House of prayer (part 3)

A few days before His final Passover meal, Jesus cleared the temple in a symbolic gesture which represented the reform needed within the Jewish religious practices.

Mark 11:15-17 They came to Jerusalem, and He went into the temple complex and began to throw out those buying and selling in the temple.  He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple complex.

Then He began to teach them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?  But you have made it a den of thieves!”

Growing up in Israel, children were educated and taught to read using the Old Testament Scriptures.  Constant repetition was considered an essential part of their learning process.  As such, all Israelites would memorize large portions of the Old Testament.  The priests and scribes of Jesus’ day would have the entire Old Testament, as well as the Jewish traditions, perfectly memorized.  So when Jesus quoted Isaiah with His question “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?”, everyone knew what He was quoting.

While Jesus quoted Isaiah with His question, His audience would have also recognized that He quoted Jeremiah in His emphatic statement “But you have made it a den of thieves!”.  The Isaiah passage was an encouraging invitation to foreigners, but the Jeremiah passage is one where God rebukes Israel for living for their own desires while showing up on the Sabbath and verbally praising God.  The Israelites at that time also believed that the physical presence of the temple was proof enough that God was satisfied with how the nation treated Him.  Jeremiah was warning the nation that if they did not change their hypocrisy, judgment would come:

Jeremiah 7:3-11 “This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place.  Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.

Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another, if you no longer oppress the alien, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors forever and ever.  But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

“Do you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known?  Then do you come and stand before Me in this house called by My name and insist: We are safe?  As a result, you are free to continue doing all these detestable acts!  Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your view?

For their hypocrisy, judgment and exile came on those in Jeremiah’s time.  By referring back to the Jeremiah passage, Jesus was indicating that the priests and scribes of Jesus’ day also acted this way.  Of course, they did not take kindly to Jesus’ teaching.  

Mark 11:18 Then the chief priests and the scribes heard it and started looking for a way to destroy Him.  For they were afraid of Him, because the whole crowd was astonished by His teaching.

As a result of their hypocrisy, the priests and scribes missed the fact that Jesus was the Messiah…and Jerusalem was soon after destroyed.  We would be foolish to think that we modern believers would never see judgment like they did.  Do we live hypocritical lives and then show up for an hour on Sunday to offer verbal praise to God?  Do we acknowledge Jesus with our lips, but walk out the door and deny Him by our lifestyle?

Will we persist in making God’s house a den of robbers, or will we take the necessary – even painful – steps to ensure that God’s house is as it should be, a house of prayer for all nations?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

House of prayer (part 2)

Jerusalem was abuzz with news of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into town.  The next day Jesus shows, in dramatic fashion, that the nation’s idea of being religious was in need of reform:

Mark 11:15-17 They came to Jerusalem, and He went into the temple complex and began to throw out those buying and selling in the temple.  He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the complex.

Then He began to teach them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?

Note that when Jesus was correcting the people, He referred them back to God’s Word.  In this case, Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah.  The people present, especially the priests and scribes, would have instantly recognized Jesus’ reference:

Isaiah 56:1-3,6-7 This is what the Lord says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed.  Happy is the man who does this, anyone who maintains this, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.  No foreigner who has converted to the Lord should say, “The Lord will exclude me from His people”…

…And the foreigners who convert to the Lord, minister to Him, love the Lord’s name, and are His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold firmly to My covenant – I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

God’s plan for His temple was to include those from other nations.  Foreigners who submitted to the Lord didn’t need to worry about being excluded from fellowship with God just because they weren’t Jewish.  Instead, God makes this incredible promise to them:

I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer.

God assures the believing foreigners that He will personally lead them to His temple, accept them and their sacrifices, and include them in the worship given by His chosen people, Israel.  This was a huge blessing for God to give to those born outside of His covenant with Israel.  As a result of this promise, there were many believing foreigners in Jerusalem at Passover.

With the religious economy the Jewish leaders had instituted within the temple complex, they were hindering the foreign believers from participating in worship at God’s house of prayer.  The Jewish leaders were standing in the way of God’s promise to foreigners – no wonder Jesus was flipping tables and chairs!

In our own church gatherings, do our religious activities point others toward God…or do we hinder others from meeting with God? 

If a foreigner came to us, would they recognize our church gatherings as God’s house of prayer, or something else?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

House of prayer (part 1)

It was time for the Passover celebration, and Jews from all over the world were in Jerusalem.  For those coming from out of town, they would not have brought the appropriate sacrificial animal with them on their journey.  Additionally, they would not have had the local money used to pay the required half-shekel temple tax.  As such, these items needed to be purchased.

While space for the housing, inspecting, and purchasing of the animals was necessary – a prescribed sacrifice was a spotless lamb, or two pigeons if you were poor – it seems that Israel’s leaders had decided to accommodate the large crowds by moving the commerce area into the temple complex.

Unknown to everyone, this Passover week was different from any previous celebrations.  Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem had just occurred.  And one of the first things He does when He gets to town is visit the temple.

Mark 11:15-16 They came to Jerusalem, and He went into the temple complex and began to throw out those buying and selling in the temple.  He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple complex.

Notice that Jesus was throwing out both the buyers and the sellers.  Jesus wasn’t condemning what they were doing – but it was their choice of location that betrayed their attitude toward God.

Jesus’ house-cleaning was symbolic of the restoration needed in their relationship with God.  Commerce and facilitating religious activities had taken the place of what was supposed to be the true aim of the temple location – the meeting with and worship of Almighty God.

After clearing some space, Jesus had everyone’s attention:

Mark 11:17 Then He began to teach them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?  But you have made it a den of thieves!” 

Jesus’ question cuts to the heart of the matter – Do you remember why you are here at the temple?

We could ask ourselves some similar questions:

·        What do our activities within our church buildings say about our attitude toward God?  Are we there to worship?  Are we there to pray? 
·        Do we come to church on Sunday expecting to meet with God and offer him praise…or do we go expecting to meet with friends and hope that we can get something useful out of the message?

These are tough questions, but ones that need answered.  Perhaps it’s time to do some house-cleaning within ourselves.

Keep Pressing,
Ken