Good Anger

Being a “real” human being means standing up to the intolerable with a loud voice and even louder action.

At time we need to speak up, to step up, to address the need to do and be right.

Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes Righteous Indignation

“What is righteous indignation?” one child asked another.

“I don’t know, but I think it means to get real mad and not cuss.”

INTRO - The time of the cross lies just around the corner. The religious elite are not happy that Jesus is continuing to gain popularity. Their way of life is being treated and they are getting increasingly mad at Jesus.

Jesus is facing opposition from the very people who that should be praising and worshipping Him; those claiming to know God.

TRANS - Today’s passage has it’s share of hermeneutical difficulties. We know more about the background of this passage today than in some years past. Interestingly, knowing more increasingly focuses our understanding for the meaning of the text.

A few points of background before we started:

The temple itself was a massive, about 35 acres, complex.

In addition to that, areas outside the temple were part of the complex proper.

In this passage, Jesus’ action is a symbolic teaching.

Jesus is not action is not what we might call, “knee jerk,” but a thought plan to make an impact turning focus toward God, His Word, and true justice.

What does it say?

Mark 11:15–19 ESV

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.

PRAY

What does this mean?

Angering God

What were people buying and selling, and where in the temple was this taking place?

BAK - This was a time when the Temple and everything associated with it was of great importance to the Hebrews.

Herod’s Temple and all its splendor

Crowds of pilgrims visiting

The place of practiced important feasts

And, fanatical protective Jews defending all they believed scared

The Mt. of Olives, a place for Temple ritual purpose, had four markets.

pilgrims bought doves and ritually pure objects for Temple offerings

The markets were under the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin.

While many believe the Court of Gentiles was the place for commercial practice, there is no evidence of that prior to 30AD and at the time of Jesus; we do have evidence of later use of the Court of Gentiles (the 25th of the month prior to Passover) used to buy and sell.

Rabbinic evidence support the markets at the Mt. of Olives as a place of quarrels during this period.

What was it about these activities that displeased Jesus?

Jesus was not opposed to the sacrificial system, but the buying and selling of goods.

Jesus was opposed to the abuse of the sacrificial system.

The “cleansing” is not an attack on the practice, but on the corruption of the chief priests and others involved in the transaction of business.

This all took place on Temple grounds, in a place associated with the Temple, in a place where Jesus prayed and where others were expected to look to God for all their needs.

Either He is Lord of all or not your Lord at all!

Acting God

How did Jesus’ cleansing of the temple foreshadow Israel’s future judgment?

Jesus’ action, not even allowing anyone to “carry anything through” (this is not a shortcut) calls the nation to recall why they exist, their purpose, the reason for their being a Temple and they called the people of God.

Jesus’ actions is symbolic of cleaning, but also serves as a prophetic statement foretelling the coming fate of the Temple and nation.

“shall be house of prayer for all nations” now as looked over by Jesus, called out by their Messiah, as a place that must get back to their reason for being or see God’s anger displayed.

Popular hope for a Messiah to rid the Temple of Gentiles, to make the Romans go away, was not God’s plan for the Temple of the nation.

Instead, Jesus criticizes the Jewish leaders for hindering the Gentiles.

Jesus is not saying “cursed be the Gentiles” for they were already were under a curse, but calling the Jewish leaders to wake up!

What OT passages does Jesus cite, and how do they apply to His situation?

Jesus quotes from Isa 56:7 where the passage notes “shall be a house of prayer for all people.”

The prophecy speaks of the future and function for God’s house.

While the Bible notes the Temple as a house of prayer, Isaiah’s account is the only place we see “for all nations/people.”

Part of Jesus’ anger is fueled by the selfish ambition of the people who fail to reach others as is God’s intention.

In addition to the prophecy of Isaiah we see Jesus quoting:

Jeremiah 7:11 ESV

Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.

Jesus uses Jeremiah’s sharp words serve to remind the people about God’s intention for His house.

Jesus calls attention to the selfish character of the Jewish leaders and notes the warning of:

Mark 13:2 ESV

And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

POINT - What God calls to His use and purpose, if not used to His demand, regardless of the prayer of hope of the people, is subject to God’s judgement. As Holy God, He must act on His Word.

Against God

Who were the “chief priests,” and what interest did they have in temple activity?

Now these Jewish leaders, the chief/high priests, we note, are found in passages of conflict and contradiction.

From the beginning:

Matthew 2:4 ESV

and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

To the end:

Matthew 28:11 ESV

While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.

Their opposition to Jesus gains intensity with His growing mission’s involvement:

challenge to the Sabbath (He is Lord of the Sabbath)

stories directed toward the religious leaders

And, following this temple cleaning leads to their bitter arrest and trial.

They were often joined by the Sanhedrin, scribes, and elders.

Here we see the Sanhedrin or the high priests (if singular would be only the High Priest Caiaphas).

Why would the chief priests and scribes react so strongly to Jesus’ actions in cleansing the temple?

Jesus threatened their way of life.

As such, they wanted Him dead.

His teaching, that in general and in this symbolic act chasing off merchants, challenged their positions and their pocketbooks.

Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes Two Columns

God would not be God if he didn’t have the capacity of wrath. Why? I was reading the other day about a young, handsome, dapper fellow, a medical doctor, who always wore crisp and well-tailored clothing. He handled himself with polish and smoothness. He always bore the fragrance of expensive cologne. But his very demeanor made him all the more fiendish, for his name was Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death at Auschwitz. With a flick of his well-washed and perfumed hand he personally selected 400,000 prisoners to die in the gas chamber. He conducted horrible experiments on people, hoping to produce a superior race. One observer said, “He would spend hours bent over his microscope while the air outside stank with the heavy odor of burning flesh from the chimney stacks of the crematoria.”

He had a special fascination for children who were twins. He would give them horrible injections, operate on their spine to paralyze them, then begin removing parts of their body one at a time for observation.

Now, what would you think of a person—or, for that matter, a God—who could see that sort of indescribable evil without feeling any anger? If God could watch the hurt and the evil in this universe with no feelings of indignation and fury, he would be defective in his character. He wouldn’t be God at all.

What do I do with this?

Jesus became angry when He saw the Gentiles being robbed out of money and worship space.

We sometimes think that all anger is sinful.

But Jesus became angry about the things that make God angry, such as injustice.

We should control our anger rather than suppress it, and we should direct it at injustices that anger God.

I believe we are all angry with terrorists who hurt and kill innocents.

Some are angry that innocent children are caught up in the mess adults created for them.

We should all be concerned for the right to life for the unborn children.

There are many other areas where anger is the correct reaction.

Knowing to look before acting and taking measures to seek out justice makes us like Jesus.

In your anger, don’t sin.