Jesus Cleanses the Temple

Mark 11:15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying 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 den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

ESV SB: Mark 11:13–14 found nothing but leaves. Since the fruit of the fig tree begins to appear about the same time as the leaves (or a little after), the appearance of leaves in full bloom should have indicated that fruit (in the form of green figs) was already growing. Jesus' actions here have symbolic importance, signifying the hypocrisy of all who have the appearance that they are bearing fruit but in fact are not. The specific reference, though, is to Israel, since in the OT the fig tree often serves as a metaphor for Israel and its standing before God (e.g., Jer. 8:13; Hos. 9:10, 16; Joel 1:7). Here the cursing of the fig tree signifies the judgment of God on the “fruitless” Jewish people (cf. Mark 7:6), who had turned away from God into empty ritual and legalism (cf. Hos. 9:10–17). It is a visual parable to signify Jesus' unrequited search for the true fruit of worship, prayer, and righteousness in the Jewish nation and its religious practices. « Less

Mark 11:12-26 Jesus is challenged in the temple (cf. Mt. 21:12-22; Lk. 19:45-48). When Jesus confronted the merchants in the temple court, it was not that he, in irritation, was striking dead a healthy tree; he was giving a sad assessment of the tree’s true condition. God’s judgment on Israel would be the same. That is why the story of the clearing of the temple is ‘sandwiched’ by Mark between the two halves of the story of the fig–tree, to make the solemn warning to Israel plain. [p. 967] When Jesus entered the temple, he probably came into the Court of the Gentiles, the only place in the whole complex where non–Jews were allowed to enter and worship. But worship had become impossible; the court had been turned into a typical bazaar area, with buyers and sellers and stalls everywhere. Birds and animals for sacrifice were sold there, and foreign money could be changed into the only currency accepted in the temple, one without the hated figures of Roman emperors and heathen gods. In one sense, all this was a service to the worshippers, but the noise and bustle made worship impossible. To make matters worse, this court was used as a shortcut by merchants bringing goods from the Mount of Olives to the city itself.

We know from other sources that the worshippers in the Jewish temple were exploited by the merchants, who charged high prices for the sacrificial animals, and the money–changers, who offered unfair exchange rates. We also know that this trade was controlled by the priestly aristocracy who profited greatly at the expense of ordinary pilgrims.

Jesus justified his action of driving out the stall–holders and their customers by showing that God’s plan was for his temple to be a centre of worship for all nations, not just the Jews (17). That must have brought great encouragement to Mark’s non–Jewish readers.

Jesus’ disruption of the temple trade must have increased the chief priests’ hatred for him, and they began looking for a way to kill him (18). They, above all others, should have recognized their king by what he did. All good kings of Judah had purified the temple, as Mal. 3:1-4 says that the coming one would do. If Jesus acted like this to the old earthly temple, how will he act towards the new temple that is his body, the Christian church?

Peter used the word cursed of the fig–tree (21); it is important to realize that in the Bible ‘blessing’ and ‘cursing’ do not have the same meaning as today. They are God’s solemn judgments, his pronouncements of the results of either pleasing or displeasing him; he does not act without reason. The Bible knows nothing of magical curses; and we do not need to fear them, for they cannot harm the Christian. Likewise, blessing is not something that others can give us magically; it will come to us, if we remain in Christ (Jn. 15:4).

Jesus and his disciples seem to have spent the nights during their time in Jerusalem in their ‘safe house’ at Bethany. That is why Peter pointed out the withered fig–tree on the way back to the city next morning. Mark does not stress the application of this acted parable to Israel; the structure of his gospel has made that plain enough already. Instead, he shows how Jesus used the withering of the fig–tree as an example of the results of believing prayer (23). But it also shows that we cannot pray in faith for anything that we like. In this matter, Jesus was ‘thinking God’s thoughts after him’ and willing his father’s will. That sort of prayer, if asked in faith, will always be answered, for it is praying that God’s will may be done (as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane). We can only move the mountains that God wants removed, not those that we want moved. ‘Moving mountains’ was a phrase used by the rabbis to describe overcoming seemingly impossible difficulties; we must not of course take it in the literal sense. If we pray in this way, we can give thanks for the result before we see it, for the answer is sure in the will and purpose of God.

There is one other condition for effectual prayer: we must freely forgive others, as God forgives us (25). If we do not, how could we pray ‘in Jesus’ name’, that is, in the way in which he would and did? This verse may indicate that Mark knew the Lord’s Prayer, though he does not record it in his gospel.