Fighting For (All) People.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

15 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, 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.”

18 When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.

Mark 11:15-18

My goal is to help people meet Jesus for themselves. Not as an antiquated idea that puts a bad taste in your mouth, but a practical God and friend who fights to bring peace, joy, and love to your life. I think understanding His passions helps us to understand more of Him for ourselves.

My friend Salima is a Personal Branding Coach. She helps individuals, companies, and organizations define their innate values and cultivate a cohesive and effective brand.  One day, while she was developing more tools for her clients and running them by me, she said one thing that really jumped out at me. She said when determining what your personal values are, a great tool you can use is identifying what bothers you the most. What does that mean? If I hate it when people are late, punctuality may be one of my closely held values. If I am the angriest when miscommunication happens, clear communication may be a big value for me. If I find myself getting more angry and passionate when innocent people are oppressed, it is probably because it is stepping on the toes of one of my core values. We can learn a lot about the values of a person by understanding what bothers them the most and why. 

Using this concept, by looking at the moments Jesus seemed to get most passionate and ardent, we may be able to dive in and understand more about who Jesus was and what was important to Him.

So what happens here and why? What's the situation? What does Jesus do and say? Jesus goes to the temple to teach as He usually does. The temple is built with different courts functioning as “filters” to organize the people. The court surrounding the temple is the place where all people from all places and backgrounds are allowed while the closer to the center you go there are more restrictions. One level in from the outermost “gentile court” is a court for women. The next level is a court for Jewish men. And then finally, only priests are allowed in the actual temple. There is a lot of hierarchy. And everyone needed an animal for the sacrifice. So vendors would go to the outermost gentile court where the most people were and crowd up the area, charging people an arm and a leg for the things they believed they needed to be saved. Essentially charging people for their salvation. This is one of the major issues that we can agree bothered Jesus. His whole mission in a sense is to proclaim that salvation is found in Him for free if you would only believe/trust. But there is another issue. 

Now the other issue is that this is not only taking advantage of gentiles (a word given to anyone who is not a Jew) but taking up space and opportunity for them to come and worship the true God freely. They came from far to worship a God who wasn't even marketed as theirs just to be swindled, scammed, and stopped from even coming in to freely worship. This stepped on another of Jesus’ toes and we can glean it from His response in the Mark account specifically. 

In all of the gospels, Jesus says something along the lines of, “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.” But only Mark's account of Jesus remembers the “of all nations” clause in the sentence. What's the significance of that? Jesus is actually quoting scripture here. And by looking at the idea behind the scripture He is quoting, we can emphasize more of the thought behind His response. 

It's found in Isaiah 56: 

​​For this is what the Lord says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,  who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will endure forever. And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,  and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The Sovereign Lord declares— he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.”

What is happening in the text is God telling the people that anyone who desires to worship Him should be allowed. It doesn't matter where they come from. It doesn't matter what their culture is. It doesn't matter what their understanding level is. The Jews believe God is only for them, the people born into a specific family and understanding. However, Jesus is saying He is free for all, including us. 

Conversely, the gentiles are the others. They are not normal church people, they are regular people who want to worship God. Yet, because of fear of what they didn't know, and lack of understanding amongst the Jews, they are often held back from true worship. So often, we hold people back from worship because they look, sound, or learn differently from us, but Jesus is for everyone, no matter your gender identity, race, or culture. 

Recently, I wrote a devotional about when the angels announce the good news of Jesus being born to the shepherds, they say he will bring peace and joy to all people. So if the Jesus you know isn't about peace and joy for all, He may not be the right Jesus (Luke 2:10).

Who might we be holding back from worship? Who might we be distorting worship for in the process distorting their view of God? Jesus wanted experiences with Him to be free and available without hurdles for anyone. Are we passionately fighting the same way for that?

Isaiah 56 will be our close-out thought…

This is what the Lord says:

“Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the one who does this—the person who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps their hands from doing any evil.” Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.” And let no eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.”

It's easy to exclude. Don't be a part of the problem. Let justice roll. Do what is right. Be like Jesus, even if it looks rebellious.

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Don't let this discussion stop here. Send this to a friend and talk about how you can be more inclusive. 

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