5.4.09
COURAGE TO CONFRONT – JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE Mark 11:1-11:19
INTRO
When did you last witness blatant wrongdoing and step in to do something about it?
• It may have been to do with malpractice in the workplace and you became the whistle-blower.
• It could be that you witnessed a dispute between two people and you became the peacemaker.
• Or it might well be the case that you discovered a situation that you felt very strongly should be corrected, but you didn’t find the courage to challenge it.
POINT
Sometimes it is not wise not to interfere in certain situations, such as in a street fight between two crazed and violent drunks.
Proverbs 26:17 tells us , ‘Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.’
So we should be cautious.
But there are other situations of injustice that develop which God may well call upon us as Christians to confront in order to end injustices for the sake of the poor and disenfranchised.
Today, on Palm Sunday, we are going to witness how Jesus went about it.
READING Mark 11:1 – 11:19
QUESTION
How brave are you at handling confrontation? I imagine that it is easier for people in the police or the armed forces to engage in confrontation because their authority is recognized and they are trained to do it.
The same may be true for line managers in the workplace. But most of us do not find it easy to confront wrongdoing, especially when we sense that those we are about to challenge may question our authority to do so.
POINT
Sinful human nature has always tended to challenge, and then cross the boundaries that mark out the distinction between right and wrong. We see it in infants who challenge the authority of parents. Israel constantly strayed from the path that the Lord has showed them to follow during the time of the Judges – worshiping other gods and incurring God’s wrath as a result.
This pushing of the boundaries took place even at the very centre of Jewish spiritual and religious life at the temple in Jerusalem in Jesus’ day.
POINT
As Jesus approached Jerusalem on what we know as Palm Sunday, he was about to make a statement. And although the religious authorities continuously questioned his authority to do what he did and say what he said, Jesus was not afraid to confront sin at the heart of Israel’s spiritual life because he had been given authority to do so by God the Father.
POINT
If Jesus were to challenge something in the church of today in the same way that he confronted the traders in the Gentile Court of the temple, what might it be?
Would he challenge anything in your life or mine?
POINT
Last Sunday we read the account of the Triumphal Entry and we compared the deep devotion Mary showed to Jesus with the ‘hosannas’ of the crowds, most of whom had little or no idea what kind of a Saviour Jesus had come to be.
Jesus was acting in fulfillment of the prophecy found in
Zech. 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
POINT
As he travelled on his way to Jerusalem Jesus, knowing that the people did not recognize the time of God’s coming to them, wept from the heart over the people of Jerusalem as it came into view. He could see ahead to the time when in AD 70 Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people would be killed in their homes. He said,
"If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. [43] The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. [44] They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you." Luke 19:42-44
POINT
The people would have associated what Jesus was doing with Simon Maccabeus who entered Jerusalem this way in order to restore Jerusalem after it had been invaded and corrupted by Antiochus Epiphanes. Even though Jesus rode in on a donkey and not a horse they thought of him as a warlord.
But Jesus did have an act of confrontation in mind – but not the kind the people expected.
POINT
Craig Bartholomew in ‘The Drama of Scripture’ tells us that there was always a close connection between religion and politics in the ancient Near East, and the entry of a victorious king would often be followed by some kind of action in the temple.
I wonder how Jesus felt as he made his way through the praising crowds knowing full well how unpopular he would be the following day when he would go to the temple and drive out the money-changers from the Gentile Court with a whip.
APPLIC/QUESTION
How do you feel whenever there is an issue so important to you that have decided to confront someone about it?
ILLUSTR
Recently on I watched a documentary called Top Dogs in which the BBC presenter John Simpson and two others set out to go through the most dangerous and hostile regions of Afghanistan to visit the Tora Bora caves where Osama Bin Laden used as a hideout. They finally arrived there, but had an armed guard, and they decided to return by a different route in case extremists were waiting in ambush for them. I wonder how John Simpson felt in the days leading up to this dangerous trip – And he didn’t go with the intention of confronting anyone.
POINT
But Jesus was about to boldly enter Jerusalem, the territory of his most sworn enemies – with no armed guard, and with the intention of going right to the centre of their spiritual community – the Temple – in order to challenge the corruption he had witnessed.
