WHAT WILL HE FIND?
Opening Prayer
Lord, I honor the things that You honor.
Read Mark 11:12–19
Jesus Curses a Fig Tree and Clears the Temple Courts
12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
15 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, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’[a]? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’[b]”
18 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.
19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples[c] went out of the city.
Footnotes:
a Mark 11:17 Isaiah 56:7
b Mark 11:17 Jer. 7:11
c Mark 11:19 Some early manuscripts came, Jesus
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools” (Eccl 5:1).
Think Further
The temple in Jerusalem: grand, beautiful, and central to Jewish life . It was built as a place for God to dwell – being present but not contained; and as a place for God’s people to meet Him through prayer and worship (1 Kings 8). In yesterday’s
passage, we read of God Himself – in the person of Jesus – entering the temple (11). What did He find? A community of sincere worshippers seeking God, eager to meet Him? Quite the contrary! Just as the fig tree failed to deliver what it promised (13), so it is with the temple (R Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Mark, IVP, 1995, p250–251). The temple courts are bustling with people who are seeking and serving not God but their own interests. There are those indifferent to worship, who use the temple courts as a thoroughfare to trade and barter (16). There are those hindering God rather than helping – selling animals for sacrifices at a profit, making the God’s house a “den of robbers” (15,17). No wonder Jesus becomes indignant.
Of course, this is not always what awaited Jesus in the temple. Were member Simeon and Anna – righteous Jews who were drawn to the temple in eager anticipation of meeting the Messiah. When they encountered the infant Jesus, they recognized Him as such and praised God (Luke 2:22–38).
What would Jesus find in your church today? A “house of prayer for all nations” (17) – a place of true worship, where people are seeking and serving God? Or a “den of robbers” – a place of sham worship (Jer 7:1–11), where people are seeking and serving their own interests? What would Jesus find in your heart as you worship
Him there? What of your individual life, hopefully lived as an ongoing sacrifice of worship to Him? (Rom 12:1).
Apply
Meditate upon Psalm 27:4. Pray for yourself, that you may be one who worships in Spirit and in truth. Pray also for your church.
Closing prayer
Truly, Lord, Your house is a house of prayer for all nations, including mine.
Book and Author Intros
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.