WEBVTT 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:19.000 today? There we go. Good morning. All right. We got a lot today. So here we go. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:28.320 Last week I weren't the gospel in color in the last week of Jesus' life. And last 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:33.400 week we talked about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which actually 00:00:33.400 --> 00:00:39.920 this week is Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday that we celebrate this time where 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:45.560 Jesus comes riding in on a donkey into Jerusalem. They are waving palm branches. 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:54.000 People are shouting "Hosanna." And it's, as we talked about last week, actually 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:02.240 like a counter parade to the the power and empire parade that Pontius Pilate 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:08.120 would have been leading coming into the west side of the city on his war horse 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:14.040 with soldiers around him and the banners and showing force and power coming into 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:19.120 Jerusalem to show the Jews that, "Hey, we are still in power. We know that this 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:27.120 week that the week that Jesus is coming into Jerusalem is Passover. And so it's a 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:34.400 celebration for the Jewish people of them being freed from slavery, from being 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:45.440 ruled by another ruling group." So to the Romans they allowed this to happen. We 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:49.480 talked about last week because the Pax Ramona, which is the the Roman kind of 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:52.760 way of leading, was "We'll allow you to keep doing this, but we're gonna show 00:01:52.760 --> 00:02:00.320 power and force to keep the peace." And so this is all happening in this week. 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:05.440 Jesus comes riding in. He is showing a different way to be a human and to lead 00:02:05.440 --> 00:02:15.560 in humility and in love. In Mark 11 we see, it says this, "Many people spread their 00:02:15.560 --> 00:02:21.120 cloaks on the road while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:25.840 who went ahead and those who followed shouted "Hosanna." Blessed is he who comes 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:31.120 in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David, 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:36.840 Hosanna in the highest heaven. Now these are not just statements. These are 00:02:36.840 --> 00:02:43.880 actually, this is a week where the Jewish people are celebrating freedom. And so 00:02:43.880 --> 00:02:49.960 this is, they believe Jesus is coming in to free them. And the Romans know this is 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:55.120 happening. So the Romans are showing force to say if you try anything, we'll 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:01.120 kill you. Basically, we will overpower you. And you see these two colliding 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:09.640 kingdoms. And so, like I said, we talked about a lot last week, but we're gonna go 00:03:09.640 --> 00:03:14.640 into the next part of what happens when Jesus enters Jerusalem. So Jesus comes 00:03:14.640 --> 00:03:19.640 into Jerusalem. He rides in on the donkey. These people are shouting "Hosanna." They're 00:03:19.640 --> 00:03:29.080 following him into the city. And Jesus goes straight to the temple. Now we know 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:32.760 and we'll talk about today, there's a time where Jesus goes into the temple and he 00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:39.240 flips takes. But when Jesus enters Jerusalem in his leanest procession, he 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:44.080 goes to the temple and in Mark 11 verse 11 it says this, "Jesus entered Jerusalem 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:49.840 and went into the temple courts." He looked around at everything. But since it was 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:54.120 already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12th. So he went outside the city to 00:03:54.120 --> 00:04:03.160 stay. So Jesus comes into Jerusalem, goes to the temple, and observes, looks 00:04:03.160 --> 00:04:12.560 around, sees what's happening, and then he leaves. There's no speech, there's no 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:17.680 confrontation, no miracle, no flipping of tables, he's just observing what is 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:25.160 happening. And it's one of those moments I think in the story that feels kind of 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:31.920 easy to skip over maybe. Like okay, he just went to the temple and he left. But it 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.680 might be one of the most important moments in this entire story of the last 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:41.680 week of Jesus. Because what happened later when we see Jesus come back to the 00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:49.240 temple is that we realize that this was not a reaction of anger. That Jesus is 00:04:49.240 --> 00:04:53.320 actually, this is a response to what he observed and what he saw and what he knew 00:04:53.320 --> 00:05:04.920 was happening. It's thought through. To understand what Jesus saw, I think we have 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:10.320 to look at kind of the system and what was happening there. We have to understand 00:05:10.320 --> 00:05:17.400 where Jesus was standing when he came and he observed. Because this wasn't just a 00:05:17.400 --> 00:05:22.440 building. When we talk about the temple of Jerusalem, has anybody been there? 