Passion Week Devotional - Monday - Mark 11:15-19
Mark 11:15-19
On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts 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, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’[a]? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’[b]”
The 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.
When evening came, Jesus and his disciples[c] went out of the city.
Throughout the Bible, God is frequently described as being slow to anger and abounding in love (Exodus 34:6, Numbers 14:18, Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2). However, despite being slow to anger, the Bible tells us that something that does stir God’s temper is when obstacles are put in the way of people encountering His love and grace.
In our passage today, we encounter Jesus overturning tables and driving out buyers and sellers from the Temple. Passover is approaching, and people are coming to the Temple with animals to sacrifice in order to receive God’s forgiveness. Many are told that their prized animal from home is unsuitable and that they need to buy an expensive ‘unblemished’ one in order to be made clean before God. But not only do they now need to buy another animal—they also need to change their local money into the currency used within the Temple to make that purchase. And guess what? The exchange rate is not exactly favourable…!
Jesus has observed this unfair practice on many occasions and knows that now is the time to call out this injustice—an injustice that both prevents people from coming to God and being made clean, and is designed to take their money from them. He no longer holds back, and in action and words makes clear God’s displeasure at His home being used to defraud and impede those who are seeking His abundant love and grace.
The obvious question this passage prompts us to ask is whether there are any practices that have crept into our churches that put obstacles in the way of people coming to know God’s love and forgiveness. Are we making anyone jump through unnecessary hoops in order to access God’s grace?
But another, more personal and perhaps more challenging question for us today is: Does the way I live my life, as an individual, place obstacles in the way of others coming to know God’s abounding love and grace?
1 Corinthians 3:16 says, ‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?’
With the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the blessing of the Holy Spirit, God is no longer confined to a building but miraculously resides in us, His followers. And so we must now ask ourselves: What in my life would Jesus wish to overturn and drive out? Is there anything I do or say that would prevent others from encountering God?
Maybe it’s the way my friends listen to me gossip or gripe.
Maybe it’s the way my boss observes me carrying out my job.
Maybe it’s the way I keep holding a grudge against the person who hurt me.
Maybe it’s the way I judge someone else for the life choices they’ve made.
Maybe it’s the way I spend my money, which means that someone in another part of the world is held in poverty rather than released from it.
I’m sure we can all identify something in our lives that could present an obstacle to someone else encountering God’s love and forgiveness. But the joy of our faith in Jesus is that God is slow to anger, and He is more than ready to wash us clean with His abounding love—all we need to do is invite Him in.
Today’s devotional was written by Katie Wigley.