Mark 11:12-25

“Now the next day, as they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. Then they came to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. He turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Then he began to teach them and said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have turned it into a den of robbers!” The chief priests and the experts in the law heard it and they considered how they could assassinate him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching. When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered.” Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your sins.””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭11‬:‭12‬-‭25‬ ‭NET‬‬

                                                

                                                    Cleansing of the Temple: Mark 11:12-25

Matt 21:10-19; Mark 11:11-17; Luke 19:45-46 (John 2:13-17)

Do you ever get angry? What for? And is it valid? And who gets to determine if it’s valid? You? That seems pretty biased. 

Why do we get angry? Well, people say some pretty hurtful things toward us. We can expect some aspect of our day to go one way, and it doesn’t. I can get angry with myself for not doing something I should or not doing my best.

I want to reflect on the humanity of Jesus, and the most prominent time that He was angry, why He was angry, and what that means for us today. Now when I say, His humanity, I simply mean (for the sake of this passage) He had emotions, and He showed them. His actions were completely in line with the purpose and plan of God as we will see.

This event certainly happened. It is widely attested in all four gospels. It has elements of embarrassment. You’re probably not going to make up a story about your Messiah showing this much anger. In fact, nerd moment: there’s another passage where Jesus did a healing of a leper, and in the text manuscripts are divided as to whether Jesus responds with compassion or anger. Most of your Bibles are going to say compassion, but a case can be made that Jesus was actually angry, but scribes softened the response because who wants Jesus to be angry? But anyway, this story also has dissimilarity and similarity. Jesus is clearly claiming that the old way of doing things isn’t cutting it, and He is distancing Himself from Judaism, but He’s not shutting down everything cold turkey. Yes, there won’t be sacrifices eventually, but at this point Jesus isn’t destroying the temple. He’s pointing the people to a new and proper way of worship. But the point is that this story is certainly historical, and everyone agrees.

Now what’s interesting in Matthew and Mark, especially in Mark is that the incident in the temple is closely associated with another event. 

vv. 12-14 and then vv. 20-21.

Now the reader notices the phrase, “it was not the season for figs,” in v. 13 and thinks, “Poor fig tree. It never stood a chance. Jesus must have just been in a bad mood.” 

Two things: (1) When you notice the story that comes between the cursing of the fig tree and its actual dying, the story makes sense, which is the cleansing of the temple. Jesus is in the habit of removing or cursing or cleansing dysfunctional things. (2) The fig tree is the only tree that forms leaves after its fruit. So that the tree had leaves at least presents the possibility that there is fruit. Fruit is being promised but not delivered, and so Jesus curses the tree. Again, it looks like a healthy tree; it looks fruitful; but it is full of lies, and Jesus won’t tolerate that. 

What’s scary is that the cleansing of the temple falls between the story of cursing the fig tree, meaning they complement and explain each other. This is one of Mark’s famous “sandwiches.” 

vv. 15-19. Driving money changers out of the temple and throwing over tables. That sounds pretty intense. Now there’s some debate as to how many times Jesus did this, because John 2 has a cleansing of the temple. That could be a separate event at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, since John says in that instance that Jesus made a whip of cords and drove the people out. Mark’s event doesn’t have such details, so maybe they got the picture until it got to that point. (I think John moved the story forward in his narrative, since Jesus’ cleansing of the temple was one of the main reasons religious leaders pushed towards his death.)

But the temple is divided into several areas, you have certain levels that you are able to pass through depending on your status: Gentiles, Jews, men, women, slaves, free, priests, high priest. So these tables are set up in the outermost court—the court simply for Gentiles—because that’s where everybody would pass through, and they’re exchanging people’s money. Why? Well, because you had to offer a certain animal or pay a temple tax in a certain denomination of coin, so you brought what you had, and they would give you what was “legal/acceptable.” 

Now, it is quite likely that the human heart caused these people to add a little to the regular prices, if you know what I mean. That’s usually what you’re going to hear taught from this passage, and it’s most likely correct, but maybe not all the money changers were as corrupt as we suppose. This was a service of convenience for the people, and money changers in the temple are described in other Jewish sources in later centuries, so they probably were corrupt, but that may not be Jesus’ main purpose.

What’s His point? Well, look at that quote again. Why is He so angry? He combines quotations from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Isaiah looks forward to a new day when Israel is restored in her glorious exalted state after exile. Isaiah talks about the foreigners. V. 7 has all peoples. Look at Mark’s quote. He has it as “all nations.” Same thing. See the purpose of Israel was always to be the light to the world and attract foreigners from their paganism to the one true God, so that all would come worship, and that would happen at the temple. 

In Jesus’ day that was sort of kind of happening, I mean Israel wasn’t in her exalted state, but foreigners, Gentiles, were coming to the temple to worship, right? But Jesus combines the quote with Jeremiah 7, saying you’ve made this whole process robbery. Not so much because you’re skimming money, but in that it’s a market place to begin with. 