00:05:22.440 --> 00:05:29.520 Has anybody been too Jerusalem? One person? One person? Go? Two? Three? Anybody else? 00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:36.080 Like sometimes I think we think like he walked into the church, right? This 00:05:36.080 --> 00:05:39.800 building of it. No, this is not just church or building. This is an entire 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:47.000 system. This thing is humongous. He walked into the temple in the first 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:52.200 century and what he walked into is layers. The temple is built in these 00:05:52.200 --> 00:05:56.240 layers and this is a the second temple. This was built. In fact, do we have a 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:04.960 picture? I think it'll work. This is the temple space. I forget it's something 00:06:04.960 --> 00:06:14.600 like six football fields. Like it is humongous. There are barriers. There are 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:23.440 walls. There's different sections. In fact, this this big area here is called the 00:06:23.440 --> 00:06:28.600 court of the Gentiles. So it's the court of the non-Jews. Anybody could go into the 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:35.200 court of the Gentiles and then you start entering in. Go to the next picture. Actually 00:06:35.200 --> 00:06:41.400 go back real quick. So this part of the temple, the main part right here, we're 00:06:41.400 --> 00:06:45.080 gonna look at in this next diagram. So you have the court of the Gentiles where 00:06:45.080 --> 00:06:48.060 everyone's allowed and then we'll go to the middle here, the main part of the 00:06:48.060 --> 00:06:53.000 temple. And now there's places where certain people can go and be. The court 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:57.480 of women, so Jewish women could enter into this court but they could go no 00:06:57.480 --> 00:07:03.180 further than that. There's this court of Israel right here. This is actually 00:07:03.180 --> 00:07:09.600 Jewish men. So Jewish men could enter into that portion of the temple. Then you go 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:16.200 into the court of priests. The altars is where sacrifices are done. So priests can 00:07:16.200 --> 00:07:20.880 go into this part of the temple. And then you have the holy place and the most 00:07:20.880 --> 00:07:26.080 holy place. The holy of holies. The holy of holies is the place where the high 00:07:26.080 --> 00:07:32.720 priest, the leader of the priest, could enter into one time a year to make a 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:38.800 sacrifice. So it's the place where they believed. This is where the Spirit of 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:47.320 God is. It's where he enters in and he's able to... The high priest is the mouth 00:07:47.320 --> 00:07:54.040 piece of the Jewish people to God. This is the go-between. But you can see that 00:07:54.040 --> 00:08:01.200 the layers that are here, that are built into this temple. And this was... This is 00:08:01.200 --> 00:08:08.080 biblical. It was made this way. But the outer court was for everyone. Then there's 00:08:08.080 --> 00:08:15.160 barriers. There's like literal walls and places that you cannot cross. In fact, 00:08:15.160 --> 00:08:21.080 during like throughout history, as they've uncovered some of these, they've 00:08:21.080 --> 00:08:27.680 actually found on parts of the walls and the columns. There were things carved 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:33.800 that said like Gentiles past this point, basically you're gonna die. Like death is 00:08:33.800 --> 00:08:40.400 yours now. You cannot enter this place. If you are not Jewish, you cannot come into 00:08:40.400 --> 00:08:45.360 this area. There was a reason that the Gentiles were allowed. This actually 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:51.080 happened back in Isaiah where they talked about... The prophet Isaiah talked 00:08:51.080 --> 00:08:56.560 about that this will be a house for all nations. It was this opening of the 00:08:56.560 --> 00:09:01.200 temple to all nations, not just the Jews. So this is a very important place. Go 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:11.440 back to the other picture. Did I lose him? Oh, he said wait. Sorry Daniel. 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:19.280 Important place. It's huge. A space where people were supposed to come and be 00:09:19.280 --> 00:09:25.080 able to see what is happening with God and get as close to God as they could as 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:33.520 they were allowed to. But this architecture taught people something about God. Who 00:09:33.520 --> 00:09:45.680 was close? Who God was for? Who belonged? And who didn't? And then outside of just 00:09:45.680 --> 00:09:54.820 the temple space, there was the system itself. If you came to worship, especially 00:09:54.820 --> 00:10:00.000 during the past over time, I think I mentioned last week this city, there was 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.100 about 40 or 50,000 people that lived here. During Passover, it would swell to 200, 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:09.080 300,000 people. Some historians have said even up to a million people would 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:14.680 enter into Jerusalem during this time. So Jews are making a pilgrimage to 00:10:14.680 --> 00:10:22.120 Jerusalem for this event. So people would travel from a long way and if you came 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:28.080 into worship, then you needed a sacrifice because under the Jewish law, you would 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:33.480 sacrifice an animal for your sins. The priest would sacrifice it, the blood would 00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:39.280 cover your sins so that you could be forgiven. So you had to do the sacrifice. 00:10:39.280 --> 00:10:46.360 So when you came, you needed an animal for a sacrifice and you needed to buy the 00:10:46.360 --> 00:10:49.680 animal there because a lot of people traveling from along, you can't bring an 00:10:49.680 --> 00:10:53.720 animal, it was really hard to maybe bring the animal with you to keep it safe in 00:10:53.720 --> 00:11:02.000 order to present an unblemished animal for the sacrifice. So what people would do 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:08.240 is they would come to the temple and then they were able to purchase an 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:16.480 animal for sacrifice. So this was part of the system. It was supposed to be 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:20.960 there, it was built in. Then there was another part of it where when you would 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:26.840 come in, you could not use just like Roman coins in the temple. There was 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:32.800 temple coins, there were shekels that were thought to be the purest form of 00:11:32.800 --> 00:11:37.040 currency at the time. And you only use temple currency in the temple. Also a 00:11:37.040 --> 00:11:41.040 normal thing, this was part