Introduction
What is the difference between good worship and bad worship? In our previous text we considered the elements of good worship that the people, knowingly or unknowingly offered to Jesus. It was good worship from the heart and the head. It was given out of sincere joy and desire to honor Jesus, and it was done in the appropriate manner and with the right words. One can be sincere and yet offer inappropriate worship; likewise, one can be theologically correct without sincere desire to please Christ. Good worship is sincere worship offered in the way that God has authorized.
If the previous text presented a case study for good worship, our text this morning offers one for bad worship.
Text
11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
The commentator, Mark Lane, describes this verse as the “quiet before the storm.” It is late in the day. He has just enough time to take in a quick observation. Does he see something that disturbs him? If so, this verse does not give it away. The next verses let us know that Jesus is not in a happy frame of mind.
12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
We will come back to this incident next Sunday. Let me simply comment that this is not merely the case of a poor tree being in the wrong place at the wrong time – i.e. Jesus venting his bad mood. It is a living parable; it is a lesson acted out – Israel has not produced the fruit that it ought and judgment is coming. We are about to witness one act of judgment.
15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.
Evidently Jesus did not like what he saw the previous day and was intent on dealing with the matter first thing in the morning.
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.
Let’s try to get a mental picture of what is happening. First of all, understand that this incident does not take place in the temple building. I keep visualizing everyone being inside a building. They are not. They are outside on what are called the temple courts. Only the priests may enter the actual temple sanctuary.
So, where are the sellers and their benches? They are actually far away from the sanctuary and the court where the sacrifices would be made. The temple mount is huge – approximately 35 ½ acres. The moneychangers and sellers of doves and sacrificial animals are most likely situated in the southern end of the temple mount under and near the portico called the Royal Portico. A portico is basically a porch. This “porch” is 197 yards long and 35 yards deep. The roof over this porch was supported by 162 marble columns 27 feet high. It took three men to stretch their arms around a column. The portico was at least 200 yards away from the temple sanctuary and area for sacrifices.
Now then, who are these moneychangers and animal sellers? The moneychangers are exactly what the term means. They exchanged local currency for foreign currency. You are a Jew from Italy who has traveled to Jerusalem for the Passover. You want to pay the temple tax, as well as purchase a lamb for the feast coming up, but the temple officials and retailers only take the coins minted in Tyre. Those are the accepted local coins. You go to a moneychanger who gives you the equivalent of Tyrian coins for your Roman coins, plus an amount for doing business. You may now pay your tax and buy your animals. Moneychangers engaged in a reputable and valuable business.
That leaves the “dove sellers.” They also provided a needed service, especially for the poor. Commonly, where the levitical law prescribes types of sacrifices to be made with a lamb, provision is made for the poor to substitute a dove or two doves. For example, Jesus’ parents offered two doves in place of the lamb normally sacrificed after the birth of a child. Probably more than doves were being sold. John records an earlier incident of Jesus purging the temple, and he mentions the sellers of oxen and sheep as well.
We have, then, legitimate business conducted, yes, on temple grounds, but still far away from the sanctuary and place of Jewish worship. By the way, other activities are also going on, viz., religious teaching. The 35 acres of temple mount are lined with porticos, not quite as deep as the Royal Portico, but still deep enough to be held up with two rows of columns. What a magnificent structure the temple complex must have been! Under these porticos, rabbis are conducting classes. Jesus attended one when he was twelve years old. The temple courts were not, therefore, merely a place of prayer. There were the sacrifices, the teachings, and the business activities that serviced these religious activities.
So, what’s the problem with Jesus? Was he simply in a bad mood? We know he was hungry. People can get irritable when they skip breakfast! Again, let’s try to understand what he experienced.
Assuming he entered through the southern gate, he would have traveled through a tunnel in the mount and walked up stairs onto the Court of the Gentiles in the area of the Royal Portico. Remember, this is the season of Passover. In a small city of under 50,000 there are most likely more than two million Jews gathered. And you can be sure that the temple is the number one place to visit! Thirty-five acres, notwithstanding, the temple courts would be crowded and noisy.
Jesus comes up into the court and sees rows of benches for the moneychangers with people lined up. He sees also the stalls of the animal sellers. He hears the voices of bartering. Some of the sellers are trying to get the attention of customers. They are advertising their animals. There is some bickering over prices. The temple animals seem a bit expensive, so does the rate of money exchange. Yes, well, there is a price to pay for waiting until the last minute to pay taxes and buy animals; and, by the way, rent is very high at the temple. These businesses have to pay for the use of space.
He hears another argument. The animal inspector has declared that the lamb brought in from outside the temple has a defect and is not approved for sacrifice. What is the person to do? He could buy an animal in one of the temple stalls. But he had bought this one on the Mt. of Olives and was told then that it was acceptable. Yes, well, that other market doesn’t have the best reputation.
He also hears – and smells – the animals. Imagine yourself at the county fair in the livestock section. This is not a good start for worship.
But still, all Jesus has to do is be patient and work his way towards the sanctuary. Once he gets out of the main thoroughfare, that will be easier. With a temple mount so large, it is understandable that many people cut through the temple grounds rather than walk around to get to the other side of the city, especially when they have merchandise to carry. Past that, Jesus needs only to walk up a few stairs, pass through a fence into another courtyard, and leave the market scene behind.
