ESSENTIAL KING JESUS: FLIPPIN TABLES
MARK 11:15-19
#kingjesus
USE AUDIO BIBLE: Mark Chapter 11:1-33 [4:05]
https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Mark.11
INTRODUCTION… from ‘33’ by Troy Borst [amazon.com/33-Troy-M-Borst/dp/B08VBH5P29]
They came to Jerusalem and entered the east side of the city through the Sheep Gate. It seemed that Jesus knew exactly where He was going. As He went, His hand touched sheep that were penned along the walkway. Bleating. Cattle sounds. Bird calls.
The group of thirteen entered the portico.
“Exchange your coins here for a sacrifice!” was what they all heard.
“This is my least favorite part of the temple,” Thomas said to Andrew. “It always makes me feel cheated. You know those money changers are cheating travelers.”
“Exchange your foreign coin for local coin… fair rates!”
Andrew nodded, “It happens to everyone. All the time.”
The sights and sounds were busy. Men had booths set up along the walls of the portico and were selling pigeons, doves, sparrows, and small sheep. There were other men, as Thomas had rightly seen, who were moneychangers who took the foreign currency of travelers and gave them local coinage.
“Buy two doves and get a pigeon free!”
Peter and James were looking at a few of the sheep along one wall when a commotion drew their attention.
It was Jesus.
Jesus had just flipped over one of the tables of the money-changers. Coins of all types spilled out onto the floor and then men were on their hands and knees trying to collect them. They yelled angrily at the Rabbi. The mood of the portico was shifting from casual excitement to upset and chaotic.
Jesus flipped another table further down the wall.
John said to Nathanael, “Remember when He did this several years ago? He warned them not to buy and sell and cheat others in the Temple.”
One of the money changers, on the ground scrabbling for his coin asked loudly, “Why do You do this?” Spittle flew from his mouth in anger. His face was beet red with frustration. His fingers tried to grip coins before others picked them up. He picked up a few coins and then dropped others.
“Trust me friend,” Matthew sort of answered him as he bent down to hand him a coin that was rolling away, “You want to follow what the Teacher says. It has gone well for me.”
Jesus rang out, His voice carried over all the other sounds in the chaos of this part of the temple: “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
A few people further in the temple mount clapped when they heard His words and saw His actions. Jesus walked along the wall and kicked over the chairs of those who sold lame birds and half-dead sheep. He knocked over some of the cages.
The younger James and Jude made a cringing face as cage parts went everywhere. Philip picked up one of the lame pigeons and pet it on the head and made little kissy faces at the bird. Simon the Zealot smiled as he saw Jesus clearing the Temple of corruption.
Feathers flew. Several birds were strutting all over the ground. Money changers were crawling on their hands and knees even as others were quickly clearing off their tables since they were in the path of the righteously angry Rabbi.
Jesus flipped another table.
Bleating. Cattle sounds. Bird calls. Yelling. Chaos.
Peter motioned for all the disciples to follow Jesus since He was clearly done in this part of the Temple. Not one table remained of the money changers.
“Now see here… You… come back and help us clean this!”
Jesus left that part of the Temple and went south to the Gentile’s court. He asked that the disciples gather around. He motioned for them to sit and recline and listen to Him. They did so. Others, drawn by His actions, joined the growing crowd to listen to the Rabbi.
TRANSITION
That was a fictional account of the passage we are reading today. The passage we are focusing on in Mark 11 shares with us a side of Jesus that we know exists, but we don’t always understand. It is the side that curses a fig tree and it withers (Mark 11). When we think of Jesus, the image of tossing tables and booting out cheating moneychangers is not the first image that comes to our mind… and yet He did it.
ESSENTIAL KING JESUS
We are making our way through the Gospel of Mark that I’ve themed ‘Essential King Jesus.’ Each week we are taking a look at one passage in a chapter. Each week I want to share with one essential truth that is important for us to believe and then also communicate to others about Jesus. We are focusing on the Essential King Jesus. The Essential King Jesus in Mark 11 is: Jesus overturns sin to holiness.
READ MARK 11:15-19 (ESV)
“And they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And He was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy Him, for they feared Him, because all the crowd was astonished at His teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.”
