WHAT IS BOTHERING JESUS?

 

March 26, 2024

Mark 11:15-19


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. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “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.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.

WHAT IS BOTHERING JESUS?

This is one of those passages that portrays Jesus differently than we are used to seeing him. The Jesus that seems in such control throughout the Gospels in the face of opposition and rejection, “loses it” at the Temple of all places, and seems to resort to violence. What happened that Jesus reacts in this way? Where has “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” gone?

Some background for us is useful. Every year at Passover thousands of Jews came from all over Israel and Judea to offer sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem. Since many of them traveled long distances, they often purchased their animal sacrifices in Jerusalem rather than hauling them from home. The risk was that in transit an animal might suffer an injury or a blemish of some sort that would make them an unworthy sacrifice. There was a convenience offered for Jewish worshippers to purchase their sacrifices once they arrived in Jerusalem. However, and here is a significant detail that we sometimes miss. Where was this “market” set up? Well the market for obtaining a animal for sacrifice was set up in the Court of the Gentiles. The Court of the Gentiles was the space in the Temple area where non-Jewish seekers of God came to worship. Keep this in mind. So here we are in our passage at Passover, the temple courtyard was filled with livestock, sellers of livestock and money-changers, who exchanged regional currencies for Jewish money.

Something about this scene caused this angry outburst from Jesus, I mean Jesus was so upset and angry that he overturned tables putting a stop to this buying and selling scene. But why? Weren’t the merchants just trying to help the travelers worship God? Even if that was the case, they were doing it at the expense of those from “all nations” who were seeking God, treating their worship as insignificant, or of less importance. Jesus also called these sellers “robbers” which may point to two observations, a reference to their greedy perhaps overpriced financial transactions, and also the way they were robbing Gentiles of their place of worship.

Many New Testament scholars draw attention to something else going on in this cleansing story. They point to a similar account of his cleansing the temple, Jesus was asked for a sign of his authority. He replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). But he wasn’t speaking about the building; “he was speaking about the temple of his body” (John 2:21). Commentators suggest that when Jesus died, the temple and its entire system the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the glory died with him because Jesus was the Passover Lamb, the Great High Priest and the “Shekinah” glory. These scholars insist that when the temple curtain split at the death of Christ (Mark 15:38), the barrier between God and humanity came down for everyone and Jesus became the “house of prayer for all nations.” Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Could this account be teaching us the wonderful truth that “worship is no longer attached to a place, but a person. Jesus is the temple. He is where we meet God.”



LET US PRAY

God, we are so thankful that we meet you in Jesus. We worship him as the final sacrifice that opened the way to you. Help us through our worship of Jesus to be drawn toward the love he generously offers us. We pray today that all nations, near and far, will come to worship you, and come to you, Jesus, as “the house of prayer for all Nations.” Amen.