Monday - The Day of Cleansing

A week has just seven days. Not a lot can change in just seven days. But some weeks are different. There have been a few times in history when earthshaking events have happened in the space of one week that make the world at the end of that week a completely different place than it was at the beginning of it.

Take for example, the second week of December in the year 1941. At the beginning of that week, America slumbered uneasily in peace while the rest of the world was at war. Hitler’s armies hammered at the gates of Moscow, and the Soviet Union was about to collapse. Great Britain was on the ropes, and China was falling under the domination of Japan.

But on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. A day later, America declared war on Japan, and later that week, on Germany. The greatest industrial democracy the world has ever seen was now awake, and joined the fight on the side of the Allies. The great factories of America swung into high gear on behalf of the war effort. Millions of Americans went into uniform.

And during that same momentous week, the Russian army succeeded in stopping Hitler cold literally within sight of the towers of the Kremlin. The Germans, under the onslaught of a furious Russian counterattack and the onset of a brutal Russian winter, had to fall back. And never again did they come that close to victory. The tides of war had turned. From that point on, the handwriting was on the wall—Germany and Japan’s defeat was certain. And it all happened in the space of one week.

I would submit to you that there was another week in history that was even more momentous. It was a week in the spring of the year 30 A.D.—the last week of Jesus’ public ministry. The events that took place in the space of that one week have shaped human history ever since. The world at the end of that week was a very different place than it was at the beginning.

As we approach the Easter season, I want to take you through that week—the week that changed history. We’re going to look at what happened in Jesus’ life on each day of that week—what he did; what he said; and what it all means to us who live almost 2,000 years later. We’re not going to be able to look at everything in detail, but we are going to try to hit the most significant events.

The week started on a Sunday, with Jesus coming into the city of Jerusalem at the head of a triumphant parade. Thousands of people cheered him and waved palm branches in the air. There was a mood of festivity and excitement. Why?

Because the crowd believed that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah of Israel—the miracle-working leader who would drive out the Romans, reclaim the throne of David, and establish Israel as the most powerful nation on earth.

To their way of thinking, Jesus seemed to have all the credentials for doing this. They had seen his miracles. He had fed thousands of people. He had raised the dead. They had heard him teach. He had silenced the most learned rabbis of the land. Surely this man must be the Messiah they had been waiting for. That’s why they cried “Hosanna!” on that Palm Sunday. Hosanna means “Save us now!”

But that Sunday did not end the way the crowd expected it to. There was no campaign of conquest. No victory over the Romans. No coronation of a new King of the Jews. Sunday ended as so many other days had in Judea, with Pilate the governor very much in control.

Jesus spent the very briefest time in the Temple that Sunday afternoon, then turned around, went out of the city, and spent the night in the little village of Bethany on the other side of the Mount of Olives. What a letdown! From that point on, you could almost sense the enthusiasm of the people for Jesus beginning to melt away. He had disappointed them.

Now Monday morning dawns, and Jesus and his little band of followers rise and head back to the city once more. This time, there is no triumphal procession; no cheering throngs. Just a subdued little group of friends on foot, walking the dusty road toward Jerusalem. But on their way there, something remarkable happened. Let’s hear Mark, as he tells the story.

Mark 11:12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 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. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

Fig trees have always been very common in Israel. In fact, in Bible times, they used to plant them by the roadside, because they believed that the dusty conditions made the figs grow better. Fig trees bear fruit two, or possibly three times a year—first in June, then in August, then again in December if the weather is good. New leaves appear on the tree just as the fruit comes in, and even a little after, so a tree with leaves on it implies that you’re going to find fruit on it also.

But this was Passover time—early in the spring, a couple of months before you’d expect to find the first crop of fruit on a fig tree. That’s what made this particular tree so unusual. It had leaves on it in March or early April. Maybe it was located in a sheltered area; maybe there was especially fertile soil around it. Whatever the reason, it was way ahead of schedule and it looked like it should have fruit on it.

But when Jesus got there—and notice, he had to go over to the tree and find out; he wasn’t omniscient in this case—he discovered that there was no fruit; only leaves. And that was disappointing, because he was hungry. He was probably looking forward to having some Fig Newtons for breakfast.

Then he does something that he never did any other time in his ministry. He curses the tree. This was the only negative, or destructive miracle that Jesus ever did. He said to the tree “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

Why did he do that? Why didn’t he “heal” the tree, or make some figs miraculously grow on the tree? Why did he curse it? He cursed it, not because it wasn’t growing figs out of season, but because it was advertising that it was growing figs out of season. The leaves were making a show that there was fruit, but there was no fruit. The tree promised fruitfulness, but delivered only barrenness.

And in that sense, it was similar to the nation Israel. The fig tree was often used in the OT as a symbol for Israel. Over in Hosea 9:10, God says “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.” And in Jeremiah 24, God says that his people are like baskets of ripe figs.

Jesus was showing his disciples here that Israel was like a fig tree that had blossomed early. Alone among the nations, Israel had been favored by God—given every opportunity for spiritual growth and blessing. God gave Israel the Law, and then the prophets. And now the Messiah, God’s own Son.

And God did these things because He wanted Israel to be fruitful—to be a source of spiritual nourishment and blessing for all the other nations of the world. But the tragedy was that, for all of her privileges, for all of the spiritual advantages that she had received, for all of the care and cultivation that God had lavished upon her, the nation Israel was barren. She had a lot of spiritual leaves—a great show of religiosity, and devotion to God, and piety—but no spiritual fruit.

What about you and me? Many of us have had the advantage of having grown up in the church. Many of us have had Christian parents. Many of us have been exposed to the Word of God since we were babies and have sat under the teaching of it for years.