JESUS IN JERUSALEM (VERSE 15)
Verse 16 reminds us that Jesus is in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 14 as ‘Salem’ and is the home of King Melchizedek who was also a priest of God and blessed Abraham. In Joshua 10, we find that the Israelites conquered the whole area around Jerusalem, but the city itself stayed in the hands of the Jebusites. When David becomes King of Israel in 1 Chronicles 11, he captures the city and makes it his capitol and it became known by the nickname ‘City of David.’ The king’s palace was built in Jerusalem. King Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem as well (2 Chronicles 3). Jerusalem has so many names and nicknames: Ariel; City of David; City of God; City of the Lord; Hephzibah; Holy City; Jebus; Mount Zion; Salem; Zion.
This place is important in the life of Jesus as well.
READ LUKE 9:51 (ESV)
“When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem.”
READ LUKE 9:51 (NIV)
“As the time approached for Him to be taken up to Heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”
READ LUKE 9:51 (TLB)
“As the time drew near for His return to heaven, He moved steadily onward toward Jerusalem with an iron will.”
You see this place is not only historically important, but important in the life of Jesus and the death of Jesus and in the plan of God for our salvation. Jerusalem is where Jesus was to die. He knew that and accepted that He would lay His life down in Jerusalem.
FLIPPING THEM TABLES (VERSES 15-16)
Jesus is very consistent. Jesus tosses out people who were buying, selling, and cheating in the Temple. I say He is consistent because He does it at the beginning of His ministry (John 2) and He does it near the end as well (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19). It should be noted that Jesus ‘cleansed the temple’ at the beginning of His ministry and at the end of His ministry because there was no change or reforms in the middle. No one listened the first time around or changed anything. The people who were frequently in the Temple continued the abuses which Jesus rebuked.
Why did He flip them tables?
Jesus’ nation was under the rule of the Romans. Everyone therefore used Roman money. The Jewish law required that everyone should pay a tribute to the service of the sanctuary of “half a shekel” (Exodus 30:13) when worshipping. That is Jewish money and Roman money was not accepted. In addition, Jewish folks came from all over the world with their own native coins and did not have Jewish coins for the Temple. Therefore, moneychangers set up booths to exchange money at unfair rates to make money. Changing money was a very profitable business and one that resulted in fraud and oppression of the poor because you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.
In addition, two doves or pigeons were required to be offered in sacrifice (Leviticus 14:22). There were other animals for sacrifice as well depending on the situation. Jews lived all over the ancient world and it would be difficult to travel with animals. So, an industry grew up in the Temple selling animals to people when they arrived. The sellers gouged worshippers by charging exorbitant prices for animals not always in the best condition.
Jesus flips over tables and overturns the stalls of these businesses on His own independent authority. He did not ask anyone. He did not consult the priests. I can imagine that Jesus went to the Temple to worship and when He got there He did not find worship going on, but rather unholy things happening. He took action to stop the extortion, cheating, and the immoral nature of the buying and selling in the Temple. He did this because the foot traffic through the Temple had lost its spirit and original purpose. The purpose was to worship God and they had reduced it to a financial transaction. The Jews had lost sight of the personal devotion and the importance of the sacrifices.
I find it interesting that Jesus does not just overturn tables and walk away… but rather He teaches them and proclaims why He is doing what He is doing. Jesus quotes and combines from two passages in the Old Testament. One passage is from Isaiah and the other is from Jeremiah.
READ ISAIAH 56:6-7 (ESV)
“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast My covenant— 7 these I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
READ JEREMIAH 7:11 (ESV)
“Has this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I Myself have seen it, declares the Lord.”
Jesus is calling them back to the original purpose of the Temple which is prayer. He proclaims that they had gotten off track in terms of the Temple and their worship. People should want to go to the Temple to worship and find peace and seek the Lord. Instead, people were self-centered and were doing the bare minimum to get by in worship.
Jesus defended the sacred.
Jesus called out that which was wicked.
Jesus refocused worshippers to prayer.
KEYWORDS: “MY HOUSE” (VERSE 17)
In verse 17, we have two words which stuck out to me. Jesus is doing this and He says, “My house.” The Temple was indeed God’s House. It was the place of worship. It was to be a holy place for prayer and sacrifice and getting right with the Lord. The Temple was the symbol of the presence of God among Israel. The Holy of Holies was there. Sins were forgiven on the altar in the Temple. The folks in the Temple were off track and Jesus is setting them straight because God’s House is important.
I cannot help but think of a word from the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 which makes this passage all the more personal and it applies all of this to us and relates it to our Essential King Jesus truth for this passage. The Apostle Paul says that because of the Holy Spirit poured out on us after the Ascension of Jesus Christ, we now are the Temple of God. He dwells in us. His Spirit dwells in us.
