crumbs 125

 

Crumbs 125 : Corruption

Scripture Mark 11:11-19 NIV11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. 12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 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. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it. 15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts 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, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 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.’” 18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

Crumbs I cannot recall many sermons on this passage..I am struck by the pause between Jesus’ inspection of the temple and his action in putting things right. In God’s dealings with humanity there is often a pause of grace. Was this one of these? Jesus is angry about corruption and the abuse of holy things. His statement about the use of the temple has two stings. There is a call to prayer and the call is global .This represents two distracting temptations. One is to neglect our relationship with God and to be overwhelmed by material issues. We are called to love God and our neighbours. Nothing should get in the way of the call to pray . The other temptation is to feel that our group has got things right and to devalue the contribution and thoughts of others. I am astonished that a single man purged the temple in this way . Surely the traders could have got together and prevented. Him. But this was the Son of God. This was an impassioned human being. This was His response to dishonest exploitation and spiritual neglect. Questions

1. What corruption should Christians stand against ?

2. What is the relationship between our love of God and our love of our neighbours ?.

3. How can we avoid becoming too tribal in our outlook ?