How fruitful are we? How much of a blessing are we to other people? Are people being nourished and helped spiritually by being around us? Or are we like the barren fig tree? A lot of leaves, but no fruit?

Jesus and his disciples continued on into Jerusalem, and when they got to the Temple, Mark tells us what happened in v. 15…

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.’”

The Temple was a huge structure, covering about 35 acres. It was divided into several large areas, or courts. The outermost court was called the Court of the Gentiles, because Gentiles were allowed to be there. This court was separated from the next outermost court by a low wall, about 30 inches high. Gentiles were not allowed beyond that wall, under penalty of death.

That low wall enclosed the Court of the Women, so named because Jewish women were permitted that far and no farther. Next you had the Court of Israel, which was only open to Jewish men, who brought their sacrifices there to give to the priests.

Then you had the court of the priests, which was right next to the Temple itself. That’s where the altar of sacrifice was located. Then there was the Temple proper, which was divided into two sections—the Holy Place, where only the priests on duty could go, and the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest could go, and only once a year on the Day of Atonement.

So in the actual plan and layout of the Temple, you had this increasing restriction on who could approach God. But in the outermost court, the Court of the Gentiles, anyone was allowed. And it was in that court that the Jews had set up a kind of a religious bazaar.

There were stalls selling animals for people who wanted to offer sacrifices. Some of them sold doves, which Mark mentions in verse 15. Doves were about the only animals that could be afforded by the poor. Remember, Joseph and Mary offered two doves when they presented Jesus at the Temple.

There were other stalls for the changing of money. Jews and Gentile converts to Judaism came to the Temple from all over the world at Passover time. And they had to pay a temple tax, and bring an offering for the Temple treasury. But they couldn’t just pay in their own currency—they had to convert their money into a special Temple currency before they put it in the offering. And the exchange rates were naturally advantageous to the priests who were in charge. These were the moneychangers mentioned in v. 15.

The Temple was so large that it actually became a thoroughfare for people who wanted to get from the city of Jerusalem over to the Mount of Olives and beyond. You would have merchants carrying their wares through the Court of the Gentiles—using it as a sort of shortcut to get from one part of the city to the other. These are mentioned in v. 16.

So this was the situation that Jesus confronted in these verses. He took drastic action. He threw over the stalls and the tables. He stopped the merchants who were marching through. He cried out “You have made my Father’s house into a den of robbers instead of the house of prayer that it is supposed to be for people of all nations.”

You see, what the Jews had done was to make it well-nigh impossible for the Gentiles to come and worship God. There was no spirit of reverence or holiness in the Temple. It was more like a flea circus, or a county fair, with vendors hawking their wares and bilking the tourists. Hardly conducive to making anyone want to worship the God of Israel.

I wonder how this applies to you and me? You know, the Bible says that, as Christians, our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are his dwelling place.

Is your life clean or is it cluttered this morning? Is your life filled with things that would keep you and others from seeing and appreciating and wanting to know the Lord better?

Or put it another way. If you were to allow Jesus to walk freely through your life today, would there be any tables that he would want to overturn? Any stalls that he wouldn’t be happy to see there? Any traffic going through that he would want to halt?

You see, the fiasco in the Temple is related to the fruitfulness of the fig tree. Our lives cannot be fruitful for Jesus unless they are cleansed. And it may be this morning that you need to ask Jesus to cleanse you.

The Apostle John tells us in John 12, that after Jesus had cleansed the Temple, some Greeks—some Gentiles, some outsiders in other words—came up to Philip and said “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

Your life is only going to attract people to the Lord Jesus Christ if your life is cleansed.

Mark 11:19ff When evening came, they went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

It was Tuesday morning that the disciples noticed that the fig tree had withered and died. And it had died an unusual way. It had withered from the roots. Usually plants wither from the leaves and the upper branches. The roots are usually the last to go. But this fig tree withered from the roots. Why?

Because the fruit problem was really a root problem. The nation Israel had not rooted themselves in a living relationship with God; they had rooted themselves in religion; in the teaching of their rabbis and scribes and legal experts. They had rooted themselves in the traditions of men. That’s why they had no fruit. That’s why they were barren.

But Jesus used this opportunity to challenge his disciples to have a vibrant, living relationship with God—a relationship that is based on faith. He says “If you have faith in God, then nothing is impossible.”

The disciples were surprised when they saw the withered fig tree. Matthew says they were amazed. “How did this fig tree wither so quickly?” They had never seen anything like it—a tree fully alive one day and dead the next. To them it was an impossibility.

But they should have remembered the words of Jesus the previous day. He had said to the tree “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” and when the Son of God says something, you can count on it. You can put your faith in His words—even when it seems impossible. Because nothing is impossible for God. And nothing is impossible for the one who believes in God.

The challenge here is to have faith in God. Because God can move mountains.

Is there a mountain in your life that you need God to move today? Perhaps your mountain comes in the form of some problem you are wrestling with. And no matter how hard you climb, you just can’t seem to reach the top.

Maybe your mountain is like the volcano of a relationship that is broken. And like Dante’s Peak, it keeps erupting and spewing pain and devastation all over your life.

Maybe you feel like the mountains of oppression are towering over you. You are hemmed into a valley called despair in the dark shadow of a mountain called depression. And you need God to move the mountain.

Do you believe He can do it? Jesus challenged us to believe and not doubt. Now that’s risky, isn’t it? It’s risky because we all have that nagging question in the back of our minds “What if I believe—and God doesn’t come through for me?”

Then we’ll be disappointed with God, and we’ll be afraid that God won’t look good. So we try to keep God off that hook by just not expecting too much of Him—not going too far out on a limb with Him. And when we do that, we just show that we have little faith in Him.

Jesus advocated risky faith here. Believe, and do not doubt in your heart. Are you ready to believe God like that this morning?