of the system. So you would come in, you would give 00:11:41.040 --> 00:11:46.880 your your Roman money and you would exchange it. Just like if you're going 00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:50.320 overseas somewhere and you take your American color and you exchange it for 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:53.640 whatever money is being used in the country you're going to. Does that make 00:11:53.640 --> 00:11:58.200 sense? So they would exchange their money in order to then take their temple 00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:06.280 currency and pay for their sacrifice or for the animal to sacrifice or pay for 00:12:06.280 --> 00:12:13.600 the temple tax. So if you, every Jewish man in Exodus was required to pay a 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:20.320 temple tax. It was kind of like their tithe. Like, and it for a while it was like one 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:24.960 time. You paid this one time and you're good. Then it became yearly thing where 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:29.440 you had to come pay your taxes yearly to the temple. And so you would have to pay 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:35.080 that in the temple coin. So you'd have to exchange your money for that. So again, 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:43.120 this is part of the system. It's built in. None of it on its own was a problem. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:47.680 And I think sometimes we we miss that point when we see what is happening with 00:12:47.680 --> 00:12:55.240 Jesus. And when he comes into the temple, all this was part of the system. But what 00:12:55.240 --> 00:13:01.240 we're going to see is like so many systems, this system did not stay clean. 00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:12.480 And so we're going to see how it became corrupted. The temple was this, the system, 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:18.720 not just a place to come worship, but some scholars like Gerald West, who's a 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:23.800 little Gerald West was a liberation theologist, he uses a phrase the city temple 00:13:23.800 --> 00:13:33.960 state system. So the temple is like the city center. It is a whole system like he 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:40.200 used it to phrase it like there was a lot of us would think like there was 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:46.000 religion over here, there was government over here, there was money and power over 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:53.480 here. And the idea was Jesus just kind of stepped into the religious lane and a 00:13:53.480 --> 00:13:57.960 problem with how people were behaving in church maybe. And that's why he got mad. 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:04.080 But the more you study this, the more you realize that that's not the world that 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:09.920 Jesus was walking into. There wasn't a clean line between those things. The temple 00:14:09.920 --> 00:14:15.680 wasn't just a place you went to pray. It's where your money was exchanged. It's 00:14:15.680 --> 00:14:21.480 where sacrifices were approved. Now this gets interesting because if you did 00:14:21.480 --> 00:14:24.840 bring an animal to the temple that you were going to sacrifice, you had to take 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:30.960 that temple or that that that temple. You take that animal to the priest or the 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:39.040 the religious leaders had to approve of your animal for sacrifice. Who do you 00:14:39.040 --> 00:14:45.880 think made money off of the cell of the animals in the temple? The religious 00:14:45.880 --> 00:14:52.760 leaders. Hey, I brought this one. Is this good? No, you have to buy one of ours. 00:14:58.160 --> 00:15:05.320 Your sacrifice had to be approved. Your status and society was reinforced by the 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:13.200 layers that you were allowed to enter. In fact, even the type of sacrifice that 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:21.760 you could afford told you where you sat in a class structure. And then where you 00:15:21.760 --> 00:15:30.160 had access to God's regulated. It was all intertwined. The people running it 00:15:30.160 --> 00:15:36.600 aren't just spiritual leaders. They were at this point in Jesus's life they were 00:15:36.600 --> 00:15:43.600 connected to political power. They were maintaining order for Rome, the oppressor. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:52.120 They were benefiting from the system, saying exactly the way that it was. In fact, if 00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:57.520 you look through archaeology and the studies of this region during that time, 00:15:57.520 --> 00:16:02.960 priest, if you go all the way, go into the Old Testament when the priest's line was 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:10.840 was found, was like called by God. The priest actually didn't make money. They 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:16.040 would, the money that would be given to the church. The temple would help them 00:16:16.040 --> 00:16:20.000 kind of live. The food that was given would help them live. So this is what it 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:26.920 was. It wasn't a job to make money. But we started looking at history and the 00:16:26.920 --> 00:16:33.440 archaeology. The priests of the time of Jesus lived in some of the biggest homes, 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:43.640 most elaborate places there were. Something had changed. I said that theologian 00:16:43.640 --> 00:16:50.200 gelled west, he called it the city temple state system. It was not just a building, 00:16:50.200 --> 00:17:00.400 it was a machine. It was a system where religion gave it meaning. Economics and 00:17:00.400 --> 00:17:07.680 money gave it fuel and then power or politics gave it its power. It was this 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:15.320 unhealthy marriage and everything worked together to keep things running. And for 00:17:15.320 --> 00:17:20.040 the people at the top, it worked really, really well. For the people at the bottom, 00:17:20.040 --> 00:17:28.280 it costs everything. And once you see this, you can't really unsee it. You 00:17:28.280 --> 00:17:35.080 begin to see the pieces even through Scripture tie in together. Because now, 00:17:35.080 --> 00:17:40.160 when you see Jesus walk into the temple, he's not just stepping into