The Tables Jesus Flipped Were Never Supposed to Be Standing | In Color | Chad Belew

today? There we go. Good morning. All right. We got a lot today. So here we go.

Last week I weren't the gospel in color in the last week of Jesus' life. And last

week we talked about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which actually

this week is Palm Sunday, which is the Sunday that we celebrate this time where

Jesus comes riding in on a donkey into Jerusalem. They are waving palm branches.

People are shouting "Hosanna." And it's, as we talked about last week, actually

like a counter parade to the the power and empire parade that Pontius Pilate

would have been leading coming into the west side of the city on his war horse

with soldiers around him and the banners and showing force and power coming into

Jerusalem to show the Jews that, "Hey, we are still in power. We know that this

week that the week that Jesus is coming into Jerusalem is Passover. And so it's a

celebration for the Jewish people of them being freed from slavery, from being

ruled by another ruling group." So to the Romans they allowed this to happen. We

talked about last week because the Pax Ramona, which is the the Roman kind of

way of leading, was "We'll allow you to keep doing this, but we're gonna show

power and force to keep the peace." And so this is all happening in this week.

Jesus comes riding in. He is showing a different way to be a human and to lead

in humility and in love. In Mark 11 we see, it says this, "Many people spread their

cloaks on the road while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those

who went ahead and those who followed shouted "Hosanna." Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David,

Hosanna in the highest heaven. Now these are not just statements. These are

actually, this is a week where the Jewish people are celebrating freedom. And so

this is, they believe Jesus is coming in to free them. And the Romans know this is

happening. So the Romans are showing force to say if you try anything, we'll

kill you. Basically, we will overpower you. And you see these two colliding

kingdoms. And so, like I said, we talked about a lot last week, but we're gonna go

into the next part of what happens when Jesus enters Jerusalem. So Jesus comes

into Jerusalem. He rides in on the donkey. These people are shouting "Hosanna." They're

following him into the city. And Jesus goes straight to the temple. Now we know

and we'll talk about today, there's a time where Jesus goes into the temple and he

flips takes. But when Jesus enters Jerusalem in his leanest procession, he

goes to the temple and in Mark 11 verse 11 it says this, "Jesus entered Jerusalem

Mark 11:11

and went into the temple courts." He looked around at everything. But since it was

already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12th. So he went outside the city to

stay. So Jesus comes into Jerusalem, goes to the temple, and observes, looks

around, sees what's happening, and then he leaves. There's no speech, there's no

confrontation, no miracle, no flipping of tables, he's just observing what is

happening. And it's one of those moments I think in the story that feels kind of

easy to skip over maybe. Like okay, he just went to the temple and he left. But it

might be one of the most important moments in this entire story of the last

week of Jesus. Because what happened later when we see Jesus come back to the

temple is that we realize that this was not a reaction of anger. That Jesus is

actually, this is a response to what he observed and what he saw and what he knew

was happening. It's thought through. To understand what Jesus saw, I think we have

to look at kind of the system and what was happening there. We have to understand

where Jesus was standing when he came and he observed. Because this wasn't just a

building. When we talk about the temple of Jerusalem, has anybody been there?

Has anybody been too Jerusalem? One person? One person? Go? Two? Three? Anybody else?

Like sometimes I think we think like he walked into the church, right? This

building of it. No, this is not just church or building. This is an entire

system. This thing is humongous. He walked into the temple in the first

century and what he walked into is layers. The temple is built in these

layers and this is a the second temple. This was built. In fact, do we have a

picture? I think it'll work. This is the temple space. I forget it's something

like six football fields. Like it is humongous. There are barriers. There are

walls. There's different sections. In fact, this this big area here is called the

court of the Gentiles. So it's the court of the non-Jews. Anybody could go into the

court of the Gentiles and then you start entering in. Go to the next picture. Actually

go back real quick. So this part of the temple, the main part right here, we're

gonna look at in this next diagram. So you have the court of the Gentiles where

everyone's allowed and then we'll go to the middle here, the main part of the

temple. And now there's places where certain people can go and be. The court

of women, so Jewish women could enter into this court but they could go no

further than that. There's this court of Israel right here. This is actually

Jewish men. So Jewish men could enter into that portion of the temple. Then you go

