God’s Word for You

Mark 11:15-17 A house of prayer

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, December 20, 2021

Jesus Cleanses His Father’s House
15 They came to Jerusalem. Jesus went into the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves.

The money changers did exactly that, they exchanged money, especially small coins for larger ones. There were other people in the temple, merchants and salesmen, selling items for the sacrifices including doves, lambs, sheep, goats; wine, flour, grain and olive oil (Exodus 29:40), fruit of all kinds, and salt (Leviticus 2:13). The moneychangers may also have been making an exchange of any coins (Romans, etc.) for the local shekel and half shekel. In Exodus 30:13-16, the men of Israel were required to pay a half shekel “according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs” (about 1/5 ounce or six grams) (Exodus 30:13) during a census. Although the Lord commanded Moses to charge this only when taking a census of the Israelites to count them (Exodus 30:12), some consider this to be an annual tax, based partly on the proximity of Exodus 30:10, “Once a year Aaron shall make atonement…”

There were two main problems with this practice of selling what was needed for sacrifice. First, the hearts of the sellers were not in the right place, and Jesus’ words to them about being robbers (vs. 17) show this. Second, the tables for all this blocked up the Court of the Gentiles so that nobody could use the area for worship in any way. The Court of the Gentiles was a large open courtyard larger than the main temple courtyard itself. It was south of the temple, or, looking at the temple from its front, it was to the left. Clogging this area up with tables and livestock left no place for Gentile-born believers to worship. Jesus would quote Isaiah 56:7 to point this out: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (verse 17). But the nations were being prevented from worship of any kind.

Obviously the Lord’s action of overturning tables and driving out the salesmen was not an act of gospel encouragement for them; this was not a moment of encouraging repentance. It was simply an act of cleansing the worship place itself. This is carried even further in the following verse:

16 He would not allow anyone to carry any merchandise through the temple courts.

Jesus would not allow anyone to carry anything at all (σκεῦος, skeuos, “vessel, dish, item”) through the temple courts. Perhaps an illustration here will help. In my congregation, we sometimes have a baptism between services rather than during a service. When this happens, we also have people cleaning up the communion ware and getting it ready for the next service. It’s distracting to be carrying out the Baptism liturgy when one of our ladies starts walking through our group carrying trays of communion cups. In our case, I ask the ladies taking care of communion to wait a few minutes. But Jesus was less gentle. He commanded that no one could pass through carrying anything, and the impression we get is that the citizens of Jerusalem may have been using the temple court as a shortcut on their way to various parts of the city. The Talmud has a decree forbidding this (probably dating from the time of the Pharisees) and in this case at least, Jesus was in agreement. Certainly nobody resisted him. The Pharisees, at least, would have agreed with him here.

If the temple was held in respect even in the days of its construction, built in virtual silence without even the sound of hammer, chisel, or any iron tool during its assembly (1 Kings 6:7), shouldn’t it have been used with reverence and peace all the more during times of worship, and especially during times of the high festivals like this one?

On the other side of this is the idea that greeting a Christian friend in church should not be done at all, so that something like silent reverence can be maintained at all times. There is a place for both, and it’s better to allow for the one without forbidding the other or permitting the one without making the other impossible.

17 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 robbers’!”

When Jeremiah warned about the temple becoming “a den of robbers” (Jeremiah 7:11), he was prophesying that the sinfulness of the priests and Levites would call down the judgment of God. The Lord said: “Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel” (Jeremiah 7:12). Shiloh was the place where the tabernacle was first set up after Israel conquered Canaan (Joshua 18:1). We don’t know whether the tabernacle moved around after this, but references are made to it being at Shiloh at the end of Joshua’s lifetime (Joshua 19:51), during the early days of the Judges (Judges 18:31, 21:19), and again at the end of the time of the Judges (1 Samuel 1:3). I think that in all likelihood, Shiloh was the only location of the tabernacle while it was still intact, before the Ark was lost and it became somewhat disassembled throughout David’s lifetime. God’s judgment was clear from his actions: “He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. He sent the Ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy” (Psalm 79:60-61). This remained the state of things until Solomon built the first temple and the remains of the old tabernacle were moved into the temple precincts, perhaps placed in storage (2 Chronicles 5:5).

I have spent time explaining details of this passage, but it’s time to come to the spiritual application: The worship space is for worship. This is true even if a group of Christians on vacation choose to worship in a forest clearing, on the beach, or in an ancient stone ruin. When it is used for worship, it should be a place for worship and not other things. We should give our best in worship, but those things that we use should be fitting and appropriate at the same time. The first role of the worship space and the last are the same: to be a place where the people, the true Church, can be built up and encouraged in their faith. Luther put it simply: “Building up the church means to lead consciences from doubt and murmuring to faith, to knowledge, and to certainty” (LW 54:196). This can be done anywhere, but wherever we have chosen to build a permanent building for this good and great work, we must not assume that ours is the only temple of the true God. We must take care especially to remember the Eighth Commandment. If another church in fellowship with our own chooses to carry out some of its worship in a style or form that is in keeping with the gospel but not a matter of our personal taste, we should not disparage them. The two basic standards of public worship were addressed then by Jesus and should still be held dear in our hearts today:

Let the gospel predominate.
Let the people participate.

“If your word had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. Save me, for I am yours.” (Psalm 119:92,94).

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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