_DEFILING THE HOLY PLACE_
MARK xi. 11-19.
It was a teaching of the old Rabbis that no one should make a thoroughfare
of the Temple, or enter it with the dust upon his feet. The teaching was
full of sacred significance, however far their practice may have departed
from its truth.
Let me not use the Temple as a mere passage to something else. Let me not
use my religion as an expedient for more easily reaching "the chief seats"
among men. Let me not put on the garments of worship in order that I may
readily and quickly fill my purse. Let me not make the sanctuary "a short
cut" to the bank!
And let me not carry the dust of the world on to the sacred floor. Let me
"wipe my feet." Let me sternly shake off some things--all frivolity,
easeful indifference, the spirit of haste and self-seeking. Let me not
defile the courts of the Lord.
And let me remember that "the whole earth is full of His glory."
Everywhere, therefore, I am treading the sacred floor! Lord, teach me this
high secret! Then shall I not demean the Temple into a market, but I shall
transform the market into a temple. "Lo, God is in this place, and I knew
it not!"