Mark 11:1-26 ~ He would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple

Marion Square, South Carolina
Cypress Gardens - a left over from the movie "The Patriot"
St. Thomas Church, South Carolina

Mark 11:1-26

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples ² and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” ⁴ And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵ And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. ⁷ And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. ⁸ And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! ¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

¹¹ And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

¹² On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³ And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

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.

²⁰ As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

There is a beautiful blog a woman in the Health Insurance Industry writes from South Carolina. Her blog has changed over the years, but she is quite a photographer. In the beginning of her blog she wrote of the heart ache it is to grow up as part of a divorced family with 5 children. Now a woman divorced with 3 children scattered across America. Every Sunday, she did not attend Church, but instead she walked the beautiful streets of Charleston and photographed the Church buildings while people were in attendance.

I guess I will not describe how that made me feel for her.

Some of my favorite books, I own, are the Susan Howatch books from the 1980s on the problems of the Church before World War II. I didn't buy the books Susan Howatch wrote of the Church from the 1980s and forward. It was too bleak.

The Church in the United States is in crisis. There are a whole lot of fires to put out and Light to cover the darkness. Should the Church lean to the right or to the left.

How to be a Church today..........

Fighting the establishments that hunger to appease the wealth of gay Americans. I know a very Southern lady who says that it is the indulgences of the Catholic Church that caused Martin Luther to begin the Protestant Churches - all over again. Hoping the wealthy homosexual community without children will leave their wealth to the reformed church. The gay community desiring to be part of the Body of Christ. And the modern Church is left scratching their heads over what to do with gays not always innocently mixing in with their populations. (Don't ask, don't tell even if...)

And it is the 1960s and 1970s all over again. The Church stood for Martin Luther King and triumphantly strode to march for civil rights. Then the Church opened the elite private schools and caused white flight to cause our public schools to be the disaster urban schools are today. Causing women to leave homes to work to educate their children.

Let's add to that fight - Churches always need money to operate the building. Then Churches appoint the money people to bring in the money. On the other side, I know a story of a priest calling a very, very well to do man with a famous name and asking for money. The man replied he was and still is Jewish, but attending Church gives him the opportunity to socialize. Churches need money and need people to give cheerfully.

Add to the money problem - the faithful - the Scriptures say - are not the ones with the cash. There is a dilemma - for sure. Like the woman in the first paragraph. She needs to be there so badly, she stands outside and feels too unworthy to attend.

Let's not even go over the issue of Works - help the Gentiles (Aids, Homeless, Prostitutes) versus the Jews (abandoned teens, the heartache of day to day teen life, grandmothers struggling to raise grandchildren alone).

And Religious Pride. Been there, know that. Personally. (Sorry LORD.)

Is it more Christian to be traditional or funky - modern. I once heard a very traditional Church Leader, preppy even, say that if you loved Traditional Church - you were probably dead in the pew. And heard a modern priest drawing people in talking about Rap Church - horrors.

The Scripture says flee from sexual sin. Which one? Fornication (TV/media), Adultery (Porn, Adult Single Class), Gay? So now, we just avoid the whole question of sex that bombards us even in commercials. The world is preaching sex and the Church is where on the issue? Is there fear in making the congregation angry. We now rarely talk about alcohol and drugs.

And stomp, stomp, stomp - let's add to this biological Church clock - the social issues of the the unchurched sneering at the problems Christians have. How to bring kindness and love to world almost burned out and extremely cynical of an old Gospel. Remember, in the Roman Empire - people were amazed, dazzled and astonished at kindness. Today - the devil chuckles - "you gonna believe that old rag? Step in there, take advantage of the fool."

Dang. Even writing this brings tears to my eyes. What is the Church to do? It is still about God's grace. We can do nothing but act kindly, give justice, walk humbly with the LORD. It is still do not listen merely to the words, not to be just hearers.

²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”


Pray for the Church. Speak well of Her. She is the Bride of Christ. Honor the Scripture believing, Jesus Christ honoring Churches. Each day people go into the Church hoping to hear the Word of God and they Receive. Be part of a Christian Family. It takes Grace, Patience, Love, Forgiveness. It will grow the most important part of a human being. The willingness to Love when knocked about. Still 2,000 years under Human Management -still working, seeking, striving, failing, being forgiven to be the Light of JESUS CHRIST THE LORD.

Psalm 129:2
Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.

Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.



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