Mark 11:15-19--Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Mark 11:15-19
English Standard Version
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Jesus Cleanses the Temple
15 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. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 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.” 18 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. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

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We mentioned last time that this event is tied in with the cursing of the fig tree and the meaning of that which Jesus will explain to His disciples in the next passage.  Jesus went to His Father's House, the Temple, which was supposed to be a house of prayer and was a place He had already cleansed in the beginning of His ministry.  Surely, He would find people there who would recognize Him as Messiah but also as The Lamb of God!

This was not what happened though, as the Temple is once again full of moneychangers and vendors who were selling priest-approved sacrifices.  The worst part was that they set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles so that there was no more room for the nations to come and hear the gospel.  Instead, they used that space for exploiting the people of God so that the priests and their friends in business could make money off of the poor and those who needed to travel from far away.

Jesus stopped their business dealings and wouldn't allow anyone to walk through that area carrying goods they had bought or were trying to sell.  The Temple courtyard was not a marketplace--it was a place for the people to be taught, and that is what He did.  Jesus quoted the same verses from the Old Testament that I did just a minute ago, saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."  Jesus is not happy that the nations of the world have been cut off from coming to God in faith and don't have a place to come pray to Him or learn from His Word.

The chief priests and the scribes (those that were charged with being custodians of the Temple facilities as well as what was being taught there) were too busy plotting and scheming to find a way to kill Jesus to take care of the people they were supposed to be teaching.  To them, Jesus was a threat that needed to be eliminated.  However, they did not dare arrest Him in front of the crowds there in the Temple for they feared the people who loved Him.  No, they would have to arrest Him and have the trial in secret (which was against the Law, but they'd do it anyways because they were more concerned about themselves and the power that they wanted to keep than being obedient to the LORD).

After all this, Jesus and His disciples left Jerusalem to head back to Bethany for the evening.  The disciples won't notice the fig tree that evening--they are probably too busy talking to each other about what just happened with Jesus cleansing the Temple, but it will come to their attention the next morning when they are on their way back to Jerusalem.  That's where we'll pick up next time.