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[724.24 --> 730.16] that you have made this house of God for all nations into a den of robbers. |
[732.80 --> 738.84] Jesus is angry about this injustice happening against, and especially the outsiders, quote-unquote, |
[739.08 --> 746.06] the Gentiles, the people that did not belong to the chosen people of God. There's more irony to this. |
[746.06 --> 752.08] And to emphasize this anger, this passion by Jesus, an important contextual detail that we need to go over |
[752.08 --> 760.06] is found in a few verses before. See, this kind of fiery outburst, this is not on the spot. |
[760.70 --> 768.22] Jesus premeditates his act of anger and passion here. In Mark, in the chapter that we read, in verse 11, |
[768.22 --> 774.24] it says that Jesus entered Jerusalem, went into the temple courts, looked around at everything. |
[775.90 --> 780.08] He could have burst out right there. He could have shown us God's heart right there, but no. |
[780.98 --> 785.56] But since it was already late, he left and he went out to Bethany with the twelve. |
[786.40 --> 790.82] The next day, as they were leaving Bethany, he goes back to the temple courts. |
[790.82 --> 801.54] So Jesus has already seen all the injustice that's happening. He thinks about it. He premeditates on it. |
[801.76 --> 807.90] He probably prays on it. And he spends a whole night sleeping on it, thinking about how he's going to show God's heart |
[807.90 --> 815.08] against the injustice. So you have to ask the question, what exactly was he so mad about? |
[815.08 --> 821.38] If you're talking about crimes, you know, you burst out in anger, you know, you get a lighter penalty than if you are, |
[821.48 --> 826.32] if you premeditate that murder. Jesus is not committing a crime here, but it's that serious. |
[827.00 --> 832.62] What's he so mad about? What are the actual details of the injustice happening in the temple? |
[833.96 --> 838.30] Well, you'll see in the picture here, the injustice was happening in the outer courts. |
[838.92 --> 842.46] This is where we call, where they called it the Gentile courts. |
[842.46 --> 848.66] And see, the design of the temple is not just for aesthetics. They didn't just make it to look good. |
[849.50 --> 855.50] The design of the temple reflects the theology behind the thinking, the theological thinking, |
[856.14 --> 861.30] that God's actual presence lives there in the Holy of Holies, right in the middle of the temple. |
[862.20 --> 868.22] And because that's where God's presence actually is, if you do not belong to the people of God, |
[868.22 --> 875.98] you are restricted access, you are restricted proximity to the presence of God, right? |
[876.44 --> 880.94] Fair enough. They're trying to be obedient to the religious teaching that they grew up with, |
[881.06 --> 884.04] that is their identity as the people of God. |
[884.68 --> 891.50] But while trying to keep up with their religious orders and rules, they were missing the heart of it. |
[891.50 --> 894.50] I desire mercy, not sacrifice. |
[895.18 --> 899.64] But they were focusing in just on the sacrificial religious order part. |
[901.50 --> 904.24] On top of that, here's where it gets serious. |
[904.64 --> 909.90] On top of that, on top of failing to be a blessing for all nations, which is their calling, |
[911.16 --> 915.52] the priests set up marketplaces in those outer Gentile courts, |
[915.52 --> 920.32] which was the only place those outsiders had for worship. |
[921.50 --> 928.30] So scholars estimate that a dove used for the sacrificial offering that they use for the forgiveness of their sins, |
[928.74 --> 933.46] it would have cost people outside the temple courts just about six cents, they estimate. |
[934.30 --> 939.24] Inside the temple courts, in those marketplaces, it would have cost them about 75 cents. |
[939.94 --> 942.14] That's a big jump, yeah? Talk about inflation. |
[942.14 --> 945.58] And they used temple currency. |
[945.88 --> 954.40] They had currency exchange places that ensured that you can only buy those sacrificial offerings inside the temple using their currency. |
[954.90 --> 956.16] So you had to pay up. |
[958.08 --> 963.50] The priests were ripping off the people who were there to buy their forgiveness, |
[963.82 --> 967.60] who needed the grace of God and His forgiveness the most. |
[967.60 --> 973.18] There they exploit them, and they use it for their own profit. |
[974.28 --> 975.20] And so here's the picture. |
