MONDAY of PASSION WEEK -- God’s Love for All Nations

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area 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, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written:  My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?” But you have made it “a den of robbers.”

-- Mark 11:15-17

Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was short lived.  The next day he was in direct conflict with the religious leadership in Jerusalem.  Jesus cleared the temple court of the money changers and those who were selling doves and other animals for the sacrificial system.  Why did he do that? 

His quotation from Zachariah as he cleared the temple is a clue as to his motive.  Jesus had an understanding of what God wanted to do in saving the world.  He understood that God’s salvation was for the entire world, Jew and Gentile alike.  Everyone knew that the temple was a house of prayer.  However, they had lost the vision for the universal nature of the house of prayer.  Jesus reminded them that God said, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”  The word he used for “nations” could also be translated “races.”

Caiphas, the High Priest, had moved the money changers and sellers of sacrificial animals from the Kidron Valley into the court of the Gentiles on the temple mound.  He had done this for political and economic reasons.  The sacrificial system in Jerusalem had become an extremely lucrative business and moving operations into the temple area had the double advantage of increasing business and efficiency.  However, according to some (including Jesus), the move had polluted the court of Gentiles.  Any business that deals with selling animals has to deal with the excrement produced by the animals.  For some (like Caiphas) it was justified because, after all, it was just the court of the Gentiles.  Jesus wanted to remind them that God’s house of prayer was for “all races.”  The court of Gentiles was just as important as any other corner of the Temple.   

Jesus was fulfilling the prophetic promise of Zechariah: “there shall never again be a trader (merchant) in the sanctuary of the Lord of hosts at that time” (Zech. 14:21).  He saw the vision of Zechariah as definitive for his day and time.  The time when God would share his love and grace with all races had come.  Jesus was the embodiment of that vision.  “And the kingdom of the Lord shall be revealed upon all the inhabitants of the earth; at that time they shall serve before the Lord with one accord, for his name is established in the world;  there is none apart from him” (Targum Zech. 14:9).

The love that God was now manifesting through his Son, Jesus, was a love that could not be packaged and sold.  It was a love that could not be pocketed and marketed as the exclusive right of one people group. It was a love that was for all races.  Jesus wanted everyone to experience the love of God.

Reflection and Action

• Reflect on ways that you can share God’s love with others.
• Share God’s love this week with someone who comes from a different part of the world.