He is Him: Resetting Worship

Recap

Intro- We are currently a little over half way in the semester, who needs a reset, do-over, or reboot? Have you ever felt like you needed a hard reset? Maybe your in a season where nothing is going right. It can be in different areas of your life too- sometimes it’s school, sometimes it’s your sports teams, or even our relationships. Sometimes the needed reset is a result of your own choices, other times it because of outside sources. One thing I have noticed in my own Spiritual walk is that I sometimes need a hard reboot of my worship.

-In today’s story from the life of Jesus He raises some eyebrows when he initiates a hard reset of Israel’s worship. This story is a good reminder that our worship matters to God. Not really the how as much as the why and what.

-This story challenges the image of Jesus that we all have in our minds. We see him sitting criss-cross applesauce teaching the little children, and handing out free miracle fish.

-But, here we see a sterner side of Jesus, one that burns with white hot passion and zeal, and leads him to take some pretty extreme measures to reset the worship. Let’s dig into the story.

Background- Jesus’ ministry is beginning to wrap up, so far he has traveled the countryside, going from town to town teaching and performing miracles. Now he enters Jerusalem, the Jewish capital and it will culminate in his crucifixion. He enters the city and is given a hero’s welcome. The next day, followed by the same great crowd he goes to the temple.

Mark 11:15–19 ESV

15 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. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 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.” 18 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. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

When we look at this from our cultural lens, our experience with church it can be a little difficult to understand what is going on here.

-Why were there merchants and money changers in the temple? OT system prescribed different ways to atone for sin, sometimes they sacrificed lambs, sometimes oxen, sometimes grain, sometimes doves. It really just depended on the situation.

-If you didn’t have those things, well, then you needed to buy them. Also, there was a temple tax men had to pay once per year, and it had to be paid for with a Jewish Shekel. The problem was the Shekel wasn’t in circulation anymore since they used the Roman money system since they were conquered by Rome. You had to exchange Roman money for temple money to pay your tax.

-One can see how some crafty entrepreneurs could set this up to their advantage and make a lot of money. Which was what was happening.

-But the problem was really deeper than money. So Jesus does what he has to do to drive out those that were inhibiting the true worship of God.

Protect the Object of Worship

a. The object of worship is what you worship. And what you worship can not be a little fuzzy, and this was the case here.

b. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious elite of Israel could be seen in some light as heroes, they turned the Israelites back to worshipping God instead of idols.

c. As is typical, they left their mark by adding hundreds of additional rules that emphasized piety over passion for God.

d. In reality, the object of worship was no longer to worship God, but to worship the worship. It was it’s means to it’s own ends.

e. In a way it was the worship of self, wanted to make themselves look good, and feel good. Wanted to be elevated above other people.

f. The inclusion of temple merchants and money changers was a new addition, possibly only a few years old. One could see the advantage of having them there, it insures a constant supply of shekels, and correct sacrifices, and allowed them to follow their new religious rules to a T.

Protect the Intent of Worship

Protect the Inclusivity of Worship