Everybody’s in a fight whether we admit it or not.  You might think there are people who don’t have an ounce of fight in them because they spend most of their days on a couch playing Xbox.  Yet, if you challenged them to get off their fanny and play Wii they’ll fight for their right to stay hunkered on the sofa.

Everybody fights.  We fight for different things and we fight in different ways but we always find something to fight for.

Whether it’s at home, in the office, at the game, on the phone, with the television or as our Facebook posts we can’t help but fight.  We fight for things we want and things we don’t want.  We fight for our way or for someone else’s.

I think we are wired to fight and I think that can be a really good thing.

But I also think it matters how we fight because I believe this can show what kind of faith we have.

I looked to see if Jesus ever fought and it turns out he did.  In fact, he started a fight, that to this day, we have had a really hard time ending.

The story is found in the Gospel of Mark and begins like this…

“And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons…”

Jesus wastes no time in picking a fight in the temple and sends a strong message that what is going on is WRONG.  With flipped tables and strong words he quickly stops the people and their practices.

So what exactly were they doing?

It actually seems they were doing something very normal and accepted.  They were providing a way for people to acquire animals sacrifices so they can give their offering to God.  The method was fairly straight forward.  People were always coming from out of town and when they arrived to Jerusalem they came to the temple to offer a sacrifice.  To get an animal to sacrifice they needed to pay for it.  The temple required a certain currency so the money changers were their to offer the exchange.  Pretty standard procedure.

So what exactly were they doing wrong?

They were selling pigeons in church, of course!  Pretty much like us selling books or coffee in our church lobby.  STOP. I’m kidding.  I do not think that’s what Jesus was putting a stop to.  (It’s kind of funny that we still bring that application into church today but that’s another story for another day.)

I also do not think he was fighting against sellers taking advantage of buyers.  This may have been happening but notice that he drives out those who sold AND those who bought.

I believe the answer to why he started this fight is found in what he says in verse 17.  “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.”

He quotes the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah in that one statement.

In Isaiah, the prophet talks about the foreigners and the outcasts bringing their offerings to the altar.  He speaks of God gathering them, giving them joy and accepting their offerings. He speaks of God readily accepting the worship of the nations, “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”  

In Jeremiah, the prophet speaks of how God’s people were hypocrites.  They were unjust in their relationships, that they oppressed the foreigner, the orphan, the widow and they worshiped idols.  Then when they showed up to church, they acted as if everything was cool.  God questions, “Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers?”

In Isaiah, the vision is simple… All people having the opportunity to worship God.

In Jeremiah, the problem is clear… The people are robbing God of true worship.

Jesus puts these two thoughts together and makes his point.  The religious people of the day were robbing God of worship from the foreigner and the foreigners were being robbed of worshiping God.  This is what He is fighting against.

I believe Jesus was putting a stop to people doing their religious business in a place where the outsiders should have been able to come and worship.

It wasn’t just God showing judgment and leaving the people to pick up the broken tables.  Jesus doesn’t start a fight to show how strong he is or to show how right he is.  This righteous display of aggression was about Jesus fighting for reconciliation.

He drove people out so everybody could be brought in.  His fight was a PERFECT example of what it means to make peace.  As THE Peace Maker he had no interest in keeping peace in the temple.

This is a HUGE part of what Jesus was all about.  Look at what the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians concerning Jesus reconciling all people…

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.”

It’s interesting to me that at the heart of Jesus’ fight is a passion for reconciliation.

People made right before God and with one another.

So what about you? I’m not asking what you are fighting for, I’m asking what is the spirit that drives your fight?  When the final bell rings and the fight is over will you be most satisfied because you WON the fight? Because YOU were the one who was right?  Or stronger?  Or louder? Or the one who was more godly? Or more “open-minded”? Or more conservative? Or more progressive?

Instead of coming out on top, what if every fight we got into was for the purpose and with a passion for reconciliation?

I think we can all agree, each one of us will fight about something.

Yet, I also hope we could agree that if our fighting is not done in a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation then it might not be a fight we should be involved in.

What is the spirit of your fight?