[976.24 --> 984.78] On the one hand, you have the Son of God Himself, God's actual presence in person, in close proximity, |
[985.30 --> 991.92] eating with those outsiders, eating with those sinners and tax collectors, those deemed unacceptable. |
[991.92 --> 995.60] He eats and does life with them in close proximity. |
[996.16 --> 1000.42] And then on the other hand, you have priests that were supposed to represent God, |
[1000.56 --> 1005.60] and they were limiting proximity to God's presence because some people were not worthy. |
[1006.98 --> 1011.40] And again, on top of that, now from that place of further proximity, |
[1011.78 --> 1014.26] they exploit them for financial gain. |
[1015.22 --> 1018.52] That's what Jesus was so mad about. |
[1019.00 --> 1020.26] That's the heart of God. |
[1020.26 --> 1024.78] This is not new, unfortunately. |
[1025.80 --> 1028.56] The people of God, and you trace it throughout the Old Testament, |
[1029.08 --> 1033.88] as much as their calling to be a blessing is, they failed to live up to that calling. |
[1035.18 --> 1040.42] They failed because they were looking more at the religion than the heart of the Father. |
[1040.88 --> 1043.36] Again, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. |
[1043.70 --> 1047.82] And Jesus uses that same quote when He's talking to the religious elites. |
[1047.82 --> 1053.44] And that same message is so powerfully expressed through the prophet Amos. |
[1053.94 --> 1056.06] And God speaks these words through this prophet. |
[1056.06 --> 1086.04] God says, |
[1086.06 --> 1088.92] That's the heart of the Father. |
[1089.88 --> 1092.28] That's what Jesus expresses at the temple. |
[1092.28 --> 1100.70] Can you now sympathize with Jesus and how He apparently bursts out in emotions? |
[1100.70 --> 1102.70] Yes, He has emotions. |
[1102.70 --> 1104.06] Yes, He has emotions. |
[1104.06 --> 1106.88] He has passion because He has the heart of the Father. |
[1107.14 --> 1108.10] And He wants to seek. |
[1108.36 --> 1109.76] He wants to see, I should say. |
[1109.98 --> 1111.34] He wants to see restoration. |
[1111.84 --> 1114.98] He wants to see real justice, real righteousness. |
[1115.44 --> 1116.52] He wants to see shalom. |
[1116.52 --> 1120.26] And then turn that around. |
[1120.26 --> 1127.50] Can we see this and be humbled by how close this can and has applied to the church as well? |
[1128.34 --> 1130.16] This institutional injustice. |
[1131.38 --> 1133.82] Being the body of Christ, the church, |
[1133.82 --> 1140.44] we're to be a contrast community that's called by God's grace to reflect His kingdom. |
[1140.44 --> 1145.78] This is not just religious observances for individual holiness and piety. |
[1146.90 --> 1154.38] In other words, if our spiritual practices, if our faith does not lead to the margins of society, |
[1154.80 --> 1159.82] then we are separating what it means to be truly just, to be truly loving. |
[1159.82 --> 1162.32] And we too often do that, don't we? |
[1166.24 --> 1167.28] We are blessed. |
[1167.46 --> 1170.90] We are saved and redeemed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. |
[1171.08 --> 1172.16] That is our salvation. |
[1172.60 --> 1174.36] That is our baptismal identity. |
[1174.70 --> 1176.32] Yes and an amen all the way. |
[1177.10 --> 1181.16] But we have to realize that it's always attached to so that. |
[1181.46 --> 1185.28] We are blessed so that we can be a blessing for others. |
[1185.28 --> 1190.52] So that we can do the works that God has prepared in advance for us to do. |
[1191.06 --> 1197.60] And those works that God prepares and His mission that He invites us into includes the work of justice. |
[1199.30 --> 1203.18] Justice back then, justice now, whatever that looks like in our cities. |
[1205.00 --> 1207.74] And before getting to the encouraging part, |
[1207.80 --> 1211.80] because our church is doing so many good things to seek that justice. |
[1211.80 --> 1217.46] This is not just me being like a prophet and like discouraging everyone for doing such a bad job. |
[1217.66 --> 1219.26] There are so many things that we are doing. |
[1220.16 --> 1224.22] But we do have to humbly confess how we come short. |
[1224.54 --> 1225.88] How we always come short. |
[1226.76 --> 1228.32] And that's why we lament. |
[1231.64 --> 1233.22] Look around, you can say. |
[1233.86 --> 1236.44] You can preach all you want and that's the kingdom of God. |
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