Monday

Monday Mark 11:12-19

12 The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus felt hungry.

13 He noticed a fig tree a little way off that was in full leaf, so he went over to see if he could find any figs on it. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit.

14 Then Jesus said to the tree, "May no one ever eat your fruit again!" And the disciples heard him say it.

15 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves,

16 and he stopped everyone from bringing in merchandise.

17 He taught them, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a place of prayer for all nations,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves."

18 When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so enthusiastic about Jesus' teaching.

19 That evening Jesus and the disciples left the city. (NLT)

Again Mark begins to Holy Week with two images that speak to the challenging of the leaders of the Temple. Mark uses framing of scripture to make a prophetic statement. The cursing of the fig tree is an example of this framing. We will see this on Tuesday of Holy Week. Jesus goes to the fig tree which is in leaf but has no fruit. Even though the author points out that it is too early for it to bear fruit Jesus curses it. This is a symbolic statement against the Israelite tradition which is not bearing fruit. It is a statement that underlies what follows in the cleansing of the Temple.

The Temple was dependent on the temple taxes and tithes of the people to support the priesthood and had become the central religious and economic institution of the Jerusalem state. It had been rebuilt the ruling families and by King Herod. It had become one of the wonders of the Roman imperial world.

What was happening is that in order to follow the Torah, people would make pilgrimages to the Temple at least five times a year if possible. In order to bring sacrifices that were acceptable, many would have to buy animals or grain in Jerusalem as they could not travel with their own animals. Also when giving monetary gifts people could not use Roman coinage as it bore the image of Caesar and they would have to exchange for money appropriate for the Temple. So what had started as a means for the people to worship now became a business enterprise. Often business owners would pay the priests a fee for their ability to have the best locations for their merchandise.

This greatly affected the poor who had no other ability but to pay what the sellers would quote. Those who were in business would make a profit from their wares and soon both Judeans and non-Jews would trade in the large court of the Gentiles, the principle public space in Jerusalem. One can only imagine what that would be like to come to worship and offer your sacrifices amongst the crying out of the merchants.

When Jesus came and saw this, he began to drive out those merchants and prevented anyone from carrying anything through the temple. He quotes Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah’s prophecy against the first Temple. Using Jeremiah, he equated the moneychangers and the merchants as bandits who were exploiting the people and then seek refuge in the blessings of the priests.

It is in this act that the temple priests began to put into action the desire to kill him. They are concerned though that if they would do this publically the people might revolt and cause the Roman army to respond. Today when someone does something that creates problems with the making of money, people continue to respond negatively. It raises the question, I believe for churches as to what should the money we are entrusted with by used for?