He also puts behind him a crowd of Gentiles. What are Gentiles doing at the temple? They are allowed on the temple mount in a restricted area called the Court of the Gentiles. There are Gentiles who are attracted to the Jewish religion, and though they do not become proselytes, still they seek to worship the Jewish God. Thus, an area is provided for them. They cannot go through that fence, however, that Jesus could. In fact, there were signs posted on it threatening death to any Gentile who trespassed.
Guess where this Court of Gentiles was located. It was the market square and the thoroughfare! Might as well turn the place into double duty, since it already contained “second-grade” worshippers. It’s not like there are a lot of righteous Gentiles worshipping there, right? The real places of worship for the real people of God are protected. Does it really matter that a few outsiders are inconvenienced?
Yes, it does.
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.’”
Seven centuries earlier God made a promise to outsiders.
3 Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say,
“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let not any 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 not be cut off.
6 And 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—
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” (Isaiah 56:3-8).
Remember that curse on the fig tree for not bearing fruit? Well, here is another example of the fig tree of Israel failing to bear the fruit of gathering in people of the nations for the true worship of God. Here are the people of God working against the promise of God on sacred ground. The temple is God’s dwelling place! It is the place that God has called all nations to come and worship him, and his very people have put up the obstacles to frustrate them.
Jesus closes with a harsh indictment: But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ Commentators make a point of discussing the unethical practices of the moneychangers and merchants. No doubt such practices were taking place, but Jesus is not citing unethical business practices as the problem. He knows what he is doing, and you can be sure the temple authorities know as well. They all know Jeremiah 7. Listen:
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and there proclaim this message:
“‘Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. 3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
9 ”‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.
“You are just like your ancestors,” Jesus is saying. “You think you can do anything as long as you’ve got the temple.” How can God’s favored people do wrong, especially in the temple? Especially when what they are doing is for God and for the temple. My goodness, they are collecting taxes to help the temple. They are selling sacrificial animals for the temple. Indeed, by renting space on the temple courts, they keep a greater profit for God. Right? Isn’t this the best of both worlds? We profit; God profits. We offer a convenience that makes it easier for worshippers to fulfill their obligations. Everybody’s happy.
Except Jesus. And the Gentile worshippers. And the poor who are being taken advantage of. And the merchants outside the temple having trouble competing. And the truly pious who regard all of the temple as holy ground, including the part for the Gentiles.
Application
We have to be careful in applying Jesus’ action to the church today. In the Judaic system, the temple mount was holy ground, distinct from all else. The temple was the dwelling place of God as no other place was. When you drove into the church’s parking lot, you did drive onto holy ground, nor did you enter a more holy place when you walked into the sanctuary. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, a time would come when there would be no special place set aside for God’s people to worship him. What would matter is that they worship “in spirit and in truth.” That time came at Pentecost.
But here is a good principle to learn. Jesus wants us to be aware of one another when we come to worship. He wants us to think about not only our personal worship experience, but the experience of everyone else who comes. He wants us to think how to encourage the worship experience of our fellow worshippers.
I am going to give a couple of examples, where I think we have come up short. I don’t want or intend to cause offense, but I do want us to examine ourselves in light of Scripture, which rarely is comfortable.
This past year we periodically held joint worship services. We’ve taken a break from that, and I don’t know if we will have them again. Why? Did the Session determine that such services were not pleasing to God? No. Did we think that it was not good for the church to occasionally worship together? No. We simply had it made clear that a number of people disliked the elements of the “other” worship service. We could always count on a drop in worship attendance on those Sundays.
The idea of worshipping as one body was not a strong enough reason to overcome dislikes, not of people, but of forms of worship. We were confirmed in our decision by two respected ministers who said that it was not possible to get people of like different styles of worship together. Evidently that is true. But somehow it just doesn’t sound like the kind of attitude that Jesus would support. “No, Jesus, I will not worship you occasionally with the whole congregation if I have to endure music I don’t like for a few minutes. No, it does not matter if my presence encourages others.”
Since I’m getting myself in trouble, I may as well continue. Now, again, this sanctuary is not holy ground, at least in the same way as the temple. But the purpose of entering this sanctuary on a Sunday morning is to worship and we need to think, once we’ve entered the sanctuary how our actions are either encouraging or discouraging worship. It is good to greet one another before entering and it is fine to give a quiet greeting to the person who sits next to you, but to carry on conversations has the same effect as the sellers in the temple ground. It distracts worshippers and discourages a sense of worship preparation. I have found myself often unable to pray or meditate on the prelude music because of the conversations carried on. Now, no one is thinking “I don’t care about others”; it is more a matter of being oblivious to how our conduct is affecting others.
The sanctuary, especially while the prelude is playing, ought to be a refuge where we can prepare ourselves to worship. It is difficult to transition immediately from having a conversation to worshiping. I know some of you agree and wonder what then the Greeting of Fellowship is about? It is not intended to be a time of conversation but just what it says – a greeting. Its purpose is to remind us that we have come not merely to worship God (we can do that at home); but that we have come, as well, to encourage one another in worship. And to encourage everyone – our good friends, the strangers, and especially any who might be considered “outcasts.” It is good to worship God together.
