“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….” – Mark 11:15
When I read this passage from Mark, I typically imagine Jesus full of righteous indignation, using it against those who were exploiting the poor. As I considered the story more carefully, however, I noticed that Jesus drove out those who were buying in the temple courts as well as those who were selling. I had often thought of the buyers as victims of opportunistic and greedy sellers, but Jesus drove them all out of the temple. Why?
Our sin is not something to be taken lightly. Israelites were required to make certain sacrifices at the Passover feast. Many had to travel long distances to get to Jerusalem. Not only did they have to get themselves to Jerusalem; they would have to bring animals along for sacrifice. Bringing the animals from home would have made a difficult journey even more difficult. Those who were buying animals at the temple were making the process of sacrifice and forgiveness a little bit easier.
Sin is a personal matter. I can imagine that raising livestock could create a certain intimacy with the animals. After spending much time caring for an animal, when the time came to choose one for sacrifice, you would most likely be forced to choose an animal that you have come to know well. This would have made the price of sin very real. Those who purchased their sacrifice at the temple would have avoided this personal loss. For them, atonement for sin became a financial transaction. It could be calculated as a mere percentage of income. It became more like a fine.
Sin is more serious than this; sin destroys our relationship with God. It is not like a traffic violation that can be taken care of with a small fee. According to Mark, Jesus entered the temple the day after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and just days before he was crucified. Jesus’ sacrifice was motivated by love, mercy and obedience to the Father. He became the perfect sacrifice, fulfilling the law in every way. There were no short cuts available to Jesus. Those selling in the temple were bad characters – Jesus called them robbers. But you could say that those buying in the temple were in error as well – they treated sin too lightly. This remains a problem for us today, probably to a greater extent. May God help us to avoid treating sin too lightly as we celebrate Easter and live out our faith!
During the month of February we were able to pay 100 percent of the target allowance to all of our 49 missionary units. After all allowances were paid we had $28,433 remaining in the general fund. Thank you for your ongoing support!