Mark 11:15-19 - Significant Action - February 24, 2021

Because we go through the life of our Savior each and every year, I’m pretty confident that we are all familiar with the major events that took place on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. But how familiar are you with what took place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of that holiest week? These days are well worth our time, because these days contain some of Jesus’ most significant words and actions. Starting tonight and throughout the rest of this Lenten season, we will explore what happened on the three days between Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday.

Tonight’s text takes place on Monday of Holy Week. The day before, Palm Sunday, Jesus had been welcomed into Jerusalem with shouts of Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! (Matthew 21:9). But the day ended on a rather ominous note. Mark tells us that Jesus went into the temple courts in Jerusalem and looked around at everything (Mark 11:11). The next day, Jesus would do a whole lot more than just look around. On Monday, Jesus, disgusted with what he saw going on there, took significant action.

On Monday, Jesus went into the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. Jesus justified his actions by quoting Isaiah and Jeremiah: My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7) but you have made it ‘a den of robbers’! (Jeremiah 7:11) Without a doubt, this is a pretty shocking scene. This is not the meek and gentle Jesus we’re used to. So what’s really going on here? Each year during the Passover festival – a festival God commanded his people to celebrate every year to remind them of his deliverance of their forefathers from Egypt (Exodus 13:1-16) – thousands of Jews would come to Jerusalem to celebrate. Many came from far away, and the practical reality is that it was much easier for them to simply buy the animals they needed for their sacrifices and offerings right at the temple rather than try to transport them dozens or hundreds of miles. To make the process even more convenient, the vendors just happened to have animals that had been preapproved by the priests for use at the temple. Of course, these preapproved animals came at a premium price. There were even rumors that some of the purchase price was kicked-back to the priests and that some of the priests rejected any animals that weren’t purchased from one of their “approved” vendors. In other words, there was clearly unethical, if not criminal, collusion going on in the temple, enabled and even initiated by the very leaders, the priests, who were supposed to enable and assist the Jewish people in worshipping God (Hebrews 5:1) during the highest festival in Israel’s church year.

And that’s not all. The pilgrims who came to Jerusalem with foreign currency in their wallets had to exchange it for the currency that was acceptable to pay the temple tax (which, wouldn’t you know it, was a shekel that was minted only in Jerusalem and nowhere else). You can guess what this led to – in fact, if you’ve ever traveled internationally, you know that currency exchangers charge you to exchange your money. Knowing that they had a virtual monopoly on the currency exchange business right at the temple, the money changers could charge exorbitant fees. All in all, the situation Jesus found in the temple area during Passover week wasn’t focused on God, prayer and sacrifice – but on the “business” that had to happen before there could be any focus on God, prayer or sacrifice. The focus had shifted from the spiritual to the secular; from the things of God to the things of men (Mark 8:33).

As bad as these collusion schemes were, there was something even worse taking place in the temple courts. It was no accident that Jesus quoted this specific verse from Isaiah: my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. The temple was to be a house of prayer not only for ethnic Jews but also for Gentiles. That’s why God designed the temple with a court for male Jews, a court for female Jews, and an additional court for Gentiles (1 Chronicles 28). Of course, when a marketplace needed to be constructed for buying and selling – which court do you think was utilized? The court of the Gentiles. The temple, which God had intended to be a place of prayer for people of all nations had instead become a money-making machine for the religious leaders and their cronies – to the exclusion of pious people – including Gentile converts – who had come to worship and pray. This is the main reason why Jesus launched into action, clearing out the temple area.

Jesus’ actions sent a clear message to the chief priests and experts in the law. But that’s not all it does. It sends a message to us, too. We, too, can be tempted to turn God’s house and the Gospel ministry into little more than a utilitarian operation. No, I’m not suggesting that any of our leaders are lining their pockets with your offerings – although there are many false teachers out there who have and are fleecing God’s flock in order to enrich themselves. No, I’m saying that we can be tempted to view two of the most important elements of Gospel ministry – evangelism and church discipline – as little more than a means to an end. I’m grateful that I’ve never heard this sentiment here, but it’s certainly been said in many congregations that “we need more members to take the financial burden off of us.” But I have heard, from unfaithful members I’ve reached out to, “I know I don’t come to church, but I’ve used the PayPal link on your website to give my offering.” Is the reason we reach out to the lost and to the wandering just to ensure that we end up in the black at the end of the fiscal year?