a place of 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:48.800 worship. He's stepping into a system that wasn't just about worship. It was 00:17:48.800 --> 00:17:56.800 religion tied to economy to power. And Jesus walks in the night that he gets to 00:17:56.800 --> 00:18:04.360 Jerusalem. He looks around and he leaves. This doesn't sound like anything we 00:18:04.360 --> 00:18:12.280 understand at all. But it happened back in that day. So the next morning, after 00:18:12.280 --> 00:18:15.440 Jesus has come, he's seen the temple, he's seen what's happening, he leaves, they go 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:20.440 outside the town, they stay. They're coming back into town. Jesus sent his 00:18:20.440 --> 00:18:27.240 disciples, they're heading back. And we see in Mark 11, this story. Mark 11 12, it 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:32.440 says, "The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:38.480 distance a fig tree and leaf." He went to find out if it had any fruit. When he 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:43.240 reached it, he found nothing but leaves. Because it was not the season for figs. 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:49.880 Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his 00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:56.120 disciples heard him say it. And then they continued on. He cursed the fig tree. 00:18:56.120 --> 00:19:04.760 Now this seems like a really weird story. Like Jesus is hungry, he goes to the tree, 00:19:04.760 --> 00:19:10.520 it's supposed to have figs, it doesn't. He's like, "May nobody ever..." If I can't eat 00:19:10.520 --> 00:19:16.520 here, nobody can, right? But what happened was he saw this fig tree in full bloom 00:19:16.520 --> 00:19:22.520 with its leaves. He walks up to it expecting fruit, but there's nothing 00:19:22.520 --> 00:19:29.800 there. And he says, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And again, it feels 00:19:29.800 --> 00:19:35.760 like a strange story here until you realize that this is actually a mirror. 00:19:35.760 --> 00:19:45.040 In Hebrew scripture, the fig tree often symbolized Israel. And not just Israel, 00:19:45.040 --> 00:19:56.560 but Israel's spiritual health. So what Jesus is seeing is something that looks 00:19:56.560 --> 00:20:07.720 alive but producing nothing life-giving. It's leaves without fruit. And Mark does 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:15.640 something intentional. He puts this story in the middle of this week, right 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:25.160 before Jesus enters the temple. Because the tree is telling you this is how you 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:31.120 read the temple. It looks great. Looks like it's doing all the things it's 00:20:31.120 --> 00:20:38.200 supposed to be doing, but there's no life-giving fruit from it. So he leaves this 00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:44.800 fig tree that he yells at. And Jesus walks back into Jerusalem and he walks 00:20:44.800 --> 00:20:52.920 straight back into the temple. But this time, he doesn't just look around. Mark 00:20:52.920 --> 00:20:57.120 11, 15 says, "On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and he 00:20:57.120 --> 00:21:02.440 began driving out those who are lying and selling there. He overturned the tables 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:06.280 of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow 00:21:06.280 --> 00:21:12.840 anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts." Each gospel kind of has 00:21:12.840 --> 00:21:17.560 different aspects of it. John, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they put this right 00:21:17.560 --> 00:21:23.760 before Jesus goes to the cross. And John, John actually starts John. I think it's 00:21:23.760 --> 00:21:30.480 like John 2. He starts John, his book with this story. Some historians believe 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:34.680 that Jesus may have cleansed the temple twice. Others believe that John was 00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:40.160 placing this to show his authority at the beginning of his gospel. Either way, we 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:44.040 see this a lot. John's gospel is the one where he he wraps cords and he has a 00:21:44.040 --> 00:21:51.160 whip that he goes in and drives out the animals and the the sellers. But in this 00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:55.960 in Mark's gospel, he goes in, he overturns the tables of the money-changers and the 00:21:55.960 --> 00:22:02.520 benches of those selling doves. And then he says something that reaches way back 00:22:02.520 --> 00:22:10.200 into centuries for the Jewish people. Verse 17 says, "And as he taught them, he 00:22:10.200 --> 00:22:15.320 said, 'It is not written. My house will be called a house. Is it written? My house 00:22:15.320 --> 00:22:19.640 will be called a house of prayer for all nations.'" This is a call back to Isaiah. 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:22.960 The prophet Isaiah had said this. This is one, like I said, the court of the 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.960 Gentiles. This was this idea that, "Hey, this is not just going to be a temple for 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:31.080 you, the Jewish people, but this is going to be for all nations. This will be 00:22:31.080 --> 00:22:37.200 inclusion of all nations was part of the prophecy." Jesus says, "My house will be 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:42.040 called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers." 00:22:42.040 --> 00:22:48.360 This phrasing den of robbers is also a callback to Old Testament prophecy in 00:22:48.360 --> 00:22:55.000 Jeremiah 7. Jeremiah actually stood outside the temple. God told him this, what is 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.960 happening in here is corrupt. They are taking advantage of people. Go call them 00:22:59.960 --> 00:23:03.560 out and tell them that I said so. Jeremiah goes to the temple, he stands on the 00:23:03.560 --> 00:23:08.680 temple steps, and he prophesies. God knows what you're doing, and it is not 00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:16.720 okay. Fast forward to Jesus in the temple. This is supposed to be a place of all 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:23.840 nations. You've turned it into a den of robbers, and not a single religious leader 00:23:23.840 --> 00:23:31.440 in that room or in that court would have not understood what he just said. The 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:38.440 interesting thing is, these are indictments on what is happening in the temple. 