into the court of priests. The altars is where sacrifices are done. So priests can

go into this part of the temple. And then you have the holy place and the most

holy place. The holy of holies. The holy of holies is the place where the high

priest, the leader of the priest, could enter into one time a year to make a

sacrifice. So it's the place where they believed. This is where the Spirit of

God is. It's where he enters in and he's able to... The high priest is the mouth

piece of the Jewish people to God. This is the go-between. But you can see that

the layers that are here, that are built into this temple. And this was... This is

biblical. It was made this way. But the outer court was for everyone. Then there's

barriers. There's like literal walls and places that you cannot cross. In fact,

during like throughout history, as they've uncovered some of these, they've

actually found on parts of the walls and the columns. There were things carved

that said like Gentiles past this point, basically you're gonna die. Like death is

yours now. You cannot enter this place. If you are not Jewish, you cannot come into

this area. There was a reason that the Gentiles were allowed. This actually

happened back in Isaiah where they talked about... The prophet Isaiah talked

about that this will be a house for all nations. It was this opening of the

temple to all nations, not just the Jews. So this is a very important place. Go

back to the other picture. Did I lose him? Oh, he said wait. Sorry Daniel.

Important place. It's huge. A space where people were supposed to come and be

able to see what is happening with God and get as close to God as they could as

they were allowed to. But this architecture taught people something about God. Who

was close? Who God was for? Who belonged? And who didn't? And then outside of just

the temple space, there was the system itself. If you came to worship, especially

during the past over time, I think I mentioned last week this city, there was

about 40 or 50,000 people that lived here. During Passover, it would swell to 200,

300,000 people. Some historians have said even up to a million people would

enter into Jerusalem during this time. So Jews are making a pilgrimage to

Jerusalem for this event. So people would travel from a long way and if you came

into worship, then you needed a sacrifice because under the Jewish law, you would

sacrifice an animal for your sins. The priest would sacrifice it, the blood would

cover your sins so that you could be forgiven. So you had to do the sacrifice.

So when you came, you needed an animal for a sacrifice and you needed to buy the

animal there because a lot of people traveling from along, you can't bring an

animal, it was really hard to maybe bring the animal with you to keep it safe in

order to present an unblemished animal for the sacrifice. So what people would do

is they would come to the temple and then they were able to purchase an

animal for sacrifice. So this was part of the system. It was supposed to be

there, it was built in. Then there was another part of it where when you would

come in, you could not use just like Roman coins in the temple. There was

temple coins, there were shekels that were thought to be the purest form of

currency at the time. And you only use temple currency in the temple. Also a

normal thing, this was part of the system. So you would come in, you would give

your your Roman money and you would exchange it. Just like if you're going

overseas somewhere and you take your American color and you exchange it for

whatever money is being used in the country you're going to. Does that make

sense? So they would exchange their money in order to then take their temple

currency and pay for their sacrifice or for the animal to sacrifice or pay for

the temple tax. So if you, every Jewish man in Exodus was required to pay a

temple tax. It was kind of like their tithe. Like, and it for a while it was like one

time. You paid this one time and you're good. Then it became yearly thing where

you had to come pay your taxes yearly to the temple. And so you would have to pay

that in the temple coin. So you'd have to exchange your money for that. So again,

this is part of the system. It's built in. None of it on its own was a problem.

And I think sometimes we we miss that point when we see what is happening with

Jesus. And when he comes into the temple, all this was part of the system. But what

we're going to see is like so many systems, this system did not stay clean.

And so we're going to see how it became corrupted. The temple was this, the system,

not just a place to come worship, but some scholars like Gerald West, who's a

little Gerald West was a liberation theologist, he uses a phrase the city temple

state system. So the temple is like the city center. It is a whole system like he

used it to phrase it like there was a lot of us would think like there was

religion over here, there was government over here, there was money and power over

here. And the idea was Jesus just kind of stepped into the religious lane and a

problem with how people were behaving in church maybe. And that's why he got mad.

