Holy Week - Monday

So this was the day that Jesus cleansed the Temple. According the Mark 11 Jesus enters Jerusalem on the donkey and then went to the temple and looked around but it was late so "he went out to Behtany with the Twelve." (11) Then, the "next day as they were leaving Bethany..." is how verse 12 starts.

Jesus leaves Bethany Monday morning and I love the simplicity of what Mark says here, "Jesus was hungry." I mean, this is the big week of...well, history, right? Yet we have this detail about Jesus. Anyway, this is when he curses the fig tree (which is subject for tomorrow's post) on his way into Jerusalem.

Once he gets into the city, he goes to the temple and there he "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, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts." (Mark 11:15b-16)

(of course, this video is from the Gospel of John...but still...)

Now, I've always gone right to the interpretation here - right to Jesus' words, quoting the Old Testament, "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations" "but you have made it a den of robbers." (Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 respectively)

But I just noticed this morning that Jesus drove out not only the SELLERS - but the BUYERS too... And that intrigues me. Why did he do that? I mean, these are people who have come to buy sacrifices, right? Why push them out, too?

So I did a little reading... this was probably the Gentile Court of the temple which, according to William Barclay, had become completely secularized by this time. The buying and the selling of sacrificial animals had become big business for the temple (over-charging for doves, for example, by 2000% or so...). Yet the Gentile Court was supposed to be a place of prayer - a place of reverence for those non-Jews who came to the Temple.

I have to wonder, though...the Temple of Jerusalem was a bit of a tourist attraction in the region (there's that scene with the Greeks in the Gospel of John) and do you suppose they sold...um...touristy stuff? Could there have been Temple memorabilia on the First Century equivalent of eBay? Okay, maybe not...but don't put it past even the most devout and religious people to make a buck in the outer courts...

Like, dare I say it?, having a Starbucks in your narthex? I wonder how secularized our entryways have become. And maybe it's no big deal - I mean, we have coffee between our first service and Sunday school - out in the fellowship hall. Would it be a problem if the coffee was available in the entry area? Should we just not ever sell anything in church?

Hmmm, maybe the fig tree will be easier...