00:23:38.440 --> 00:23:45.840 He's calling back to the prophets. Isaiah 56, it's inclusion. It is a vision 00:23:45.840 --> 00:23:53.720 where outsiders are welcome in. Jeremiah 7, it's about corruption. A system that 00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:59.880 uses religion as cover while exploiting people. And he uses the phrase a den of 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:06.440 robbers. Anybody have a den in their house? I grew up with a den. 00:24:06.440 --> 00:24:12.480 This is like that room, like what do you do in there? It was like some chairs. We 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:16.520 never went in there because there was no TV. The video game system was in the 00:24:16.520 --> 00:24:21.920 other room. The den is like this cozy place. In this, it's actually like a 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:28.560 den, like a cave, but it was a place of safety. 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:37.480 So Jesus says, "You have made this a cozy safe place for thieves." 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:45.040 Jesus brings these two ideas together. It says the place wasn't was meant to be 00:24:45.040 --> 00:24:50.280 open, but it has become exclusive. This place was meant to give life, but it is 00:24:50.280 --> 00:24:58.600 taking it. And it's name, kind of something that actually goes after all this, 00:24:58.600 --> 00:25:05.960 because this isn't random anger. Jesus isn't just like upset. He's not just mad 00:25:05.960 --> 00:25:16.080 about even just people selling things inside of the church. This is deep. He 00:25:16.080 --> 00:25:21.880 goes into the court of the Gentiles, that big space. As I said, you could sell 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:27.560 things. That was part of the system, but the bizarre, the place to sell the animals 00:25:27.560 --> 00:25:33.040 and to exchange money, was supposed to be in an area either outside of the temple 00:25:33.040 --> 00:25:38.280 or right inside the little walkway area. They had moved it into the court of the 00:25:38.280 --> 00:25:42.280 Gentiles. History shows us that they had actually taken over and started to 00:25:42.280 --> 00:25:49.680 enclose the court of the Gentiles. So if you're a Gentile, where do you go? If you 00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:55.320 are not Jewish, not Jewish, where do you go? You are being told that you don't 00:25:55.320 --> 00:26:04.340 belong here. It had become overtaken. It crowded. They had encroached on the 00:26:04.340 --> 00:26:14.760 space of being inclusive for all people. It's where the merchants had moved into. 00:26:14.760 --> 00:26:20.800 Telling the outsiders that they were no longer welcome. And then he goes after the 00:26:20.800 --> 00:26:29.440 people selling doves, which is an interesting one. But when you look at 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:38.400 what the dove in the temple system represented, the dove was the least 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:44.560 expensive animal that you could purchase for sacrifice. This was the 00:26:44.560 --> 00:26:50.760 sacrificial animal for the poor. So when you came into the space, if you did not 00:26:50.760 --> 00:26:55.800 have the money to buy a lamb or something greater for your sacrifice, you would 00:26:55.800 --> 00:27:04.040 buy a dove. An evidence suggests throughout history that at this point the 00:27:04.040 --> 00:27:09.760 religious leaders had begun to charge upwards of 15 to 20 times the normal 00:27:09.760 --> 00:27:19.520 price of a dove. Taking advantage of the poorest of their society. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:33.720 This was an attack on those that lived on the margins. The most vulnerable in 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:39.720 their society were paying the highest costs. And Jesus comes in and says, "This 00:27:39.720 --> 00:27:45.880 is not okay." You're dead. You've turned my father's house of prayer for all 00:27:45.880 --> 00:27:53.280 nations into a den of robbers. This whole thing is about exploitation. It's 00:27:53.280 --> 00:27:58.480 it's using God's name in vain. It is taking advantage of people. And Jesus 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:06.720 refuses to let it stand. This is why when he enters the temple he flips tables. I do 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:11.680 this sometimes because I'm a glutton for punishment. But I'll go on YouTube and 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:17.320 watch other pastors preach about this passage. I've got some of my favorites. 00:28:17.320 --> 00:28:23.600 But it's always interesting. Like I watched one where he's like, "This is my 00:28:23.600 --> 00:28:28.320 favorite Jesus." Goes in, he's flipping tables showing his power. I'm like, "You 00:28:28.320 --> 00:28:34.840 you're missing the point." I wish this was your favorite Jesus. Because he's 00:28:34.840 --> 00:28:41.080 there to protect. Not just make a point. Not just a show that he's angry. Not 00:28:41.080 --> 00:28:47.600 just to say, "The church is my dad's house." No, no, no. He's saying, "This belongs to all of us." 00:28:47.600 --> 00:28:50.960 And you have turned it into something where you are taking advantage of 00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:57.920 people. And I'm not okay with that. That's because it's really interesting. And I 00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:02.880 don't, maybe some of you guys know this. The question is, how did the temple get to 00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:09.400 this point? It wasn't always like this. It was not always a place that just took 00:29:09.400 --> 00:29:14.720 advantage of people. The temple was part of the Jews' relationship with God. 