But the more you study this, the more you realize that that's not the world that

Jesus was walking into. There wasn't a clean line between those things. The temple

wasn't just a place you went to pray. It's where your money was exchanged. It's

where sacrifices were approved. Now this gets interesting because if you did

bring an animal to the temple that you were going to sacrifice, you had to take

that temple or that that that temple. You take that animal to the priest or the

the religious leaders had to approve of your animal for sacrifice. Who do you

think made money off of the cell of the animals in the temple? The religious

leaders. Hey, I brought this one. Is this good? No, you have to buy one of ours.

Your sacrifice had to be approved. Your status and society was reinforced by the

layers that you were allowed to enter. In fact, even the type of sacrifice that

you could afford told you where you sat in a class structure. And then where you

had access to God's regulated. It was all intertwined. The people running it

aren't just spiritual leaders. They were at this point in Jesus's life they were

connected to political power. They were maintaining order for Rome, the oppressor.

They were benefiting from the system, saying exactly the way that it was. In fact, if

you look through archaeology and the studies of this region during that time,

priest, if you go all the way, go into the Old Testament when the priest's line was

was found, was like called by God. The priest actually didn't make money. They

would, the money that would be given to the church. The temple would help them

kind of live. The food that was given would help them live. So this is what it

was. It wasn't a job to make money. But we started looking at history and the

archaeology. The priests of the time of Jesus lived in some of the biggest homes,

most elaborate places there were. Something had changed. I said that theologian

gelled west, he called it the city temple state system. It was not just a building,

it was a machine. It was a system where religion gave it meaning. Economics and

money gave it fuel and then power or politics gave it its power. It was this

unhealthy marriage and everything worked together to keep things running. And for

the people at the top, it worked really, really well. For the people at the bottom,

it costs everything. And once you see this, you can't really unsee it. You

begin to see the pieces even through Scripture tie in together. Because now,

when you see Jesus walk into the temple, he's not just stepping into a place of

worship. He's stepping into a system that wasn't just about worship. It was

religion tied to economy to power. And Jesus walks in the night that he gets to

Jerusalem. He looks around and he leaves. This doesn't sound like anything we

understand at all. But it happened back in that day. So the next morning, after

Jesus has come, he's seen the temple, he's seen what's happening, he leaves, they go

outside the town, they stay. They're coming back into town. Jesus sent his

disciples, they're heading back. And we see in Mark 11, this story. Mark 11 12, it

says, "The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the

distance a fig tree and 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.

Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his

disciples heard him say it. And then they continued on. He cursed the fig tree.

Now this seems like a really weird story. Like Jesus is hungry, he goes to the tree,

it's supposed to have figs, it doesn't. He's like, "May nobody ever..." If I can't eat

here, nobody can, right? But what happened was he saw this fig tree in full bloom

with its leaves. He walks up to it expecting fruit, but there's nothing

there. And he says, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And again, it feels

like a strange story here until you realize that this is actually a mirror.

In Hebrew scripture, the fig tree often symbolized Israel. And not just Israel,

but Israel's spiritual health. So what Jesus is seeing is something that looks

alive but producing nothing life-giving. It's leaves without fruit. And Mark does

something intentional. He puts this story in the middle of this week, right

before Jesus enters the temple. Because the tree is telling you this is how you

read the temple. It looks great. Looks like it's doing all the things it's

supposed to be doing, but there's no life-giving fruit from it. So he leaves this

fig tree that he yells at. And Jesus walks back into Jerusalem and he walks

straight back into the temple. But this time, he doesn't just look around. Mark

11, 15 says, "On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and he

began driving out those who are lying and selling there. He overturned the tables

of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow

anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts." Each gospel kind of has

different aspects of it. John, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they put this right

before Jesus goes to the cross. And John, John actually starts John. I think it's

like John 2. He starts John, his book with this story. Some historians believe

that Jesus may have cleansed the temple twice. Others believe that John was

placing this to show his authority at the beginning of his gospel. Either way, we

see this a lot. John's gospel is the one where he he wraps cords and he has a

whip that he goes in and drives out the animals and the the sellers. But in this

in Mark's gospel, he goes in, he overturns the tables of the money-changers and the

benches of those selling doves. And then he says something that reaches way back

into centuries for the Jewish people. Verse 17 says, "And as he taught them, he

said, 'It is not written. My house will be called a house. Is it written? My house

will be called a house of prayer for all nations.'" This is a call back to Isaiah.

