Mark 11:15-17 - Who did Jesus kick out of the temple?

~Monday of Holy Week~

In Jesus' day, people from all over the world converged on Jerusalem to annually celebrate the Jewish Passover. Some were displaced Jews, returning home. Some were total foreigners who had converted to the Jewish religion. One and all arrived in Jerusalem, needing to buy animals to sacrifice in the temple, but they didn't have the local currency

Entrepreneurs offered to exchange money and sell sacrificial animals in the temple courtyard. It was a "convenience" for travelers but became a booming, corrupt business. Exchange rates were probably less than fair, and animals sold at exorbitant rates. The awnings and stalls of merchants started to crowd out the people who came to worship.

As Passover was about to begin, Jesus entered Jerusalem. The crowds, thinking that Jesus would be the one to end the Roman occupation, greeted Him with palm branches, signifying a royal entrance of the Messiah. “Hosanna!” they cried, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” (Mark 11:9, New American Standard, 1995)

Jesus had an agenda that went well beyond the Jewish people. Upon entering Jerusalem, He went to the temple. He heard the animals bellowing, grunting, mooing, baaing, cooing. Joining in was the hollering of merchants hawking their goods and services, drowning out the prayers and hymns of worshippers.

The next day, Monday, “...Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, 16 and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. 17 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” (Mark 11:15-17, New Living Translation, 2015)

We usually focus on the "bad money changers and those selling doves." But Jesus also drove out "the people buying animals." Those buying were complicit, and they were listed first! They should have exchanged money and bought the requisite sacrifices before they even approached the temple, but they opted for convenience, perpetuating a corrupt business.

Father in heaven,
In this Holy Week, give us the desire and passion to keep it holy. Even like we sang at Christmas, "Let every heart prepare Him room." Accept our proper sacrifice: hearts surrendered to You. In Jesus' name, Amen.