April 22, 2002
BaptistWay Bible Study for Texas lesson for May 5
Moneychangers robbed poor of more than money
___Mark 11:15-18, 27-12:12
___15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, "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.'"
___18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. ...
___27 They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28 "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you authority to do this?"
___29 Jesus replied, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30 John's baptism--was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!"
___31They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 32 But if we say, 'From men' ... ." (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)
___33 So they answered Jesus, "We don't know."
___Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."
___12:1 He then began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed.
___6 "He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, 'They will respect my son.'
___7 "But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
___9 "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven't you read this Scripture: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 11 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
___12Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away.
___By Debbie Chisolm
___If you ever get the opportunity to spend the day at an African watering hole observing the animals that come and go, you will see a clearly defined hierarchy.
___After spending a week leading worship at the Brackenherst Baptist Conference Center in Limuru, Kenya, I had the chance to spend the day at a watering hole in Aberdare. For hours I sat and watched elephants, buffalo, antelope, rhino, hogs and hyena come and go. It was amazing.
___They might as well have had a posted set of rules that specified who was welcome and who was not. Some animals could stay for hours, but others were only permitted to drink on the run. There were two elephants that were not allowed to join this watering hole community at all.
___First, the banished pair tried to come in from the north end of the watering hole, but they were blocked by the lead elephant. Then they traveled all the way around to try the south entrance, but again their attempt was thwarted. In desperation they doubled back and tried to ease in from the west, but were quickly seen and promptly escorted back into the jungle.
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___The Jerusalem temple
___The temple in Jerusalem was much like this African watering hole. The Jerusalem temple of Jesus' day was divided into various courts, each successively limiting who was allowed access.
___There was a large open courtyard that was often called the Court of Gentiles. It was the outermost portion of the complex which according to the Jewish historian and apologist Josephus, "everyone, even foreigners, were allowed to enter."
___An inner patio led to the Court of the Women and beyond that was the Court of Israel. No Gentile was allowed past the outer courtyard. There was an inscription placed where all could see written in both Greek and Latin that forbade foreigners to enter. The punishment for ignoring this pronouncement was death.
___Women could not go beyond the courtyard designated for them, and only priests were allowed beyond the Court of Israel. In the very center of the Temple was the Holy of Holies, where the ark of the covenant and the giant cherubim were once enshrined.
___It was in this sacred room that the Jews of Jesus' day believed the very presence of Yahweh dwelled. Everyone believed God specially dwelt in this place, and thus the Temple was commonly known as God's House, the house of the sovereign Lord. Only the high priest was allowed to enter and stand in the Divine Presence, and even he could only venture inside the Holy of Holies once a year.
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___The arrival of Jesus
___It was to this Temple, this spiritual watering hole, that pilgrims traveled to offer their sacrifice and pray to the living God.
___The events we read of in this week's lesson take place shortly before the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. By law every Jew was required to travel to Jerusalem to present an offering in the temple during this festival.
___Because of this sacred celebration, the city of Jerusalem was literally "wall-to-wall" people. It would have been impossible for such a small city to accommodate this sea of pilgrims, and so it is not surprising that Jesus was staying with the 12 disciples in Bethany.
___The buying, selling and changing of money we read of in Mark 11 was done in the exterior Court of the Gentiles. Pilgrims would enter this courtyard and were there required to exchange their money in much the same way I had to exchange American dollars for Kenyan shillings.
___Among the thousands of pilgrims come Jesus and the 12. He enters the Court of the Gentiles with the same authority perceived in his teaching and witnessed in his miracles. Authoritatively he looks around at everything and then departs again to Bethany with the disciples.
___We can only speculate as to why he waited until the following day to exact his eviction of those selling and buying in the temple. Perhaps it was his way of maintaining control of the anger beginning to boil inside him. Maybe there would not have been enough time to remove the traffickers and return to Bethany before dark. It may have been that Jesus knew Martha had dinner ready and he didn't want to keep her waiting.
___Whatever the reason, Jesus waits until the next day to confront the temple thieves.
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___Bandits and thieves
___When Jesus enters the temple again, he exercises his authority and drives out those selling and buying the items used in sacrificial worship. Depending on the translation you use, these temple merchants are described as thieves.
___The verbal picture painted by Jesus transforms the temple from a house of prayer to a den of thieves. Like most of his pictorial object lessons, this image was easily envisioned in the minds of his audience.
___These traveling pilgrims would be very aware of the life-threatening danger of bandits. They traveled in the heat of day and with large groups lest they fall victim to the same circumstance encountered by the traveler in Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan. Sometimes armed gangs of bandits would hide in caves, and it was this picturesque scene that Christ was using to describe the activity taking place in the temple.
___By using the perfect tense for "have made," the Lord is leaving no room for misunderstanding. In essence he's saying, "You have completely made it, and are continuing to make it, a den of robbers."
___Under the approving eye of wealthy chief priests who could by law extract tithes from the poor in a temple covered in plates of gold, these traders and traffickers were not only robbing people of their money, they were robbing them of what they needed most--authentic prayer in the temple.
___Much like the tax collectors of the day that would extort more tax than was actually due, money changers always sold money for more than its face value in order to make a profit. Money had to be changed in order to pay the temple tax and purchase sacrificial animals.
___The poor and the God-fearing
___It was the poor who were being oppressed by excessive demands for money. A number of judgments by scribes increased the money which people, including poor people, had to pay. The greatest of these was the decision that the temple tax would be paid every year instead of once in a lifetime.
___This decree gave the temple far more money than it needed, and at half a shekel per person it was a heavy burden for the poor. The only people excluded from this tax were the rich priests who profited from them. The scribal judgments increased this burden by ruling that if a man saved coins and said they were for his shekel, any surplus above his payment of the temple tax had to become a "freewill offering."
___Only the poor would need to save coins for their shekel. Only the poor would need to purchase a pigeon or a dove to sacrifice. The rich would usually sacrifice a larger animal. When we take all this into account, it's easy to see why Jesus was angry at the financial and trading arrangements of the temple.
___As he often did, the Lord makes reference to Scripture. "And the foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant--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" (Isaiah 56:6-7).
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___The cleansing of the temple
___It was to be a house of prayer, even in the Court of the Gentiles. These God-fearing foreigners who had committed themselves to serving the One True God had traveled far to come to this place to pray and offer their sacrifice. Everyone knew the only part of the temple foreigners were allowed in was this courtyard.
___It was in the midst of this den of thieves that prayer would be attempted by these devout pilgrims. They didn't come in looking for a marketplace to bargain and trade. They came to draw near to God and worship him. Prayer, not trade, should have filled the Court of Gentiles.
___There was a close connection between sacrifice and prayer. What should have been a joyful offering became an oppressive experience for the poor. Instead of enabling the faithful to pray, they robbed them of their opportunity of drawing near to God.
___Single-handedly Jesus turns over the tables of the money changers and traders, empties the cages of sacrificial doves and drives them out into the streets. The whole crowd was astounded, and at once the priests and scribes sought to destroy him.
___Mark portrays the cleansing of the temple as the immediate cause of Christ's execution. It was obvious to them all that if they didn't destroy him, then Jesus would destroy them. The cleansing of the temple proved that without a shadow of a doubt. Jesus would destroy their power and their authority over the people and over the temple. They would lose not only their profit but their prestige. Therefore, Jesus had to be eliminated.
___Debbie Chisolm is minister of youth and adult education at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas
Questions for thought and discussion
___What parallels do you see between the priests and the scribes in Mark 11 and the shepherds described in Isaiah 56:9-12? Could similar accusations be made of the spiritual leaders of today?
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