The prophet Isaiah had said this. This is one, like I said, the court of the

Gentiles. This was this idea that, "Hey, this is not just going to be a temple for

you, the Jewish people, but this is going to be for all nations. This will be

inclusion of all nations was part of the prophecy." Jesus says, "My house will be

called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers."

This phrasing den of robbers is also a callback to Old Testament prophecy in

Jeremiah 7. Jeremiah actually stood outside the temple. God told him this, what is

happening in here is corrupt. They are taking advantage of people. Go call them

out and tell them that I said so. Jeremiah goes to the temple, he stands on the

temple steps, and he prophesies. God knows what you're doing, and it is not

okay. Fast forward to Jesus in the temple. This is supposed to be a place of all

nations. You've turned it into a den of robbers, and not a single religious leader

in that room or in that court would have not understood what he just said. The

interesting thing is, these are indictments on what is happening in the temple.

He's calling back to the prophets. Isaiah 56, it's inclusion. It is a vision

where outsiders are welcome in. Jeremiah 7, it's about corruption. A system that

uses religion as cover while exploiting people. And he uses the phrase a den of

robbers. Anybody have a den in their house? I grew up with a den.

This is like that room, like what do you do in there? It was like some chairs. We

never went in there because there was no TV. The video game system was in the

other room. The den is like this cozy place. In this, it's actually like a

den, like a cave, but it was a place of safety.

So Jesus says, "You have made this a cozy safe place for thieves."

Jesus brings these two ideas together. It says the place wasn't was meant to be

open, but it has become exclusive. This place was meant to give life, but it is

taking it. And it's name, kind of something that actually goes after all this,

because this isn't random anger. Jesus isn't just like upset. He's not just mad

about even just people selling things inside of the church. This is deep. He

goes into the court of the Gentiles, that big space. As I said, you could sell

things. That was part of the system, but the bizarre, the place to sell the animals

and to exchange money, was supposed to be in an area either outside of the temple

or right inside the little walkway area. They had moved it into the court of the

Gentiles. History shows us that they had actually taken over and started to

enclose the court of the Gentiles. So if you're a Gentile, where do you go? If you

are not Jewish, not Jewish, where do you go? You are being told that you don't

belong here. It had become overtaken. It crowded. They had encroached on the

space of being inclusive for all people. It's where the merchants had moved into.

Telling the outsiders that they were no longer welcome. And then he goes after the

people selling doves, which is an interesting one. But when you look at

what the dove in the temple system represented, the dove was the least

expensive animal that you could purchase for sacrifice. This was the

sacrificial animal for the poor. So when you came into the space, if you did not

have the money to buy a lamb or something greater for your sacrifice, you would

buy a dove. An evidence suggests throughout history that at this point the

religious leaders had begun to charge upwards of 15 to 20 times the normal

price of a dove. Taking advantage of the poorest of their society.

This was an attack on those that lived on the margins. The most vulnerable in

their society were paying the highest costs. And Jesus comes in and says, "This

is not okay." You're dead. You've turned my father's house of prayer for all

nations into a den of robbers. This whole thing is about exploitation. It's

it's using God's name in vain. It is taking advantage of people. And Jesus

refuses to let it stand. This is why when he enters the temple he flips tables. I do

this sometimes because I'm a glutton for punishment. But I'll go on YouTube and

watch other pastors preach about this passage. I've got some of my favorites.

But it's always interesting. Like I watched one where he's like, "This is my

favorite Jesus." Goes in, he's flipping tables showing his power. I'm like, "You

you're missing the point." I wish this was your favorite Jesus. Because he's

there to protect. Not just make a point. Not just a show that he's angry. Not

just to say, "The church is my dad's house." No, no, no. He's saying, "This belongs to all of us."