Go to 1 Kings 8. Vv 41-43 speak of the foreigner, and his prayer toward the temple, called by God’s name, and all nations knowing God. This is very similar to Isaiah 56, and it provides more insight to the original purpose of the temple. A purpose that it was not fulfilling.

In other words, Hooray, Israel, you are providing access for both Jews and God-fearers and proselytes to come worship at the temple, but you’ve taken the focus off God, and almost onto yourselves. Israel provided access for worship but did not have the required prepared heart. They became distracted by making sure other people were ready to sacrifice or “worship” correctly. And just like the fig tree that promised fruit but offered none, the temple had the title “house of prayer” but when you went there you left with less than you had, financially but probably spiritually and emotionally, too.

Now it’s too easy to make the immediate jump to the 21st century and start bashing churches that we suppose do a similar thing. Oh, they ruin how people want to worship. They are too religious. They control the structure, and they’re too rigid, or how people look and act and dress. And those are good discussions to have, I suppose. (Now, all those things I just mentioned don’t belong in the same category.) That is a very broad spectrum of perspectives, and the reason those conversations are usually full of conflict and unhelpful is too many types of churches or people are thrown into the same category. Or emotions take over. Or both. Probably the best approach is one of balance and obviously remaining biblical and attempting to remain in healthy conversation.

Back to the passage. With both the fig tree and the temple, what made Jesus so angry? You had a plant and an institution prepared and designed and organized for one purpose and mission, but it wasn’t being fulfilled. Specifically, in the case of the temple, that purpose was to provide unbridled access for eventually all nations to the one true God in true worship. And when Jesus came on the scene, He knew He was going to replace the temple and Judaism and the sacrificial system. Why? Because He’s the Messiah. He’s the only way an individual can have true access to the one God. 

And after He died and resurrected, and the veil was torn, and sacrifices were no longer needed, and He was established as the way to God, His new community, the church took on a mission to reach all nations with the gospel about their Savior and Lord. 

And so each day we as disciples are following and pursing Him. He is our focus. Not ourselves. Not our friends. Not the world. Jesus. He is the Messiah. He is the Savior. He alone is worthy of our worship. And when we gather from our busy little lives throughout the week on our one day or our mid-week day, we don’t focus on bringing our lamb and exchanging it for the proper coins. We don’t focus on whether the money changer remembered the name of our second cousin this time. We don’t focus on whether we got a receipt, or if we got the proper change, or if this is tax deductible. We don’t focus on what we gain, because God’s house is a house of prayer and worship, and our focus is on … Jesus. 

We say that’s what we’re doing. That’s what the church promises. That’s what we claim. And if we peel back the layers, what do we find underneath? Are we meeting and fulfilling our purposes or not? Are we dysfunctional like the temple was? The first question that must be answered is are we more focused on who we are worshipping or … anything else?

Now our passage isn’t over. Because after Jesus curses the fig tree, He offers two clear practices of a true worshiping disciple. Mark 11, v. 21 had Peter saying, “Rabbi, you killed it.” VV. 22-24. Jesus said the temple was to be a house of prayer. Jesus’ disciples are to have the same mindset. Just because the temple will no longer exist in the first century doesn’t mean you abandon faith in God and prayer and all that. Jesus says, My followers must pray and pray earnestly. Why? Because that means you’re humble. Your dependent. You have faith in God. And God acts on behalf of those who have strong believing faith in Him as expressed in prayer. Faithful prayer is a crucial function of a true disciple.

Look at v. 25. God always hears our prayers, but in this passage, there are two characteristics of an absolutely strong prayer life: faith and forgiveness. And the community that contrasts with the dysfunctional temple is built on this foundation of following Jesus and being characterized by faithful prayer and forgiveness—did you catch those words. Anything…against anyone. One of those verses that you like to take a Sharpie to, but you can’t. 

[Side note: some believe that the “mountain to be moved” in this passage is actually Jerusalem/Mt Zion with its imminent destruction. It would make sense in the context of Jesus somewhat promising the overthrow of the temple. I don’t think I’m fully convinced, since He says similar prayer and fasting things in other contexts.] 

The main point is that His new community still holds to these practices of prayer and forgiveness. These would survive the future destruction. These are the evidence of a heart of worship.

So there’s really three questions.

What’s your focus when you come into a “worship service”? If the answer’s not Jesus, then walk back out and try again.

As you follow Jesus, how much do express dependence on God for help, and do you even have faith that God can help you?

And what’s hindering proper worship in your life more than forgiving somebody? Probably nothing. So take care of that.

