March 27th, 2023
Jesus Clear the Temple
Matthew 21:12-22, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-48, and John 2:13-17
The following morning, Jesus returned with his disciples to Jerusalem proper. Along the way, he had words that cursed a fig tree because it had failed to bear fruit. Some scholars believe this cursing of the fig tree represented God's judgment on the spiritually dead religious leaders of Israel. Others believe the symbolism extended to all believers, demonstrating that genuine faith is more than just outward religiosity; true, living faith must bear spiritual fruit in a person's life. It is safe to say that Jesus was using the tree as a metaphor and that we should all take notice of what he was trying to get us to understand. In other places Jesus had talked about the religious leaders as being clean on the outside yet dirty on the inside. We need to make sure we are not doing the same thing with our lives.
When Jesus arrived at the Temple, he found the courts full of corrupt money changers. He began overturning their tables and clearing the Temple, saying, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves" (Luke 19:46).
On Monday evening, Jesus stayed in Bethany again, probably in the home of his friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
This was a full day for Jesus and the disciples. Particularly interesting is the story of Jesus in the temple and how he was offended by what they had done in order to make money off of the religious beliefs of those who came to the temple.
You see, they had wrapped economics around their idea of repentance and forgiveness of God. This is more than offering some merchandise in the lobby, rather, it is a deliberate effort to make money off of God’s favor with people. Now we know that this is not really possible, but with a sacrificial system, it was possible to make people believe that they had to purchase something that was more appropriate and had been vetted in order for them to receive the blessing from God.
In today’s vernacular, we would see this as religious abuse. And it was pretty despicable. When Jesus encountered this, he took it upon himself to make sure that this wasn’t going to happen anymore. Therefore, he went right to the heart of the problem, those who were profiting off of this system and he kicked them out.
He must have had some pretty significant authority to do this in the midst of everything else that was happening in the temple and in Jerusalem at the time. It didn’t make too many people happy, but that has never been something that Jesus was interested in doing. Everything he did seemed to make the religious leaders uncomfortable. Remember, Jesus was pushing back on the status quo that had been established in their culture and religion and they stood to lose a great deal by him upsetting the way things were.
When Jesus arrived at the Temple, he found the courts full of corrupt money changers. He began overturning their tables and clearing the Temple, saying, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves" (Luke 19:46).
On Monday evening, Jesus stayed in Bethany again, probably in the home of his friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
This was a full day for Jesus and the disciples. Particularly interesting is the story of Jesus in the temple and how he was offended by what they had done in order to make money off of the religious beliefs of those who came to the temple.
You see, they had wrapped economics around their idea of repentance and forgiveness of God. This is more than offering some merchandise in the lobby, rather, it is a deliberate effort to make money off of God’s favor with people. Now we know that this is not really possible, but with a sacrificial system, it was possible to make people believe that they had to purchase something that was more appropriate and had been vetted in order for them to receive the blessing from God.
In today’s vernacular, we would see this as religious abuse. And it was pretty despicable. When Jesus encountered this, he took it upon himself to make sure that this wasn’t going to happen anymore. Therefore, he went right to the heart of the problem, those who were profiting off of this system and he kicked them out.
He must have had some pretty significant authority to do this in the midst of everything else that was happening in the temple and in Jerusalem at the time. It didn’t make too many people happy, but that has never been something that Jesus was interested in doing. Everything he did seemed to make the religious leaders uncomfortable. Remember, Jesus was pushing back on the status quo that had been established in their culture and religion and they stood to lose a great deal by him upsetting the way things were.
- What do you think you would do if you saw someone upsetting the way things are in our religious world today?
- Why was Jesus able to take such authority in the temple?
- Do you think this is one of the reasons that popular opinion soured on him throughout the week?
Recent
Archive
2023
January
Lovewell: A Theology - Day 1Lovewell: A Theology - Day 2Lovewell: A Theology - Day 3Lovewell: A Theology - Day 4Lovewell: A Theology - Day 5Lovewell: A Theology - Day 6Lovewell: A Theology - Day 7Lovewell: A Theology - Day 8Lovewell: A Theology - Day 9Lovewell: A Theology - Day 10Lovewell: A Theology - Day 11Lovewell: A Theology - Day 12Lovewell: A Theology - Day 13Lovewell: A Theology - Day 14Lovewell: A Theology - Day 15Lovewell: A Theology - Day 16Lovewell: A Theology - Day 17Lovewell: A Theology - Day 18Lovewell: A Theology - Day 19Lovewell: A Theology - Day 20Lovewell: A Theology - Day 21Lovewell: A Theology - Day 22Lovewell: A Theology - Day 24Lovewell: A Theology - Day 23Lovewell: A Theology - Day 25Lovewell: A Theology - Day 26Lovewell: A Theology - Day 27Lovewell: A Theology - Day 28Lovewell: A Theology - Day 29Lovewell: A Theology - Day 30Lovewell: A Theology - Day 31
February
Lovewell: A Theology - Day 32Lovewell: A Theology - Day 33Lovewell: A Theology - Day 34Lovewell: A Theology - Day 35Season 1 - IntroductionUncomfortable (S1) - Day 1Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 2Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 3Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 4Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 5Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 6Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 7Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 8Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 9Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 10Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 11Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 12Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 13Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 14Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 15Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 16Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 17
March
Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 18Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 19Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 20Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 21Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 22Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 23Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 24Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 25Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 26Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 27Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 28Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 29Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 30Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 31Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 32Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 33Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 34Uncomfortable (S1) - Day 35Campus WeekAfter - Day 1After - Day 2After - Day 3After - Day 4After - Day 5After - Day 6
April
After - Day 7After - Day 8After - Day 9After - Day 10After - Day 11After - Day 12After - Day 13After - Day 14After - Day 15After - Day 16After - Day 17After - Day 18After - Day 19After - Day 20After - Day 21After - Day 22After - Day 23After - Day 24After - Day 25After - Day 26After - Day 27After - Day 28
Categories
Tags
1 Corinthians
1 John
1 Peter
1 Samuel
2 John
3 John
Acts
Belonging
Campus Week
Certainty
Church
Clarity
Colossians
Community
Compassion
Connect Group
Crosswalk
Daily Study
Dave Ferguson
Deconstruction
Easter Week
Easter
Ecclesiastes
End of Series
End of the Week
Faith
Galatians
Galations
Gathering
Genesis
Group Study
Hebrews
Holy Wednesday
Hosea
Isaiah
James
Jeremiah
Job
John
Jonah
Joshua
Light
Lovewell: A Theology
Lovewell
Love
Luke
Mark
Matthew
Mike Rhynus
Paddy McCoy
Philippians
Proverbs
Psalms
Revelation
Romans
Sabbath
Service
Small Group Guide
Small Group Study
Small Group
The Little Letters
Timothy Gillespie
Uncomfortable
William Johnsson
Witness
Zechariah
choices
patience
rules
small group guides
No Comments