WHAT WAS THE ISSUE HERE? And why was it imperative that Jesus go to the temple to confront it?
The answer lies in the rebuke Jesus gave to them as he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and drove the people out:
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’." Mark 11:17
POINT
The Gentile Court was the one and only area of the temple where a seeking Gentile might enter with a view to learning more about the faith of the Jews, and even convert to Judaism.
But instead of recognizing that the Gentile Court was the ‘shop window’ of witness to the Gentiles they used every inch available to them as a means of commerce and exploitation for traders who exchanged Roman currency for the Jewish coinage that alone could be used in temple ceremonies.
APPLIC
‘But what possible relevance might this have to us?’ You might ask. The relevance lies in this:
Ephesians 2:21-22 describes the church in these terms:
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
The body of believers is now the temple – the dwelling place of God, and in the same way as Israel was to be a witness to the Gentiles by providing acess for them by way of a court, so the church of today is to make the Gospel accessible to seekers after God as part of our corporate witness.
APPLIC/CHALLENGE
How accessible are our church buildings and church services to those who are interested in Jesus?
What kind of a message do we convey to seeking souls who may dare to venture into our space?
POINT
I am glad to say that I am proud of the efforts of the people of this church in attempting to make the Gospel accessible to those who are interested.
• We seek to welcome all people into our midst without prejudice or favoritism.
• We have a repertoire of songs and hymns that connect with people across the generations.
• We have a complement of church services both morning and evening that are accessible to people across the cultural span of our community.
. We have sought to make our premises accessible to the disable.
But let’s not be complacent, because our bodies are also the temple of the Holy Spirit And in the same way as there was a court of the Gentiles at the temple should there not also be a place in our lives to witness to others.
CHALLENGE
How do others experience us? Are our lives so cluttered up with self-interest that seekers could not access Christ in our lives even if they wanted to?
ILLUSTR/ANECDOTE
A few weeks ago I had a conversation with the Rt Hon Adam Ingram MP. I dared to ask him about something I had heard to see if it was true. I had been told that Adam Ingram as a young man had attended the BTI (Bible Training Institute) Bible College in Glasgow. Adam Ingram was honest and transparent enough to tell me that it was true but that a couple of bad experiences with Christians had been very formative in the decisions he subsequently made. The first was when he invited another Christian to his home who was from Northern Ireland. Unbeknown to Adam this man was a bigot and in front of Adam’s mother he came out with a such a torrent of sectarian venom against Catholics that Adam’s mother showed this man the door and promptly told Adam that if that was what he was getting into then this was the end of it. Adam left the college and later he married to a lady of the Catholic faith. One of the Christians who used to know him when he attended church met him one day after he married. He had learned he had married a Catholic and said to Adam . He had learned he had married a Catholic and said to Adam ‘You used to be a nice boy’.
Adam Ingram became a very successful and hard working politician with a good reputation, but he does not now profess faith as a Christian. I just wonder how things might have turned out for him had his experience been different in the early days of his faith when his opinions were shaped by the lives of other Christians he met.
CHALLENGE
• And how do potential seekers after Christ experience you and I in the witness that we give?
• What kind of a message do we send to others when they view the way we live?
• Are our lives and the timetable of our activities so cluttered up with self-interest that we have left no room for those who otherwise might find Christ through us?
On this Palm Sunday, as we sing our ‘hosannas’ to the Lord what might there be in our lives that Jesus would confront?
CONCL
Rev Tony Miles said recently in a sermon he preached at the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, ‘Many people are converted through kindness – probably far more than through eloquent sermons. Though it is important to note that they will only find Christ through kindness if we name the name of Jesus for our kindness’
I hope that you have not sensed the Lord’s rebuke today for filling your life with so much clutter that seekers get the wrong message from you or none at all. But if you have then listen to the Lord’s rebuke and make your life hospitable to seekers once again
But let us also have the courage to confront together the issues over which Jesus himself might otherwise rebuke us. How much better it would have been if the Jews in Jesus’ day had confronted the abuses themselves and used the Gentile Court for what it was meant to be - a light to the Gentiles, making witness their priority.
PRAY
