Thursday
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, and would not allow anyone carrying 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’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”
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.
(Mark 11:15-18, NIV)
The gospel writers Matthew and Luke also describe the incident recorded in today’s excerpt from the Book of Mark. John documents a similar event where Jesus cleared the temple, but his description locates the event early in Jesus’ public ministry whereas the other three writers identify the confrontation in the period between Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his crucifixion. It therefore seems likely that Jesus cleansed the temple twice in his three-year ministry. In both cases, he drove out the money changers and merchants and overturned their tables. In John’s account of the earlier incident, he notes that Jesus made a whip out of cords which he used to drive the animals from the temple area (John 2:15).
Jesus’ righteous anger over how the merchants had turned the “house of prayer,” “my Father’s house” (John 2:16), into a “den of robbers” (Matthew 21:13) results in these acts of cleansing. Mark and Luke point out that, although the cleansing of the temple angers Jewish religious leaders, the people are “amazed” at his teaching (Mark 2:18, Luke 19:47-48). It is important to note that Jesus uses force in clearing the temple, but there is no record of him striking anyone or using violence to punish the merchants or moneychangers.
By studying Jesus’ actions, together with his teaching, we can learn important insights about the nature of shalom. Just as God uses war as an instrument of his judgment against idolatrous and unjust nations, so Jesus does not tolerate the abuse of the temple. The “Prince of Peace” is not passive in the face of wrong. Biblical peace is never a camouflage for injustice. Evil requires a response and Jesus’ cleansing action is instructional for us.
Prayer
Holy God, we praise you for your justice and your mercy. We praise you for your response to evil and injustice. Give us the ability to recognize evil in our own surroundings and the willingness to confront it in righteous anger. Teach us not to respond to evil with evil, but to overcome evil with good. Amen.