Holy Week (Monday) ‘Pigeons for Sale: Jesus Cleanses the Temple’

Pigeons for sale. That's what we find in Mark 15.

It's Monday of Holy Week, and Jesus is beginning after his triumphal entry on

Palm Sunday to make his final walk towards the cross.

We read in Mark 11, 15, that as 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.

Such a small detail of those that sold pigeons. What's really going on here?

Well, Jesus has quoted in the past what his father's place, what his father's house should be.

In Isaiah 56, 7 through 8, he quotes, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations.

And he says to them, But you have made it a den of robbers.

How does Jesus make the connection between selling some pigeons for sacrifice

to it being a den of robbers?

Well, the real issue here is, as you can imagine, there's people coming from

all over to the Passover to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem.

And Jesus walks into the temple, and what does he see? Not them being invited

in by his people to meet the God of the universe, the God who is gracious and kind and loving.

What he sees is people who have used the chance for all of these people to come

in to put God up for sale, to say that your entrance into the kingdom can be bought.

Your entrance into the kingdom can be bought.

What a terribly evil thing that's going on here. And it's not that they don't

want to provide sacrifices.

It's not that they couldn't have maybe sold pigeons elsewhere.

The point is that inside of this sacred place, this place of prayer for the

nations, they've turned it into a swap and shop.

You give us your money. We'll give you a way to enter into sacrifices with God.

You can imagine if you were at a baseball game or a football game They're going

up and down and they're selling popcorn and drinks This would have been much

the same A bustling place where everyone's coming in And people are yelling

pigeons for sale, pigeons for sale,

The question for us on this week is Is that how we approach God?

A God who has paid our sin debt By sending his son to die on a cross,

To be buried and raised on the third day Defeating death As you come to God

this week, are you coming with a heart that says, thank you for paying my debt?

Are you coming with a heart that says, what can I do to pay my debt?

How many pigeons do I need to buy?

How many services do I need to attend? How many prayers must I say?

How many worship songs? How many camps? How many songs?

As we come to the Father this week, may this be a reminder that Christ has paid our debts.

And instead of trying to buy our way into his good graces and earn our way into

his good graces. May we accept the free gift of mercy and grace that is offered

at the outstretched hands of Jesus Christ, his son.

We pray this blesses you. We'll be moving throughout the week, every day this week.

I pray it's a chance for you to reflect on Jesus and his, again, walk towards death.

We pray it's a time we can focus our hearts and our minds on him.