Nothing But Everything

Jesus has been dealing all week with those jockeying for social status, political power, and financial gain. He can hardly step foot in the Temple without being confronted by people that want Him dead.

Now, in a rare moment of peace, He sits back and observes.

Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. (Mark 12:41-42, NLT)

The smallest coin in Jesus’ day was the lepta. This is akin to a woman dropping two pennies in the offering basket at church.

Hardly anyone else would have noticed, but Jesus is astounded. He called His disciples over to show them what she had done.

“I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.” (Mark 12:43-44, NLT)

The translation here is a bit unfortunate. The Greek more literally reads “her whole life,” rather than “everything she had to live on.”

New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine writes, “Jesus’ focus is not simply on her economic state; it is on her life. This is no small matter. It’s everything she has.”

That is really important.

See, we often talk about money very differently than Jesus did.

There are those who claim God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and happy and if you aren’t, well, then you just don’t have enough faith. But Jesus makes no such promise.

There are others who believe the wealthy to be the worst of all sinners and that poverty is inherently next to godliness. But Jesus levels no such charge.

Yes, you can be wealthy and greedy. You can also be poor and greedy.

See, it’s not about what’s in your wallet. It’s is about what’s in your heart.

It’s is not about how much you have. It’s is about how much you give.

Jesus holds this woman up as exemplary not because she is poor, but because she is generous.

She holds nothing back. She gives everything she has.

Jesus is days away from the cross.

There He will hold nothing back. There He will give everything He has.

And He asks nothing less from us.

He asks that we give our money generously.

He asks that we give our time generously.

He asks that we give our hearts and our lives generously.

He asks for nothing less than our everything.

Take a couple minutes and read Mark 12:41-44. Imagine watching that scene unfold and reflect on what it means to give ““[your] whole life” as an offering.

Clear the Court

Jesus was no stranger to conflict with the Jewish leadership. On more than one occasion His response to their challenges and accusations had left them speechless and fuming. When He entered the Temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling animals for sacrifice, though, that was the last straw.

 After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. (Luke 19:47, NLT)

Why did this make them so mad?

Jesus Himself tells us His objection to what was going on in the Temple – but He does it in a very Jewish way.

Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” (Matthew 21:12-13, NLT)

Jesus is using a rabbinic teaching technique called remez. Remez uses part of a passage to refer to the whole passage.

Remember, the Jewish people of this time know their Bibles inside and out. In quoting just a single line from a passage, everyone would understand the whole of what Jesus was saying.

The first line Jesus quotes comes from the book of Isaiah.

“I will also bless the foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord,
    who serve him and love his name,
who worship him and do not desecrate the Sabbath day of rest,
    and who hold fast to my covenant.

I will bring them to my holy mountain of Jerusalem
    and will fill them with joy in my house of prayer.
I will accept their burnt offerings and sacrifices,
    because my Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:6-7, NLT)

The key word here is foreigners.

This story takes place in the Court of the Gentiles (a Gentile is anyone that isn’t Jewish). Gentiles were not allowed to enter certain parts of the Temple. To our ears that sounds like racism, but it wasn’t at all. It’s just that certain right and responsibilities were reserved for those who had entered into a covenant with the God of Israel. If a Gentile were to convert Judaism, he would be able to participate as any ethnic Jew could.

However, just because Gentiles were restricted in certain ways doesn’t mean they weren’t welcome. The Court of the Gentiles was intended to be a place where they could come and hear about the God of the Jews.

Yet when Jesus arrives at the Temple, he finds that the Court of the Gentiles is crowded with merchants.

There was nothing inherently wrong with the selling of sacrificial animals. Not all those who sojourned in Jerusalem had animals of their own to offer. They had to buy them if they were to offer a sacrifice.

I think Jesus was angry – righteously angry – that the one space in the Temple devoted to those that did not yet know the God of Israel had been converted into a marketplace.

The only space left was for the already convinced.

So often the only space left in the Church is for the already convinced.

So often we are more concerned with coddling “insiders” than we are with welcoming “outsiders.”

So often we use language – in our worship, in our messages, and even in our daily conversation – that make no sense to those that don’t know Jesus. I had been a Christian for seven years before anyone explained to me that the “ebenezer” in “Come Thou Fount” refers to a memorial of God’s protection and not to the Scrooge of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” I had to go to seminary to learn what “propitiation” meant.