So imagine yourself as some kind of fruit tree, doesn’t have to be figs. You don’t even have to be in season. But Jesus could come inspect you at any time, and if you have the label of Christian or church member on you, there’s expectations of following Him, praying, having faith, forgiving. Signs of a true worshipper, ready to welcome others inside the community and point them to the Savior properly because your heart is clean. What will He find?

Matthew 16:13-20

“When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven! And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭13‬-‭20‬ ‭NET‬‬

I know I’m weird, but I enjoyed going to school and learning new things. I was grateful for most (haha) of my teachers/professors, and I always knew they had my best interest in mind. You hear these stories about these mean, impossible professors that make a living off of failing students, and their lectures are unbearable, and your entire grade depends on one final exam, which for me was never the case. My professors were for the most part rather friendly and bearable to listen to. 

Exams were a big part of my grade but weighted just like high school, and of course the requirements and information is harder, but you’re prepared for it. But I was worried, because I heard these horror stories of these philosophy teachers that would pass out these exams, which your whole grade depended on, and it would be one question. And you have to write, like a whole semester worth of stuff, logically and coherently, about whatever topic they chose from that semester, in a certain amount of time. Or the question would simply be the word, “Why?” And you have to philosophize about the existence of all things. There’s another one about a professor putting a chair in the front of the room, and your final exam after a whole semester of notes and lectures is simply to prove that the chair exists. 

My favorite is the story of the CEO of Charles Schwab. When he was in business school, he was taking his final exam. So after studying, and preparing, and going all semester, it comes down to one test. The professor passes out the exam, and there’s one question. He was kind of shocked, because they clearly covered a lot of material, and this is business school. You need to know a lot of stuff to be successful, right? The question was this: What’s the name of the lady who empties the trash in the hallway every day? That determined much of their grade for that class, and it taught Charles a valuable lesson, but that’s not the point of this post. 

My point is sometimes a lot of weight and pressure is placed on one question, and your answer can have drastic implications. All these stories in the gospels to this point have built up to this moment. And there’s a one question test. And this is the only question that matters for any person that’s ever lived.

Now this is about the halfway point of Jesus ministry (ish). And the city that Jesus takes them to is actually pretty significant. It’s farther north in Israel, and this city belonged to the tribe of Dan, which was one of the most pagan tribes historically. It continued to absorb the pagan ideas and beliefs and customs of its neighbors, and throughout the Greek and Roman empires into Jesus’ day this city which had now been renamed Caesarea Philippi was a very pagan city. It was known for worshipping the Greek god Pan, a fertility god, which any time there’s a fertility god involved you can imagine the behavior of people and their forms of worship.

I’ve never been there, but I’ve read that in Caesarea Philippi, there’s a hill with a water fall that’s stopped up that used to flow into a series of lakes. And around that place was a series of shrines to a number of gods, but most importantly to Pan. But behind the water fall was a deep, dark cave and the people believed that it led to the underworld. It was a mysterious place. A religious place, but not in a good way. And it’s there that Jesus asks His disciples, So what are people saying about me?

John the Baptist and Jeremiah go together because these would have to be resurrected figures. We know of Herod who thought Jesus was John the Baptist. So people are thinking Jesus was a strong prophet, proclaiming God’s kingdom. Elijah: it could be that they thought the real Elijah was coming back to life, but there’s a prophecy of someone like Elijah coming later, so an end times figure, a great awesome prophet to bring in the coming age. People are in the right ball park, but they don’t quite get it. 

Then Jesus offers the one question exam to the disciples. VV. 15-16 You guys have been with me for maybe a year by now. You’ve seen the exorcisms. You’ve heard me preach. You’ve seen me shut up the religious leaders. What do you think about me? 

And Peter aces the test to the best of his ability to this point. He takes all the evidence and puts it together. 

Of course, Jesus says God has revealed it to him and helped him articulate such a truth, but Peter says, I know that you are the Messiah. Remember, “Son of God” = Davidic King to the first century audience (cf Psalm 2 and 2 Sam 7). Jesus, you are the agent working on God’s behalf. You are the promised one Sent from God. This goes back to Matt 14:33, where Jesus walked on the water, Peter tried and sank, Jesus saved him, and when they got back into the boat, the disciples all said, “You are the Son of God.” This implies, You are bringing God’s kingdom. You are especially empowered and enabled as the promised one. And as we go along in the story, we’ll get more information, like in the next paragraph, but Jesus praises Peter for his answer. 

VV 17-20

These are some pretty debated verses, so I won’t be too dogmatic here. “This rock” could be referring to Peter. This is usually frowned upon because that’s how the Catholics conclude that Peter was the first pope. So a lot of people choose the other main option which is seeing Peter’s confession, “Jesus is the Messiah” as the “rock” on which the church is built. This is also legitimate, but I tend to think Jesus was talking about Peter, making a wordplay on his name. 