READ 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 (ESV)
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
ESSENTIAL KING JESUS: Jesus overturns sin to holiness.
OVERTURNING SIN TO HOLINESS
Here is my thought: Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple because they were making His Temple a place of selfish wickedness… how much more... will Jesus Christ overturn our lives when we commit ourselves to selfish wickedness. I am talking about being disciplined by God. Yes, He does that.
There may be times in our lives when we lose focus or bow to sin in our lives or treat God like a vending machine or bring an idol into our lives and Jesus comes into our lives and overturns the tables of life. I know it is a metaphor, but I believe it to be true. He does not do it just because, but He does it because He wants to move us from sin to holiness… just like in the Temple.
ESSENTIAL KING JESUS: Jesus overturns sin to holiness.
Sin brings consequences. Always. God disciplines us because He loves us and He delights in us (Proverbs 3:12). It is the same reason Jesus removed the buying and selling and cheating from the Temple… He loved them and wanted to delight in the Temple. Their holiness and focus on God was more important than convenience or buying or selling.
As we are thinking about this: How can we know whether the physical, emotional, or spiritual adversity and trial and hardship we are going through is God’s hand of discipline, or something else? The something else is the fact that we live in a rotten sinful world and tragedy happens. The something else could be an attack from Satan’s spiritual thugs who have painted a target on you and are taking pot shots. No… not everything that happens is because we live in a sinful world and no… not everything that happens is discipline from God. So, how do we know?
We know because we go to God in prayer and ask for spiritual discernment to know if it is a consequence of living in a sinful world or because God is disciplining us. He will answer. We can also ask some basic prayerful thoughtful questions:
Is there unrepentant sin in my life?
What is God wanting to do in me through this?
How will God get the glory in this?
ILLUSTRATION… goexplorethebible.com/blog/adults/3-reasons-god-disciplines-us-session-13-2-samuel-2410-25/ [adapted]
There are several reasons why God disciplines us and upturns the tables of our lives when we get into a pattern of wicked selfishness. God is not random or fickle or without cause when discipline comes into our lives and some physical, emotional, or spiritual tables are flipped over. There are reasons why God disciplines us.
First, He loves us. The parent who does not discipline their child does not love them. God disciplines us because He loves and cherishes us. He loves and cherishes us and is faithful to us even when we are faithless towards Him.
READ HEBREWS 12:6 (ESV)
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives.”
When we are in a time of discipline from the Lord, it is because He loves us and it is not something to take lightly. It could be the circumstances we are in are because God is disciplining us out of sin and into more holiness. Hebrews tells us not to regard it lightly, to accept when we are repoved by God, and to lean into the Truth that He loves us.
Second, He is the Perfect Good Father. I think most parents try their best to discipline their children well. All human parents are imperfect and all human parents discipline imperfectly. Even when their intentions are right, human fathers and mothers sometimes discipline when they shouldn’t, fail to discipline when they should, or discipline in the wrong way. In a huge contrast, everything God does in us and for us and because of us is good and perfect. His discipline is good and perfect because He is good and perfect.
READ PSALM 103:13 (ESV)
“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him.”
Psalm 103 among many other verses in the Bible highlight for us that the God of Heaven is loving and compassionate and gracious and continues to be so during times when He disciplines us.
Third, He wants what is best for us. God always seeks to work for our good even when we are not good. God wants us to be holy and belong to Him even when we act unholy. The Lord’s discipline works for our own good, that He might be glorified with our lives. He wants us to exhibit lives of holiness, lives that reflect the new nature that God has given us. We are meant to be transformed in holiness from God’s discipline. God disciplines us because He wants to bless us.
READ HEBREWS 12:11 (ESV)
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
The end result of discipline from God is peaceful fruit of righteousness. Honestly, that is one way we can tell if something is from God or not. The end result of painful unpleasant discipline from God is peaceful fruit of righteousness.
SUMMARY
The image of Jesus flipping over tables in the Temple is one that might seem out of place for our picture of Jesus. Yet, Jesus overturned tables and got rid of the business stalls of people who were cheating others on holy ground.
On that day in the Temple, Jesus overturns sin to holiness.
To be honest, even on the cross Jesus did the same thing… Jesus overturns sin to holiness.
Jesus still does that for us today.
INVITATION
* Yes, Jesus saves.
* No, He will not leave you as you are.
* Yes, Jesus offers forgiveness and grace and mercy.
* No, He will not leave you as you are, but move you towards holiness.
PRAYER