Here’s the point.

Let’s make space for those that do not yet know Jesus.

You may not plan worship sets or write messages, but you do have a role to play. You can support every effort your church makes to create that space. You can embrace changes made to that end, even if you’d prefer to keep things the same. You can refuse to participate in “holy huddles” and be a welcoming presence to others.

Because it’s not about you. And it’s not about me. It’s about the mission that God has given us.

Let’s make space in our churches and in our homes and in our lives. Let’s not exchange convenience and comfort for the cause of Christ. Let’s clear the Court.

Read Mark 11:15-18. What would it look like to make space for those that don’t know Jesus in the church? What would it look like to make space for those that don’t know Jesus in our lives?

Fruitless Trees and Empty Buildings

Jesus enters Jerusalem to the cheers of a crowd who understands (at least in part) His identity, but entirely misunderstands His mission. After that, the book of Mark tells us, He returned to Bethany, presumably to stay at the home of His friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Let’s pick it up from there.

The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard him say it. (Mark 11:12-14, NLT)

Let’s be honest. This seems irrational. I mean, the text tells us that it was too early in the season!

Fig trees blossom in spring. The ripe fruit usually isn’t ready until early summer. Those blossoms that didn’t bud until much later result in unripe fruit that shows up in fall and, because the harvest has passed, goes unpicked. That fruit would sometimes survive the winter and produce an off-season crop the following spring.

So, Jesus sees that this fig tree is “in full leaf.” That is, the blossoms have opened and, even though it’s too early, Jesus is expecting to find a bit of that off-season fruit. His disappointment, then, is not irrational at all – and he uses that disappointment to teach His disciples (and us) a lesson.

Now, Mark pauses here and cuts to the scene of Jesus cleansing the Temple. Mark often splits a story in two and uses a seemingly unrelated story in the middle to interpret the first.

We’ll look more carefully at that tomorrow, but we have to dip into it a little now.

Jews from all over the world were flooding into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.  The centerpiece of the city was the Temple, built by Herod the Great. It was magnificent. The Talmud – a Jewish commentary and history – says, “Whoever has not seen Herod’s Temple has not seen a beautiful building in his lifetime.”

Here’s the point. The people coming into the city are coming with expectations. They are coming with hopes. They are coming with a longing to have their spiritual hunger satisfied.

The Temple is like the fig tree. From a distance, it looks vibrant and healthy. It is looks beautiful and lush. Surely these hungry people will be filled!

That is why Mark presses pause. He moves to the scene of Jesus in the Temple, exposing the corruption of the priestly order entrusted with serving in the Temple.

The Temple, it turns out, is all show and no substance. It is leafy and green but there’s no fruit.

The next day, Jesus and His disciples are again walking from Bethany to Jerusalem and they come upon the same fig tree. They find it withered “from the roots up” (Mark 11:20, NLT).

Jesus did a lot of teaching through parables – short stories intended to teach a profound lesson.

Jesus is, once again, teaching through parable. But he doesn’t say much. Instead, he shows.

He doesn’t really explain it but simply says, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22, NLT).

Perhaps Jesus had the prophet Jeremiah in mind. Jeremiah, centuries before, warned against putting our faith in man and, instead, advocated for faith in God. Listen to what he says:

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
    and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.

They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
    with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
    or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
    and they never stop producing fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8, NLT)

The Temple leadership was corrupt. It was beautiful on the outside, but inside it was nothing but death and decay. It was intended to be a place where people could encounter the living God but, instead, they encountered deceit and hypocrisy.

This text haunts me. It haunts me because I know the corruption that is in my own heart. I know how easy it is to focus more on looking like a Christian than being one.

We, says Paul, are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. We – the Church – are to be the place where people encounter the living God.

Are we?

Are we leafy, but fruitless, trees? Are we beautiful, but empty, buildings?

May we be a place where people encounter the living God. May we be a place where people meet the only One who can and does satisfy their deepest spiritual hunger.

Take a couple minutes and read Mark 11:12-25 and consider Jesus’ description of what it looks like to “have faith in God.”