Transcript:
Many people picture Jesus as being mild, resigned, gentle, quiet, shy, docile, lamblike, demure, unassuming, unobtrusive, tame, deferential, weak, and timid. Consequently, they believe this is the ideal behavior Christians should aspire to. They have the mentality that Christians should always yield, avoid controversy, and do everything possible to not offend. They think it is wrong to make waves, be confrontational, and cause anyone to be angry. Another way to say it is they think Christians should always be polite and act appropriately.
That mindset is wrong. Jesus was actually strong, bold, and forthright. One of many proofs of this is that Jesus threw merchants and money changers out of the temple. If we aspire to be like Jesus, then we need to ask what we need to do that is equivalent to throwing people out of the temple.
After conducting most of His ministry in Galilee, Jesus traveled south to Judea. He warned His disciples that they were going to go to Jerusalem where the Son of Man would be persecuted and killed, but that he would rise again the third day.
Their journey to Jerusalem took them through Jericho. Jericho is down in the Jordan Valley, about 500’ / 150m below sea level. As Jesus and His disciples were leaving Jericho, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus called out and asked Jesus to have mercy on him.
Mark 10:49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, get up! He is calling for you.”
Mark 10:50 And throwing off his outer garment, he jumped up and came to Jesus.
Mark 10:51 And Jesus answered him and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!”
In some ways this was an audacious request. Bartimaeus asked Jesus to restore his sight. Most blind people know that is unlikely. However, Bartimaeus did so because he had heard about Jesus and believed Jesus could heal him.
Mark 10:52 And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
Jesus said the man’s faith saved him. One of the biggest reasons Jesus restored Bartimaeus’ sight was because Bartimaeus believed Jesus could restore it.
As we go through life, we see many things that need fixed and improved. However, some of those items seem impossible. Do we have the faith of Bartimaeus? Do we believe Jesus can do anything? Do we ask Jesus to do the impossible, just as Bartimaeus did? When we ask, do we really believe Jesus can do it?
After healing Bartimaeus, Jesus and His disciples began the trek up to Jerusalem. It is only 14 miles / 22 km from Jericho to Jerusalem, but Jericho is 500’ / 150 m below sea level while Jerusalem is 2,440’ / 740 m above sea level. It was and is a very steep, uphill climb to walk from Jericho to Jerusalem.
Furthermore, it is mostly wilderness between Jericho and Jerusalem. The colors on the map indicate elevation, not rainfall. The area between Jerusalem and Jericho gets very little rainfall. It is a hot and dry environment.
Mark 11:1 ¶ And as they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples,
Mark 11:2 and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.
Notice that no one had ever sat on this donkey.
Mark 11:3 And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.”
Mark 11:4 And they went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it.
Mark 11:5 And some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”
Mark 11:6 And they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission.
Mark 11:7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and put their garments on it; and He sat on it.
Since no one had ever sat on this donkey, it would be prone to buck and try to throw off anyone who got on its back. There was a purity in using a donkey on which no one had ever sat, but also risk. I assume Jesus used miraculous power to cause the donkey to cooperate even though it was not trained to do what it was doing.
Mark 11:8 And many spread their garments in the road, and others spread leafy branches, having cut them from the fields.
Mark 11:9 And those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:
“Hosanna!
BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD;
Mark 11:10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David;
Hosanna in the highest!”
Mark 11:11 ¶ And Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.
It was roughly 1.5 miles / 2.5 km from Jerusalem to Bethany. It would have taken less than an hour to walk from one to the other. There was a deep valley in between that needed to be crossed, so it would not have been an easy walk.
Mark 11:12 ¶ And on the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.
Mark 11:13 And seeing at a distance a fig tree that had leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
Mark 11:14 And He answered and said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.
Mark 11:15 ¶ Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves;
Mark 11:16 and He was not permitting anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.
The priests and temple authorities certainly would have known this commercial activity was happening in the temple. This means they were okay with it and approved it. They probably financially benefitted from it.
When Jesus interrupted this money making scheme, He challenged the decisions of the temple leaders and disrupted some of their income. That would have made them mad at Jesus.
Many people picture Jesus as docile and unobtrusive. However, this story proves the opposite. Jesus was bold, aggressive, brave, daring, courageous, unflinching, decisive, and assured.
Mark 11:17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
When we see sin, particularly sin that is passed off as not being sin, we should be like Jesus and call it what it is.
Mark 11:18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.
Clearing the temple was a direct challenge to the religious authorities so they decided to destroy Jesus.
Many people picture Jesus as being mild, quiet, shy, and docile. Thus, they believe this is how Christians should act. They believe we should always avoid controversy and do everything possible not to offend people. They think it is wrong to make waves or cause anyone to be angry. In other words they think it is wrong to act inappropriately.
That mindset is wrong. Jesus threw the merchants and money changers out of the temple. He did not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. His actions in the temple show He was bold, aggressive, brave, courageous, and assured. Jesus took a stand because He knew they had turned God’s house of prayer into a robber’s den.
What Jesus did was not polite. I’m sure the leaders and many people thought it was not appropriate. However, if Jesus did it, then it was the right thing to do.
The Bible tells us to be like Jesus. Jesus challenged sin. Jesus did not always follow societal standards of appropriate behavior. Perhaps there are times when doing the right thing requires us to do things that society considers to be inappropriate.
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”
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