Astonishing Doctrine of Jesus

All Christians have the sober responsibility to rightly divide the Word of truth.  It is important we observe what the text plainly says before we rush to explain what it means.  It is also critical we do not parrot what we have heard but do our best to stay true to the text with our emphasis.  It is a common mistake to transfer assumptions based upon hearsay or our opinions into passages and provide the wrong impression.  One passage where this is commonly done is when Jesus on two occasions cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem.

People have used this passage to justify being angry when the passage never explicitly says Jesus was.  The harmonising scriptural accounts of the Gospels portray Jesus observing the illicit trade in the Temple, fashioning a scourge of small chords, and then driving out the animals and overturning tables.  Those who say Jesus must have been angry (maybe they would have!) might be the same people who assume a parent must be fueled with anger when administering discipline with a paddle to the seat of his/her disobedient child.  This is unfounded.  To say Jesus was angry when He drove out the money changers is conjecture which goes beyond the text.  Looking at Jesus through the lens of our flesh is a huge mistake.

The emphasis and revelation of the text is Jesus taught the people who were in the Temple, quoting from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.  As I read the account of Mark, I noticed the emphasis in a fresh way today I never had before.  The richness of the Bible expands the understanding of those who are willing and patient to observe.  One would have thought the actions of Jesus made the biggest impact, but it was His teaching.  As Jesus held His ground in the Temple and forbade people to carry wares through the courtyard, Mark 11:17-18 says, "Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" ¹⁸ And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching."

How clear is this?  Most Christians are blown away that Jesus would make a whip and drive sellers and their animals out of the Temple, but the scribes, chief priests, and people were amazed by His doctrine.  The text says the scribes and chief priests heard what He was saying.  They wanted to kill Him - not primarily because their hope of gain was gone - but because of His doctrine which implicated them.  Jesus first quoted from Isaiah 56, and after talking about His house as a house of prayer for all nations the passage said in Isaiah 56:10-11:  "His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. ¹¹ Yes, they are greedy dogs which never have enough. And they are shepherds who cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his own gain, from his own territory."  Ouch.  No doubt the words of Jesus cut like a sword through the hearts of the scribes and priests, implicated as blind watchmen, dumb and greedy dogs who could not understand.  No wonder they were upset!

Jesus made a "den of thieves" reference spoken by the prophet Jeremiah.  Hear and feel the full force of His words in Jeremiah 7:1-11, a pronouncement from God against them:  "The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ² "Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!' " ³ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. ⁴ Do not trust in these lying words, saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.' ⁵ For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, ⁷ then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. ⁸ "Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'? ¹¹ Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," says the LORD."  The scribes and priests oppressed the people for monetary gain, for money was their god.  These statements angered the rulers and amazed the people, for there stood a man who spoke as God.

Jesus, being God, had the authority to say such things.  To the scribes and priests these were fighting words.  They were infuriated and sought how they might destroy Him.  Jesus spoke the truth in love with a clear, strong voice and the rulers feared Him.  What Jesus did and said all has great significance, and let us be sure we put aside our own assumptions so we can observe and understand what the Bible says!