Turning the tables

Mark 11:1-18    From the One Year Bible daily reading (link available on links page)

The Triumphal Entry

11 As they *approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He *sent two of His disciples, ² and *said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they *untied it. ⁵ Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. ⁷ They *brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. ⁸ And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. ⁹ Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

¹² On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. ¹³ Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.

Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple

¹⁵ Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; ¹⁶ and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. ¹⁷ And He began to teach and say 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 robbers’ den.” ¹⁸ The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

Today's text begins with a very familiar story for those who attend church. The story of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem is read regularly on Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter. There is so much of Jesus teaching which is recorded in that last week of His life. Jesus knew what was going to happen. He knew that His days to be physically with the disciples were coming quickly to an end. In that last week of His life Jesus poured Himself out to His disciples, teaching and preparing them for the mission they were called to. We too can learn and be prepared as we look at Jesus last days as a model and guide for our days.

Let's begin today with verses 15-18

¹⁵ Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; ¹⁶ and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. ¹⁷ And He began to teach and say 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 robbers’ den.” ¹⁸ The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

In the gospel of John, he describes a similar account as happening early in Jesus ministry, the first time Jesus went to celebrate Passover with His disciples. John 2:13-15

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵ And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;

Mark and the other gospel writers record it here, as Jesus enters Jerusalem in this His final week. Critics of the Bible will point to that and say it is a contradiction, which proves the inaccuracy of the Bible. I believe that  Jesus probably did this at least twice. Through out His life and ministry Jesus takes no offense at the attacks against His own character but He defends the holiness and righteousness of the Father. How quickly did these people who were selling and profitting from doing business in the temple reset their tables and resume business as before? My guess would be very quickly.  It makes sense then that Jesus would have done this "cleansing of the temple", driving out the money changers more than once. 

We need to see in this action of Jesus, an application for our own lives. We as believers, followers of Christ are told that our bodies are the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 says:

Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 

We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-20 says:

¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

The Holy Spirit and Jesus Himself live within us. Our bodies then are a holy dwelling place. Paul says in 1 Corinthians we should flee immorality. The money changers quickly resumed business, setting back up the tables Jesus had overturned. How quickly do we reset the tables in our own lives and hearts, turning back to the things that are normal and familiar to us even after Jesus and the Holy Spirit have revealed and removed them from our lives?

How many of our churches have put the business of the church ahead of the true purpose of the church, to be a house of prayer and and a place of worship. The temple courts had become a market place and a gathering place. Often we as individuals and collectively in the church are focussed more on the business and the social gathering than on the one who dwells in the temple.

Jesus has the right to come in and overturn the tables in our lives to drive out the things that offend the holiness and righteousness of God. After all, we are not our own, for we have been bought with a price. The question for us is when Jesus overturns the tables and drives out the unholy things from our lives what will we do? Certainly we need not to reset and reestablish those things, but that is not enough. We need to learn the lesson of Matthew 12:43-45

“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

When Jesus overturns the tables and drives out the unholy things, we must not leave that space in our live empty and unoccupied. We need to fill every bit of ourselves with Him. Many people give something up for lent. In truth it is not about what we give up. It is about what we replace the thing we give up with. We need to allow Jesus and the Holy Spirit to so increase and fill our lives that there is nothing left of us.

Increase O God, fill me overwhelm me.