In either case, Jesus is going to make a new community, a gathering, an assembly of people with Peter and the other disciples as the first representatives. We know that. Ephesians 2:20 says the apostles were the foundation of the church. And in Acts 2, 3, and on, Peter is clearly the leader of the early church, but it’s also true that those who enter the kingdom are characterized as people who get it right when it comes to Jesus. They are the types of people who acknowledge what? Who He is. If they were asked, who do you say I am, they have the correct answer, just like Peter did.

And this universal body of believers will grow over time. They are the representatives of Jesus’ kingdom that grows like yeast in a lump of dough. He talks about that in Matthew 13. But Jesus, so what? Look where we are. Paganville. Greco-roman society that is filled with many many gods. How are we supposed to survive following just one god, let alone You who are going to end up claiming to be God become man? You’ve done some awesome things, but we’re going to take some heat for following you.

And then in the next paragraph you are going to tell us about how you’re going to die? And rise again? No, no, no. Jesus you have this wrong. See, that’s not how this Messiah thing is supposed to work. In fact, Peter is the one that pulls Jesus aside and says, “Jesus, you will not die!” And all of a sudden, Jesus’ praise of Peter turns to a curse. He even calls him Satan. This is one reason we know this event happened. This I think meets the criterion of embarrassment. When you call the founder of the early church the devil. 

v. 20. Jesus commanded them to be quiet about the confession. Don’t go telling people I’m the Messiah…yet. Why? Because you guys don’t really know what you’re talking about, yet. You don’t understand what type of Messiah I am, one that has to suffer and die and become a sacrifice and then be raised to conquer death and offer life and then be a king. If you go telling people I’m the Messiah now, people are going to get all sorts of wrong ideas about me.

Now we know the whole story. Jesus did suffer. He was beaten. He was crucified, and buried, and then He rose in victory, to conquer sin, death, the grave, and He is the reigning King. He is God’s anointed Messiah. We now know that He is God. He is exalted in heaven at God’s right hand waiting to return to earth to complete what He began and to make God’s kingdom visible and final. 

I get asked pretty frequently about spiritual stuff or Bible passages. I get asked about minor debates that don’t matter. A lot of times people wonder if they’re going to heaven; if they really made the decision to accept Jesus. If they said the right words, if they really meant it. I mean death is a scary thing, and knowing that once it happens, your chances are over, that’s a sobering thought. So no matter if you’re super confident in your salvation or a little uneasy, or know someone who is flat out pagan, the one question exam is the same: What do you believe about Jesus? Right now. In this moment. 

We’ve established that He existed. That’s good. He did miracles. That’s good. He taught some awesome things and was a very moral person. Perfect even. But do you believe in Easter? Do you believe that He rose from the grave? Do you believe that He’s God? All those are the same question to some extent. And that one question is the most important question of your life, and it has infinite implications. 

You say, Yes, Kevin, I know Jesus is God. I know He died for me. And rose! I know I’m forgiven and have entered the kingdom. Jesus is the Savior, and I love Him. Awesome! I’m happy for you. BUT… If Jesus is God, then He cannot simply be Savior. He must also be Lord. 

Jump down to vv. 24-25. It’s not easy following Jesus. The One who promised His own path to suffering in essence promised a difficult path for us, too. In addition to the regular frustrations of life, we have the burden of wearing the target of Christianity. But if Jesus is God, and He rose from the grave, then who else can I follow? He has rescued me from my own guilt and shame and failure and inability to live life with any joy and peace on my own. I must follow the one true King. He demands my allegiance. 

And it’s true. I am a foreigner in this world now. I don’t belong here, and yet I have a mission to spread the influence of the gospel as far as I can before I die. And you know, there’s a lot of things that oppose this new community that Jesus formed, called the church: disease, demons, persecution, even death. But what did Jesus say? V. 18: The gates of Hades/Sheol will not prevail against it. That’s the grave. The underworld, maybe even reference that same spot where the disciples were standing. This terrible world, the supernatural one, and even the one most feared… death itself… will not conquer us, because Jesus rose. This week gives us hope that we, too, will rise, and God’s kingdom will spread. Satan’s already conquered. 

Now how does this really affect me? Am I committed to Jesus the Lord and King, or is my view of Jesus pretty incomplete? His demands are heavy, but it flows from Who He is. If you believe it, you will follow. 

The church is mentioned here directly in step with the character of Jesus. If you go back and read vv. 19-20, Peter and by extension the church were given a high responsibility to represent the activity of God on earth. This again is found in Acts and beyond, but we also must be committed to the mission that God has given us, of following Jesus, of making disciples. And by focusing on the physical and spiritual needs of others and not our own, we will imitate the attitude and mindset of Jesus. We will be more willing to share our faith. We will serve. And God will be glorified. 

But none of this occurs unless you settle in your mind: Who is Jesus?