand for a bathroom sink. There is no way the designer of the bike thought his invention would be used this way.
How many of us have used a screwdriver on something other than a screw? Used a newspaper or magazine to swat a fly? Used your teeth to open a container of something? Hung wet clothes from a shower rod? You see, we repurpose every day. We are a creative bunch of creatures.
But some repurposing is not good. I have seen churches turned into bars and houses, and schools turned into condos. I have also seen a mall and a Walmart turned into churches. I have seen an IHOP turned into Chinese, and into Mexican restaurants. I have seen underpasses used a living quarters, and public park bathrooms turned into bathing facilities. Old cars get turned into sculptures. Abandoned buildings change into ghost towns.
Jesus and His disciples made a trip into the Temple Courts on their final journey before Jesus is crucified in a couple of days. Jesus is not happy with what they have done with the place. He has found it repurposed. Sacred space has been turned into a corrupt market place.
He observes and then He gets involved. After clearing the place of these profiteers, Jesus gets ready and teaches. Part of what He says relates directly to the spiritual condition of the religious leaders. They have allowed this repurposing of the Temple Courts to take place. They have done nothing to enforce and maintain the sacred nature of that space. And by not stopping the activity with the authority that they had, they have given their stamp of approval of these activities. Their silence spoke.
The two quotes ( Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11) detail the repurposing. This area was meant to be a place of prayer, a place set aside for communication with the LORD. They had turned it into a concentration of thieves. A place where people were supposed to be turning their hearts away from their earthly pleasures had been turned into a place where pleasures were financed through profane financial activities.
On the surface it looked as though those doing business were just providing a service to those who came to worship. After all, they were enabling the worship of the LORD through the offering of sacrifices. But they were profiting from the transactions. They were deceiving their clients. They were making money on some of the poorest of their society, selling doves, the poor man’s sacrificial animal.
What things in our lives have been repurposed to meet our own selfish needs?
The Arnold Journey 