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:20.200 The systems don't become corrupt overnight though, right? It kind of permeates and 00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:25.720 works its way in. So go back to the beginning briefly. The priesthood in Israel 00:29:25.720 --> 00:29:31.040 you go to Exodus, the tribe of Levi. The Levites are the ones that are 00:29:31.040 --> 00:29:37.280 commissioned with the charge to serve the people of Israel, to mediate, to 00:29:37.280 --> 00:29:41.200 represent the people before God. The Levites were going to be the priestly 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:50.360 line. It was a sacred role. And it was supposed to be a lifelong appointment. The 00:29:50.360 --> 00:29:56.240 first high priest was actually Aaron, who was the brother of Moses. God told 00:29:56.240 --> 00:30:00.800 Moses, "Get your brother, bring him in." He's going to be the one that is my goal 00:30:00.800 --> 00:30:05.120 between. He will be the one that I speak with the people of Israel. He will be the 00:30:05.120 --> 00:30:12.240 high priest. And from that point, it became family calling chosen by God. You 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:19.720 inherited basically your high priestly role. And it was good through that 00:30:19.720 --> 00:30:25.560 family line. God had chosen it and it would just pass down. And it was lifelong. So 00:30:25.560 --> 00:30:29.600 when Aaron died, one of his sons would be the high priest and would just keep 00:30:29.600 --> 00:30:36.560 going, right? But by the time of Jesus, something had shifted in the priestly line. 00:30:36.560 --> 00:30:42.840 Especially the position of high priest. If you look at, there's a historian just 00:30:42.840 --> 00:30:50.240 from the first century. He tells us that by this time rulers, like the Roman 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:55.600 rulers, were now appointing and removing high priests. 00:30:56.600 --> 00:31:01.480 This is where names start to matter in this story. They're not just names. They're 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:10.880 people. They're characters in the life of Jesus. They're people. In the year 6 AD, a 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:18.200 man named Anis became a high priest. When he became a high priest, he was 00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:22.800 appointed by the Roman authority, Cornelius. He was the Roman governor of like 00:31:22.800 --> 00:31:31.180 Syria now, but he was a Roman authority who appointed Anis to become the high 00:31:31.180 --> 00:31:38.200 priest. The first time that it was pulled out of the lineage of the Levites. And 00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:44.400 someone of the ruling class said, "I want you to be in charge of the religious 00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:52.440 elite, those that are in control of the temple and the people of Israel." So he 00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:59.320 took over in 6 AD and he served as the high priest until 15 AD when the successor 00:31:59.320 --> 00:32:05.520 to Cornelius, Valerius Gractus, actually fired him. Let him go and he brought 00:32:05.520 --> 00:32:10.680 somebody else in. In fact, Valerius appointed I think it was three or four 00:32:10.680 --> 00:32:14.520 different high priests in a three-year period. They couldn't figure it out. 00:32:14.520 --> 00:32:19.920 Couldn't figure out who it should be. You got to pick somebody who kind of 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:26.080 looks holy, but is loyal to you. They don't necessarily have to be 00:32:26.080 --> 00:32:36.000 qualified to be the high priest. I started thinking of like political 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:51.680 stuff. But after all of this happened, there's four high priests that were 00:32:51.680 --> 00:32:55.840 appointed in the three-year period. And then there was a high priest that was 00:32:55.840 --> 00:33:02.480 appointed, his name was Caiaphas. Joseph of Caiaphas, some call him. Caiaphas 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:08.120 became the high priest in the year 18 AD. Now what's interesting is the 00:33:08.120 --> 00:33:14.840 connection of Caiaphas to Anis. Anis. Let me say Anis. That's probably better. 00:33:14.840 --> 00:33:20.360 Better way I say my fault, guys. I knew I was gonna do that. I was like don't say 00:33:20.360 --> 00:33:32.240 Anis. Okay. My bad. All right. So here's the interesting part. You can see it on 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:37.600 here. Caiaphas was the son-in-law to Anis. You guys had all looked at me funny 00:33:37.600 --> 00:33:44.040 when I said it, and you're just gonna let me keep going. Just thanks. Oh you guys 00:33:44.040 --> 00:33:49.760 were texting. Thanks. Thanks. What's interesting if you look at the lineage of 00:33:49.760 --> 00:33:57.040 this in the history, Anis became basically the godfather of the temple. 00:33:57.040 --> 00:34:02.960 Caiaphas was his son-in-law who took over as the high priest. And he 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:06.520 actually served for a long time from 18 AD to 36 AD, one of the longest high 00:34:06.520 --> 00:34:12.640 priests in that time period. Anis also had five other sons who eventually became 00:34:12.640 --> 00:34:17.280 high priest over the next few decades. In fact I think they were the high priest 00:34:17.280 --> 00:34:27.840 of the Jewish temple for almost 60 years. So Caiaphas, son-in-law of Anis, Anis, 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:35.800 Anis, godly. A son-in-law of A, he wasn't chosen for his holiness but his loyalty 00:34:35.800 --> 00:34:43.160 to Rome, and he is the high priest during Jesus' time during the final week of Jesus. 00:34:43.160 --> 00:34:49.120 So y'all stop. Come on. We gotta move on. I got a lot more. We're almost done. So now now 00:34:49.120 --> 00:34:57.880 imagine this. The temple is no longer just a spiritual center. It's a system run by a 00:34:57.880 --> 00:35:09.800 family appointed by the empire benefiting from control. Every single dollar that 00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:15.920 came through the temple passed through the hands of Anis, even not as the high priest. 00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:21.520 When you'd come to pay a temple tax and do you change, there was an additional 00:35:21.520 --> 00:35:28.360 percentage of interest added. Where did that go? To the priestly line. 00:35:28.360 --> 00:35:33.760 A portion of it would go up to Rome to keep Rome happy. But as long as we keep 00:35:33.760 --> 00:35:40.240 Rome happy, we get to keep our system working for us. Jesus walks in and he 00:35:40.240 --> 00:35:45.520 disrupts this system. And once you see these names, especially the one I keep 00:35:45.520 --> 00:35:52.120 mispronouncing, you can't unsee it. And John 11, you know the story Jesus goes in, 00:35:52.120 --> 00:35:58.640 he raises Lazarus from the dead, right? Well right after Jesus raises Lazarus 00:35:58.640 --> 00:36:02.480 from the dead, we see this, John 11, 47. Then the chief priest in the Pharisees 00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:06.680 called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin is like the religious elite of 00:36:06.680 --> 00:36:11.840 the time. 71 men, they all come together in a room. They are the ones that run the 00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:17.200 temple, the system. They said this, "What are we accomplishing?" they asked, "Here is 00:36:17.200 --> 00:36:21.360 this man performing men's signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will 00:36:21.360 --> 00:36:25.200 believe in him. And then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and 00:36:25.200 --> 00:36:31.640 our nation." Then one of them named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that 00:36:31.640 --> 00:36:36.880 year spoke up. You know nothing at all. You do not even realize that it is better 00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:43.400 for you, that one man die for the people, that then that the whole nation perish. 