ASH WEDNESDAY
February 17, 2010
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Mark 11:15-19

PORTRAITS OF OUR SAVIOR:
CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

Mark 11:15-19 (NIV) “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and 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, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And 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.'" 18The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19When evening came, they went out of the city.”

“We would like to see Jesus.” That was the request made by some Greeks who had come to celebrate the Feast of Passover in Jerusalem. It was Holy Week. Plots were being hatched to betray and murder Jesus. People wanted to get rid of Him. And yet these Greeks came and said, “We would like to see Jesus.” Brothers and sisters we are preparing to observe Holy Week. It’s only 6 weeks away. There will be some in our country who will want to get rid of Jesus again. To make Lent about Mardi Gras or what they are doing. To make Easter about vacations and candy. Let’s strive to be different. Let’s try to be Greek and let our approach be one where we say, “We would like to see Jesus.” To help us in that our theme guiding our Lenten and Holy Week worship is “Portraits of our Savior.” We’ll follow Mark’s Gospel account.
The first portrait or picture we see is Jesus cleansing the temple. It’s important that we pause to look at the details. Why does Jesus do what He does? First we look at what He did. “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and 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, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.” What Jesus did was to clear the Temple area of those who were buying and selling and exchanging money. You may wonder what they were there for. As part of Old Testament worship there were specific sacrifices that people were to bring. An unblemished lamb for the Passover. A year old lamb or turtle doves for purification. There were many more. Either you brought your own from home or those who came from afar had to buy them in Jerusalem. All the Jews were required to pay a “Temple Tax” as well. That had to be paid with coins worth a half shekel according to the Temple’s weights. You can see there was a need for someone to exchange foreign money for the Temple tax. There was a need for people to buy animals for the sacrifice. My guess is the old adage “Give ‘em an inch and they’ll take a mile,” came into play here.
First the merchants and moneychangers set up their booths where they could in the city, empty lots or storefronts. Maybe they tried to obtain property closer to the Temple. Other people probably owned that already. Then someone had an idea. Wouldn’t it be more convenient for everyone if they set up in the Temple courts? Then it would be easy for the buyers, easy for the sellers. Was there maybe a cut for the priests or the Temple? Now if you know anything about a large number of animals in a confined space or Eastern cultures and their haggling over price you can figure out what happened. Pretty soon the Temple area was filled with lowing, baaing, cooing, clinking, haggling. Then Jesus came and cleared em out. He stopped the buying. He stopped the selling. That’s what Jesus did.
Why? “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.'" Here we see a portrait of our Savior. He is zealous for the worship His Father deserves. He is protective of the needs of His people. Remember the importance of the Temple in Old Testament worship. It was a special place that God promised to dwell with His people. It was a building that existed for the sole purpose of giving glory to God and filling the spiritual needs of the people. There God’s people could come and be assured their sins were forgiven as sacrifices of animals pointed to the sacrifice that would be made by God’s Son. There God’s people could show thankfulness to Him for blessings as they brought the firstfruits of their crops and their herds. There God’s people could be sure that as the forgiven children of God their prayers were being heard and answered in accordance with what was best. This portrait of our Savior shows us Jesus cleansing the Temple zealous for His Father’s worship and protective of His people’s needs.
Brothers and sisters we have the same Savior at work among us. He is still zealous for His Father’s worship, that He get the worship He deserves. We don’t have a temple but we do have this church. While we have the freedom to worship God wherever we want as a church family we have used this place to publicly worship the Lord. While there are not a whole lot of rules God has given us for worship in the New Testament times we live in, there are plenty of principles. God deserves to be worshipped regularly. He deserves to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. He deserves the priority of our time, not our leftovers. He deserves our full attention and devotion not that which is shared. In 1 Corinthians 14 when the Lord through Paul gave instructions on worship he talked about the unbeliever coming into a place of worship and seeing the believers there and hearing what was said and exclaiming “God is really among you.” That’s a goal for us to look at. Does the way we act here and talk here even sit here tell others we believe God is here? Jesus is here. If He were to show Himself visibly is there anything He would need to cleanse? Would He need to chase any of us out for distracting from His Father’s worship? If you would see Jesus, see a Savior who is zealous that His Father get the worship He deserves.
See a Savior who is protective of His people’s needs. We all have all kinds of needs. We have need of food and clothing. We have need of love and acceptance. We even recreational or entertainment needs. From every culture that we are able to gather history from you find the presence of games. It’s good for us to have something that diverts our attention, that gives our minds a break from reality. Entertainment does that. But let’s not seek to get our entertainment at church. Get that from reading a book or watching a good show, or sports or a video game. At church seek your spiritual need. We have the same spiritual needs that the people in Jesus’ day did. We need to know that God loves us. We need to know that He forgives us. We need to know that He will not treat us as our sins deserve. We need to know that He will listen to our prayers. We need to respond to our gracious and loving God with thankfulness in a way that is meaningful to Him.
Jesus is protective of those needs. He cleansed the Temple so God’s people’s spiritual needs could be met. He wants your needs met today so He has provided His word to tell you His truths. He has set up the church and the public ministry of the Gospel so you would hear forgiveness proclaimed. He has left a meal to be celebrated again and again which proclaims His forgiveness in a visible way. His assurance of forgiveness is His promise that He will hear your prayers. Jesus is protective of your spiritual needs.
When the religious leaders at the Temple saw the portrait of the Savior cleansing the Temple they looked for ways to kill Him. I doubt that will be the response of anyone here. Yet it’s good for us to see our Savior so we can check ourselves. The tumult in the Temple, I’m sure, started with man’s best intentions, trying to make things easier for the people. Gradually respect for God grew less and less important and what was convenient for people, what they liked, became more important than their spiritual need. As we see our Savior zealous for His Father’s worship and protective of His people’s needs may we strive to honor what He did by being the same. Amen.