A few weeks ago, we celebrated Palm Sunday, where Jesus rides into Jerusalem and we celebrate in anticipation for Easter. Now, this Monday after Palm Sunday doesn’t really have a name ascribed to it, like Good Friday or Maundy Thursday, but I would guess most people have heard of what Jesus did this day.
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. (Mark 11:15-18).
This is one of the few times we see Jesus, the prince of peace, get legitimately angry. God set up the temple to be a place for worship, a place for all nations to gather. The pharisees were in charge of the synagogues and supposed to be leading the people in worship. But when Jesus sees what they’re doing, he’s furious. Not only are they shutting people out from the temple and building barriers between the people and God, they’re doing it in a way that earns them money while they’re at it. They’re creating a system that encourages the people to pay their way in. To pay their way to holiness.
God said that you needed to bring your first-born lamb or dove and sacrifice it in order to atone for your sins. The pharisees came and said, “with a little money, you don’t need to give up any of your own flock. With enough money, you could buy a sacrifice pleasing to God. But of course, you can’t just use the money in your pockets, you have to change it to the temple currency. And none of these transactions could take place without the pharisees taking a little off the top.
The pharisees created this system that made the temple exclusive, made worshiping God a taxable income. Rather than people giving out of their hearts, the pharisees were taking out of their own greed. Rather than people actually sacrificing something of their own, they found the easy way out. Year after year, this practice grows more and more corrupt! To the point where Jesus said enough!
Jesus gets angry here to show that these things are not what worshiping God is about. What Jesus is setting out to do this Holy Week, He foreshadows here. He shows in a very dramatic way, that following God isn’t about cutting corners, isn’t about excluding people, isn’t about taking.
Why? Because Jesus lived the Law perfectly. He welcomed all kinds of people, even us, into His kingdom. He gave everything on the cross. Jesus might be laying down the law in this story, but he offers something that Pharisees could never attain: the Gospel. He offers forgiveness and a way back to God. Jesus gives us righteousness, That’s why this week is glorious. there’s nothing we can do to earn it. No price we can pay.
Jesus gives us grace when we don’t live perfectly, when we don’t show love to our neighbor, or when we don’t give with open hearts. Jesus gives us grace. Yesterday, today, and forever. Whatever it is, it’s been forgiven. Because of that, we’re called to live the Law. To welcome others. To give generously.
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