00:36:43.400 --> 00:36:47.920 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year, he prophesied that 00:36:47.920 --> 00:36:52.560 Jesus would die for the Jewish nation. And not only for that nation, but also for 00:36:52.560 --> 00:36:57.560 the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one. Verse 53, 00:36:57.560 --> 00:37:03.960 "So from that day on they plotted to take his life." Caiaphas, the high priest, you 00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:08.480 see him here. This is right before Passover. Jesus raised his Lazarus from the 00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:15.000 dead. I see this guy's a problem. We need to kill him. It's better for one man to 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.480 die than for the whole nation to perish. We don't want to lose our nation and our 00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:33.800 temple. We can't lose our power of religion and nationalism. This is not a 00:37:33.800 --> 00:37:40.720 theology, it was a strategy for them. Protect the system at all costs. And then 00:37:40.720 --> 00:37:44.480 later in the story, we know Jesus gets arrested, right? I know we're 00:37:44.480 --> 00:37:49.360 jumping, but Jesus gets arrested. And do you know where they take Jesus right 00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:51.720 after they arrest him? So they arrest him in the Garden of Gethseman, you 00:37:51.720 --> 00:37:55.280 right? Remember this? Peter cuts off a guy's ear. Jesus is like, "Morrow, chill out, 00:37:55.280 --> 00:38:02.080 put the ear back on." That's not what we do. He didn't say chill out, sorry. That's 00:38:02.080 --> 00:38:10.640 my version. This happens. They arrest him. The Roman authorities arrest Jesus, and 00:38:10.640 --> 00:38:17.160 they bring him to John 18 says this. Then they detach the ministers with its 00:38:17.160 --> 00:38:20.760 commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought 00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:27.240 him first to Annas. Who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that 00:38:27.240 --> 00:38:33.320 year? Annas was not in any leadership position, but when you've got a plot to 00:38:33.320 --> 00:38:35.880 kill the man that is trying to take away your system, you take him to the God 00:38:35.880 --> 00:38:47.520 father first. So he goes to Annas. And Caiaphas was the one who had advised the 00:38:47.520 --> 00:38:50.520 Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people. We saw that 00:38:50.520 --> 00:38:57.880 when he was talking about right after Lazarus. In fact, in this trial with 00:38:57.880 --> 00:39:07.280 Annas, a soldier slaps Jesus. It's the first physical abuse that happens to 00:39:07.280 --> 00:39:14.720 Jesus in this time heading to the cross. And for me, I envision like those 00:39:14.720 --> 00:39:21.160 movies that I've seen. The mob boss you brought to him, his gun smacks you. Like 00:39:21.160 --> 00:39:28.320 this is what is happening here. Annas actually lived, I talked about the houses 00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:32.800 that they found in archaeology and in history, from history. He lived in one of 00:39:32.800 --> 00:39:39.520 the largest houses in Jerusalem. It was opulent, gold everywhere. Like who does 00:39:39.520 --> 00:39:49.400 gold everywhere? Gross. They brought to Annas. He's still pulling the strings, he's 00:39:49.400 --> 00:39:53.000 still connected. Then they take him to Caiaphas. He's the high priest and they 00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:58.640 take him to the Sanhedrin. The Jewish temple leadership. And then they send him 00:39:58.640 --> 00:40:02.280 to Pontius Pilate because temple leadership can't execute him. They need 00:40:02.280 --> 00:40:08.240 Rome to do that. And suddenly you see the whole structure piece together. 00:40:08.240 --> 00:40:15.800 Religion, power, empire all working together. And then there's a crowd, right? 00:40:15.800 --> 00:40:20.420 Pontius Pilate says, I find nothing wrong with this man. But release one 00:40:20.420 --> 00:40:25.520 prisoner for Passover. So let's let's let the people decide. And they take him 00:40:25.520 --> 00:40:29.560 out. And here's Jesus, here's Barabbas. Who do you want me to release? Give 00:40:29.560 --> 00:40:35.680 Barabbas, right? Crucified Jesus. Now, these are the same people that were at the 00:40:35.680 --> 00:40:40.700 gates with the poem branches shouting "Hosanna." They would have been afraid to 00:40:40.700 --> 00:40:44.840 be even associated with Jesus. They would not have shown up to this trial. The 00:40:44.840 --> 00:40:50.080 people that were shown up to this trial would have had connections. So who is 00:40:50.080 --> 00:40:54.600 yelling for Jesus to be crucified and give us back Barabbas connected to the 00:40:54.600 --> 00:41:07.220 system? So, let me ask you, do you see a bed playing out through the last life or 00:41:07.220 --> 00:41:13.160 last week in life of Jesus? Do you see what got him killed? I didn't grow up 00:41:13.160 --> 00:41:20.120 hearing it this way. I think I grew up with a very flat reading of scripture where 00:41:20.120 --> 00:41:24.080 the story was simplified. It was individualized. It was detached from the 00:41:24.080 --> 00:41:37.640 idea of power. But I grew up as a young white man in the American South in Texas. 