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What Jesus Really Did in the Temple Courts

When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” Mrk 11:15-17 (NLT)

What made Jesus so angry when he saw people selling pigeons and such like in the court of the Gentile nations? It was because this was the part of the temple set aside for all nations (other than Jews), and they were turning into a Jewish market-place, so making it impossible for those from the nations to pray.

'This notice indicates that Jesus expelled the merchants from the Court of the Gentiles in order to safeguard rights and privileges sanctioned by God. The use of the forecourt as an open market effectually prevented the one area of the Temple which was available to the Gentiles from being a place of prayer.'

Note too, that the term often translated 'Gentiles' is ethnos in Greek, from which we get the phrase 'ethnic group'. English translations tend to translate ethnos 'nations' when the context is positive, as it is here, and 'Gentiles' when it is negative. This is a pity, as it obscures the fact that Gentiles aren't simply non-Jews (a religious focus), but people from all nations (an inclusive focus).

The Scripture Jesus quotes is from Isaiah, which is probably the strongest on mission in the Old Testament. The actual verse is Isaiah 56:7. It's worth reading in context:

      3 Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say,
         “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”
         And let no eunuch complain,
         “I am only a dry tree.”

4 For this is what the LORD says:

         “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
         who choose what pleases me
         and hold fast to my covenant—
      5 to them I will give within my temple and its walls
         a memorial and a name
         better than sons and daughters;
         I will give them an everlasting name
         that will endure forever.
      6 And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD
         to minister to him,
         to love the name of the LORD,
         and to be his servants,
         all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
         and who hold fast to my covenant—
      7 these I will bring to my holy mountain
         and give them joy in my house of prayer.
         Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
         will be accepted on my altar;
         for my house will be called
         a house of prayer for all nations.”
      8 The Sovereign LORD declares—
         he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
         “I will gather still others to them
         besides those already gathered.”

What a wonderfully positive passage, given how much the Jews had suffered under the Babylonians, been sent into exile, some had returned, and were now living in fear of those around them! Despite all these political and other pressures, Isaiah was still keen to see the mission of God fulfilled, as stated to Abraham in Genesis 12.

      2 “I will make you into a great nation,
         and I will bless you;
         I will make your name great,
         and you will be a blessing. i
      3 I will bless those who bless you,
         and whoever curses you I will curse;
         and all peoples on earth
         will be blessed through you.”

This is one of the main over-arching themes of the Bible, yet often it is ignored by preachers, who prefer to focus on the here and now of how 'I' feel. Yet the 'I' is part of a 'we', and the 'we' is part of God's plan for many generations and for people from all nations.

References:

Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), p. Mk 11:15–17

Lane, William L., The Gospel of Mark, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1974), p. 406

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), p. Is 56:3–8

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), p. Ge 12:2–3
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Comments

  1. Maija25 January 2020 at 03:17

    I like the insights here, David, thank you, of Jesus fervently making space for other ethnicity-groups to take place in His Father´s court, to have their legal place given back to them. It inspires us to continue to do the same -inviting those who have legal right to worship in Father´s courts, even if not from Jewish origin. I hope you can soon deliver thoughtful sermons on this topic.

    ReplyDelete

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