Eight Days That Changed The World

"I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." Luke 19:40

Jesus passed through the city and made his way to the Temple. They city swirled around him. His name was on every person’s lips. The blind and lame came to Jesus in the temple and he healed them. The crowd continued proclaiming Jesus as God’s Messiah and King, children ran through the temple shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David” (Matt 21:15), even doubters wondered if the crowd could be right. His enemies simmered in anger …muttering under their breath; “the whole world has gone after him” (John 12:19)

But as Jesus stood in the temple he looked beyond the crowds and the critics and saw a cancer eating away at the heart of the nation. He determined to return tomorrow with a scalpel.

Exit the door on the speaker’s Left

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Day Two: The Dark Blot

Day Marker on screen: Monday…Day Two

The eight days that changed the world were marked by a series of triggers and momentum shifts. The second of those triggers came on Monday when Jesus returned to the temple with a scalpel. There was a cancer in God’s house and Jesus meant to remove it.

Roll Jesus of Nazareth Clip #2 (DVD Disc 2 start 50:40—end 51:15)

Last night when Jesus was in the temple he saw Annas’ Bazaar in full swing. The High Priest and the spiritual leadership of Israel had set up shop in the temple and were preying upon worshippers as came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. They systematically abused their office, misrepresented God’s laws and extorted money from unsuspecting worshipers in the name of God.

Since the first Passover 1400 years ago an unblemished lamb has been at the center of the Passover Feast. Each household was instructed to cluster into groups of 10 people, and bring a lamb without spot or blemish to be sacrificed for that group. Many pilgrims brought a Passover Lamb with them from their flocks to be used in the sacred feast. But the priests required that all lambs must pass their inspection before they qualified as a Passover lamb. God required that the Passover Lamb be unblemished, because it was a picture of a sinless lamb that would someday come and die for the sins of all men and women. What God intended as a central picture in his masterpiece, the priest twisted and distorted into an ugly blot on God’s canvas.

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When worshippers brought their own lamb for inspection, the priests would find a trumped up blemish in the lamb and disqualify it as an acceptable sacrifice. Of course the worshipper still needed an approved Lamb, and the priests were more than happy to provide one at an inflated price. When the worshipper tried to buy the new lamb with Roman denarius, he was informed that Roman money was no good in the temple; it was defiled. To purchase one of the approved lambs, they would need to use temple currency. They were then directed to a money changer who exchanged Roman denarius for temple coins at exorbitant exchange rated.