00:41:37.640 --> 00:41:44.680 And so, most of the people around me and most of my leadership was all in that 00:41:44.680 --> 00:41:52.760 same vein. And so, when we looked at this system or the story, what I had learned 00:41:52.760 --> 00:42:02.600 was I was formed in a system and the text had been given to me like from the 00:42:02.600 --> 00:42:12.320 center of the story. So as I got older and started to study and learn and meet new 00:42:12.320 --> 00:42:19.240 people, I realized that I needed to see this from other perspectives. I needed to 00:42:19.240 --> 00:42:22.800 read this and in this story there are people that are being affected. So you 00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:29.760 need to read this from the perspective of the poor. You got to read it with 00:42:29.760 --> 00:42:37.680 the excluded. So I started to look and find theologians in the the black 00:42:37.680 --> 00:42:44.320 theology camp or liberation theology or womanist theology. And if you know what 00:42:44.320 --> 00:42:51.720 womanist theology is actually a theology built off of the life and place of black 00:42:51.720 --> 00:43:02.320 women. Because these traditions, ways of looking at the story, they ask different 00:43:02.320 --> 00:43:08.920 questions. Liberation theology would ask like how does this text sound to the 00:43:08.920 --> 00:43:14.920 oppressed? Black theology through voices like James Cone say you cannot 00:43:14.920 --> 00:43:20.360 understand the gospel apart from real suffering in history. Because maybe 00:43:20.360 --> 00:43:23.640 you're too far removed from that suffering but I can show you what 00:43:23.640 --> 00:43:29.720 suffering looks like right here. Womenist theology through voices like Dolores 00:43:29.720 --> 00:43:35.800 Williams remind us to not glorify suffering, especially when the system is 00:43:35.800 --> 00:43:43.440 on causing it. She says you were the exact phrase but it's basically we can 00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:49.520 remember the cross but to glorify the cross is to glorify suffering at the 00:43:49.520 --> 00:43:55.920 hands of the system. When you read this through these lenses you start to see 00:43:55.920 --> 00:43:59.520 what Jesus is doing from a different perspective. He's not protecting a 00:43:59.520 --> 00:44:05.280 system. He's protecting people. He's not here to protect the church. He's here to 00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:12.000 protect the people who are the church. And the part that gets uncomfortable is 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:19.240 this isn't ancient history. When religion aligns with power, when theology 00:44:19.240 --> 00:44:23.600 protects systems, when leaders are defended at all cost, when people are 00:44:23.600 --> 00:44:30.880 harmed in the name of God, that is not new. And if we're honest, we see it and 00:44:30.880 --> 00:44:38.000 we've seen it. We are seeing it right now. So if we go back to the temple, this is 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:43.440 the last story. After all of this happens, Jesus has flip tables. He's 00:44:43.440 --> 00:44:47.840 speaking in the temple and this is one of the final stories he tells in the 00:44:47.840 --> 00:44:51.400 temple before he leaves that day. Says as he taught, Jesus had watch out for the 00:44:51.400 --> 00:44:56.560 teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted 00:44:56.560 --> 00:44:59.920 with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the 00:44:59.920 --> 00:45:05.680 synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows houses for a 00:45:05.680 --> 00:45:11.760 show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely. And then you 00:45:11.760 --> 00:45:18.680 continue in this story and a widow walks into the temple. Jesus sat down opposite 00:45:18.680 --> 00:45:22.000 the place where the offerings were put and he watched the crowd putting their 00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:26.160 money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in long amounts, but a poor 00:45:26.160 --> 00:45:31.360 widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:36.680 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has 00:45:36.680 --> 00:45:41.560 put more into the treasury than all the others." They all gave out of their wealth 00:45:41.560 --> 00:45:47.800 but she, out of her poverty, but in everything all she had to live on. Put in 00:45:47.800 --> 00:45:53.800 everything. All she had to live on. And for years we've been told to admire that. 00:45:53.800 --> 00:45:58.400 Look at the generosity of this woman giving everything she's got. She is so 00:45:58.400 --> 00:46:05.080 faithful. She's giving sacrificially to God. But that's not the point of the 00:46:05.080 --> 00:46:11.480 story. What if Jesus isn't celebrating what she just did but he's exposing the 00:46:11.480 --> 00:46:20.240 system that is harming the widow who is giving all that she's got? A system that 00:46:20.240 --> 00:46:24.760 takes everything from someone who has nothing. 00:46:27.880 --> 00:46:33.860 Do you see the system at play? Do you see where Jesus is like, "This is not my 00:46:33.860 --> 00:46:37.320 if there's house. This is not how this works." You are taking advantage of the 00:46:37.320 --> 00:46:43.560 people you are supposed to be protecting and loving. This poor widow comes in 00:46:43.560 --> 00:46:48.160 because he feels that she has to in order to impress and please God she 00:46:48.160 --> 00:46:53.960 must get all that she has. You are taking advantage of her. The system is 00:46:53.960 --> 00:47:00.080 broken and I must fix it. So we have to question underneath all of this. Like 00:47:00.080 --> 00:47:05.440 where does God stand in this system? And the answer over and over and over again 00:47:05.440 --> 00:47:09.640 is the same. God stands with the vulnerable that love moves toward the 00:47:09.640 --> 00:47:18.360 marginalized and Jesus protects his neighbor at all costs. Just for all this 00:47:18.360 --> 00:47:23.360 in the temple Jesus teaches and he says that the greatest commands are to love 00:47:23.360 --> 00:47:32.480 God and to love your neighbor. And if love is real then we see Jesus and we see 00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:40.720 love always fights for neighbor. Not just gentle but honestly not just kind but 00:47:40.720 --> 00:47:47.400 courageously because sometimes love looks like healing and sometimes looks 00:47:47.400 --> 00:47:55.520 like truth spoken to power and breaking a system that's harming our neighbors. 00:47:55.520 --> 00:48:00.880 Sometimes love looks like turning over tables that should have never been 00:48:00.880 --> 00:48:07.960 standing in the first place. Jesus was shining a light on oppression on 00:48:07.960 --> 00:48:12.600 exploitation on a harm of neighbor. He was showing how power and the gospel they 00:48:12.600 --> 00:48:20.160 don't mix because power dehumanizes creates hierarchies and it corrupts the 00:48:20.160 --> 00:48:28.440 heart. Jesus was calling us back to the love of God which always manifests itself 00:48:28.440 --> 00:48:35.680 as love of neighbor especially the most vulnerable amongst us. 00:48:35.680 --> 00:48:47.040 So this is our call from Jesus himself to go love well because that's who we're 00:48:47.040 --> 00:48:51.520 made to be and that's what will break the system. I love you guys we'll see you 00:48:51.520 --> 00:48:54.320 next week for Easter.