Even apart from – and, I believe, more dangerous than – the financial temptation, is the temptation to believe that the main reason to engage in evangelism and church discipline is for the survival of the church. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again because I believe it is an insidious attitude that has taken root in our own church body – we don’t seek the lost for the survival of the church. Why not? Quite simply, because it’s not our church – it’s Jesus’ (Matthew 16:18). He’s the head (Ephesians 5:23), he promises to provide for her (Matthew 6:25-34), he guarantees that even the gates of hell cannot overcome her (Matthew 16:18). If we ever view Gospel ministry as simply a means for preserving our church, then we’ve reversed the roles. God didn’t put people into our families and office spaces and neighborhoods to serve his church – he put his church in your life and in this neighborhood to serve and save our neighbors with the means of grace. Christ will provide for the maintenance and upkeep and survival of his church – that’s not our main concern. Our main concern should be maintaining this house that Christ has given us as a house of prayer for all nations.

But even those concerns are secondary to the main problem. The problem in the temple courts on Monday wasn’t really that there were salesmen selling doves and bankers exchanging money – those things did have to be done. It was that they were placing an obstacle in the way of both Jewish and Gentile pilgrims to be able to do what they had come to the Temple for: to worship their God. Self-examination time: are there any obstacles in the way of our true and sincere worship of God our Savior today? Is there anything that prevents you from studying God’s Word and praying on a daily basis in your own home, with your own family? When you come here, where do you expect the spotlight to be: on you or on God? Why don’t more of our members come to these Lenten services? Is it because it isn’t convenient enough? That’s the argument the Jewish leaders would have made – we need to make it convenient. Really? Since when is worship supposed to be convenient? Since when is it supposed to be easy? Since when is it not supposed to interrupt your plans too much? Are there all sorts of things running through your mind during your time here, all sorts of obstacles that get in between you and truly hearing God’s Word and receiving his gifts? I know it’s not comfortable to ask these questions, but we aren’t here to be comfortable – we are here to be confronted with our sins and confess them so that they can be forgiven by Jesus’ blood.  

The good news is that clearing the obstacles out of the way of true worship is not really up to us – it’s up to Jesus. Jesus – and not one of his disciples – is the one who took action in driving the vendors and money changers out of the temple and he’s the one who takes action to drive the obstacles out of our lives so that we worship and receive his gifts through Word and Sacrament. While Jesus’ action on Monday was certainly significant, his mission of salvation required him to take even more significant action on Friday of Holy Week. On Friday, the Friday we call “Good,” he didn’t just drive vendors and money changers from the temple, he drove sin, death and the devil from their throne in our hearts and the world. He removed the main obstacle that separated us and others from God – namely, our sin (Isaiah 59:2) – the permanent removal of which was symbolized by the tearing of the curtain in the temple from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). Now we can enter the presence of God in worship and prayer – because Jesus has cleared every obstacle out of the way with his blood (Hebrews 10:19-23).

And, having removed the obstacle of sin objectively – that is, for the world – Jesus also took significant action to apply this redemption to you personally. You may not remember it – I don’t – but nonetheless, when we were baptized Jesus worked through water and the Word to pour the Holy Spirit on you, to call you to faith, to wash away your sin, to claim you as a child of God, and to make you an heir of eternal life in heaven. It would have been fascinating to be there on Monday of Holy Week to see Jesus drive all those obstacles out of the temple. But what we should really focus on is that day in our own lives when Jesus drove all the obstacles out of our hearts that kept us away from God. For you and for me, that’s really the day of Jesus’ most significant action in our lives.

As you might expect, the religious leaders were not exactly pleased with the action Jesus took that Monday. It was not good for business. They were afraid of him – afraid of his popularity and afraid that he was ruining their cash cow; and out of their fear they were looking for a way to kill him. By the end of the week, they would get what they wanted. But, for tonight, give thanks for the significant action Jesus took on your behalf on Good Friday and the day of your Baptism – clearing out the sin that kept you from worshipping the one true God in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). Amen.