Clearing Temple

I read a humorous list of predictions for 2023 by The Babylon Bee. Here are three:

January 1 - Millions set out to read their entire Bible

January 4 - Dozens still reading their entire Bible

December 31 - The last remaining person still reading through their Bible finally finishes it

Perhaps I find it funny because I’ve been in that group that made a commitment to read through the Bible in a year and gave up somewhere in Leviticus or Deuteronomy. Reading through the Bible, especially the first time, came be difficult and challenging, but there is no greater thing you can do to help you grow spiritually. If you don’t have a reading plan, I would encourage you join us on a two-year plan that starts tomorrow. We’ll read five days a week which gives you the weekend to catch up if you miss a day or two. And, by taking two years to finish the passages will be a little shorter. That’s one of my frustrations with reading the Bible in a year. I forget what I read by the time I finish that day’s reading. You can pick up a copy of the reading plan in the vestibule. If we run out and you want one let me know and I’ll get one for you.

I’m starting a new series this morning that will focus on different passages from the gospels talking about events in the life of Jesus. I’ve done many sermons series on the life of Jesus. I’ve done some on the parables he told. That’s not this series. I’ve done some on the miracles he performed. That’s not this series either.

A couple of years ago a book came out that quickly became a best seller. It was titled “Gentle and Lowly” and focused on the tender love of Jesus. This series I’m starting is the opposite of that. In this three-month series we’re going to look at passages in the gospels where Jesus got angry.

Philip Yancey made this observation:

As I studied the life of Christ, one impression about Jesus struck me more forcefully than any other. We have tamed him. The Jesus I learned about as a child was sweet and inoffensive, the kind of person whose lap you’d want to climb on. Mister Rogers with a beard. Indeed, Jesus did have qualities of gentleness and compassion that attracted little children. Mister Rogers, however, he assuredly was not. Not even the Romans would have crucified Mister Rogers.

We focus on the love and compassion of Jesus which are repeatedly mentioned in the gospels. However, if we never look at his zeal, justice, and passion we will miss his anger, outrage, and indignation and we will miss a complete picture of who Jesus is.

I’m titling this series “Righteous Indignation.” We can learn a lot about how we should deal with others from Jesus patience, but we can also learn a lot from the times Jesus got mad. The first one that comes to mind is when Jesus cleared the temple and that’s what we’ll be looking at this morning. So turn with me to Mark 11.

We find stories of Jesus clearing the temple in each of the four gospels. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke it occurs less than a week before Jesus is crucified. John places the story three years earlier at the beginning of his ministry. Some believe they are the same event. I tend to believe Jesus cleared the temple twice.

Having ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey in what we refer to as the triumphal entry, Jesus went to the temple. Because it was getting late he left for the evening and came back the next day. That’s where we pick up with verse 15.

15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ ” 18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. (Mark 11:15-18)

I want to start by stating that this was not a case of Jesus losing his temper. This was not a fit of rage in the heat of the moment. As I already mentioned, Jesus had visited the temple the evening before. He’d seen what was going on. He had opportunity to think and pray about it all night. Then, in a measured way, the next day Jesus went to the temple and turned over tables.

What was the problem? What made Jesus made enough that he overturned tables and prevented everyone from carrying merchandise through the temple? Before we can understand what made Jesus mad we need to understand what was going on.

Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover. Part of the Passover meal included eating lamb. You were required to bring a spotless lamb to the temple. If you traveled very far, and most did, it was difficult to travel with a lamb. Plus, once you got to the temple the lamb had to be inspected by a priest for approval. What if you carried your lamb all the way there and then it wasn’t accepted? What could you do with it? You’d have to carry it back. It was much easier to just buy a lamb at the temple. Too, you couldn’t just use your Roman money to buy the lamb. The Roman coins had images on them which the Jews saw as forbidden. Therefore, you had to exchange the Roman coins for special temple coins to buy your lamb. And of course there was an exchange fee. Though there’s no historical evidence to prove it, many believe they would overcharge for the exchange and for the lamb. It’s like going to the ballpark and paying $10 for a hot dog. What do you do? You know they’re overcharging for it but you’re hungry so you pay it. Perhaps that was going on at the temple. Jesus describes them turning the temple into a den of thieves but I don’t think that’s what made Jesus mad. To see what led Jesus to cause a commotion that day let’s reread what Jesus said in verse 17:

17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ ” (Mark 11:17)

Jesus is quoting from the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah.

6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant – 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. 8 The Sovereign LORD declares— he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.” (Isaiah 56:6-8)

I highlighted the part Jesus quoted in black, but I want to go back and point out three important phrases from these verses:

In verse 6, God addressed foreigners who bind themselves to him and minister to him, loving his name

In verse 7, God said the temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations and not just for the Jews

And in verse 8, God said he will bring Jews who have been scattered as well as others – or Gentiles – to the temple

The emphasis is that the temple is to be a place of prayer and worship and that it is to be so for all people, not just the Jews. And then Jesus quotes Jeremiah.

Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 7:11)

It’s because of this verse that scholars think the people were being overcharged. They were making it difficult for people to come and worship because they couldn’t afford it. What they were doing was needed. They were providing a needed service which was an acceptable practice. The problem was how much they were charging for the service. Additionally, the problem was where they were providing the service. By selling the lambs and exchanging the money on the temple mount they were distracting the people from the real purpose of the temple which was the worship of God.

You’ve probably seen pictures of what they believe the temple looked like and how it was set up. We read about Jesus going to the temple to teach. In Acts 3 we read about Peter and John going to the temple to pray. On this map, the yellow is the court for the priests. You could only get this close to the temple if you were a priest. Beyond that was the court of men in blue. If you were a Jewish male you could enter that court. Beyond that was the court of women in pink for the Jewish women. Beyond that was the court of Gentiles. That’s as close as Gentiles could come to worship God.

Remember, the temple represented God’s presence among his people. You went to the temple to worship God and offer sacrifices. It was in the court of Gentiles that they’d set up the booths for the exchanging of money and the selling of animals. Can you imagine the sight of all these people coming to worship and then all the animals being sold? Imagine the sounds of the bleating sheep. Imagine the smell of all those animals. In the only place that Gentiles could enter to worship God they’d made a marketplace. Instead of being a place of prayer and worship it had become a place to make money. Instead of helping the Gentiles come to know and worship God they were preventing them from worshiping him.

Why knows what the initials A.D.A. stand for? I’m not talking about the American Dental Association or the American Dietetic Association. I’m referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Among other things, the law requires business to provide access to those with disabilities by having bathroom stalls large enough for wheel chairs and building ramps or installing elevators so that those with disabilities can more easily get into those spaces. I heard about a church that constructed a new building. They put the sound system in a room on the second floor above the sanctuary. Even though it was the only thing on the floor and access to the room is limited to those with a key, they had to put in an elevator to it because of the ADA. That seems a little much but it speaks to the fact that we as a country have set a priority to help those who cannot help themselves. If you’ve ever been in a wheelchair you understand that even a curb may seem like a wall. We want to help others gain access to the same places we go without even thinking. As Christians, we have the same responsibility to help others come to God by removing what roadblocks we can.

I think I told you about a church Mary Anne and I visited once while on vacation. The congregation’s sanctuary was small. If everyone sat shoulder to shoulder they might sit a hundred people which wasn’t a problem since their average attendance was in the thirties. However, it became a problem when they started to grow. To help seat more people they decided to go to two services – one in the sanctuary and the other in their fellowship hall. They remodeled the fellowship hall which was located in the parking lot and put in small round tables. The service in the fellowship hall grew so quickly they added a second service. The preacher told me he had people thank him for putting the worship service there because they would never go into the sanctuary. Having grown up in attending church I don’t understand that. I can still picture the four churches my family attended when I was growing up. There were four because we moved. The only vacations I remember going on growing up was to Hilton Head. I remember the church we attended when on vacation too. What I’m saying is I don’t remember not going to church so it seems strange that someone would be leery of going into a sanctuary. But if you didn’t grow up going to church I can see how it might be intimidating because of what you don’t know. I would feel a little apprehensive visiting a synagogue. The point is, we need to do what we can to remove barriers that prevent people from coming to God.

If you’ve been to an amusement park in the last decade you’ve seen a new way they’ve created to make more money. After you pay an arm and leg for a ticket, they then offer to sell you a pass that will allow you to skip the long lines at the rides. There’s one line for everyone and then there’s the line for those who paid extra and for the pass. They can immediately go to the front of the line. I call it the cheater pass. What’s really annoying is when after waiting in line for an hour for the ride you finally reach the front and you know you’re going to be next people suddenly shows up with their cheater passes and you have to wait for them to go. When you go to the shows they even have seats reserved for them up front. You have to get there a half hour early for a good seat and they can show up at the last minute and sit on the front row. Let me tell you what I really think about it.

Because of their relationship to Abraham, the Jews had this inside pass to God that Gentiles didn’t have. However, they weren’t to use this advantage they had as an excuse for keeping the Gentiles out. Instead, they were to use it to help the Gentiles find God as well.

Let me tell you about a cheater pass I did enjoy tough. One year we bought annual passes to Dollywood along with my mother. She enjoyed going but she just couldn’t walk all day. When we walked into the park she’d rent an electric scooter. I called it her electric chair. I don’t think she appreciated that name as much as I did. Being able to ride through the park she was able to make it all day so it was a definite benefit. But we also learned that when it came time to getting on rides or watching shows those with disabilities could take the short line that went directly to the front. They don’t make those with disabilities wait in line with everyone else. That was a blessing for her as well. But not only that, she was able to take us with her. She had an inside connection which allowed us to have an inside connection. We didn’t have any problem walking but we were allowed to join her and go to the front of the line.

Our faith in Jesus gives us an inside connection to God. We are commanded to use that connection to help others connect to God. Jesus said:

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

We have been given this commission – some have referred to it as the greatest commission – to seek and save, make disciples, lead people to the Lord.

Jesus had righteous indignation for those who put up barriers that prevented others from coming to God. In this series we’ll see some more instances of this. We are not to be a hindrance to others coming to God. How can we make it easier for others to know the same love and grace of God that we know?