And you have turned it into something where you are taking advantage of

people. And I'm not okay with that. That's because it's really interesting. And I

don't, maybe some of you guys know this. The question is, how did the temple get to

this point? It wasn't always like this. It was not always a place that just took

advantage of people. The temple was part of the Jews' relationship with God.

The systems don't become corrupt overnight though, right? It kind of permeates and

works its way in. So go back to the beginning briefly. The priesthood in Israel

you go to Exodus, the tribe of Levi. The Levites are the ones that are

commissioned with the charge to serve the people of Israel, to mediate, to

represent the people before God. The Levites were going to be the priestly

line. It was a sacred role. And it was supposed to be a lifelong appointment. The

first high priest was actually Aaron, who was the brother of Moses. God told

Moses, "Get your brother, bring him in." He's going to be the one that is my goal

between. He will be the one that I speak with the people of Israel. He will be the

high priest. And from that point, it became family calling chosen by God. You

inherited basically your high priestly role. And it was good through that

family line. God had chosen it and it would just pass down. And it was lifelong. So

when Aaron died, one of his sons would be the high priest and would just keep

going, right? But by the time of Jesus, something had shifted in the priestly line.

Especially the position of high priest. If you look at, there's a historian just

from the first century. He tells us that by this time rulers, like the Roman

rulers, were now appointing and removing high priests.

This is where names start to matter in this story. They're not just names. They're

people. They're characters in the life of Jesus. They're people. In the year 6 AD, a

man named Anis became a high priest. When he became a high priest, he was

appointed by the Roman authority, Cornelius. He was the Roman governor of like

Syria now, but he was a Roman authority who appointed Anis to become the high

priest. The first time that it was pulled out of the lineage of the Levites. And

someone of the ruling class said, "I want you to be in charge of the religious

elite, those that are in control of the temple and the people of Israel." So he

took over in 6 AD and he served as the high priest until 15 AD when the successor

to Cornelius, Valerius Gractus, actually fired him. Let him go and he brought

somebody else in. In fact, Valerius appointed I think it was three or four

different high priests in a three-year period. They couldn't figure it out.

Couldn't figure out who it should be. You got to pick somebody who kind of

looks holy, but is loyal to you. They don't necessarily have to be

qualified to be the high priest. I started thinking of like political

stuff. But after all of this happened, there's four high priests that were

appointed in the three-year period. And then there was a high priest that was

appointed, his name was Caiaphas. Joseph of Caiaphas, some call him. Caiaphas

became the high priest in the year 18 AD. Now what's interesting is the

connection of Caiaphas to Anis. Anis. Let me say Anis. That's probably better.

Better way I say my fault, guys. I knew I was gonna do that. I was like don't say

Anis. Okay. My bad. All right. So here's the interesting part. You can see it on

here. Caiaphas was the son-in-law to Anis. You guys had all looked at me funny

when I said it, and you're just gonna let me keep going. Just thanks. Oh you guys

were texting. Thanks. Thanks. What's interesting if you look at the lineage of

this in the history, Anis became basically the godfather of the temple.

Caiaphas was his son-in-law who took over as the high priest. And he

actually served for a long time from 18 AD to 36 AD, one of the longest high

priests in that time period. Anis also had five other sons who eventually became

high priest over the next few decades. In fact I think they were the high priest

of the Jewish temple for almost 60 years. So Caiaphas, son-in-law of Anis, Anis,

Anis, godly. A son-in-law of A, he wasn't chosen for his holiness but his loyalty

to Rome, and he is the high priest during Jesus' time during the final week of Jesus.

So y'all stop. Come on. We gotta move on. I got a lot more. We're almost done. So now now

imagine this. The temple is no longer just a spiritual center. It's a system run by a

family appointed by the empire benefiting from control. Every single dollar that

came through the temple passed through the hands of Anis, even not as the high priest.

When you'd come to pay a temple tax and do you change, there was an additional

percentage of interest added. Where did that go? To the priestly line.

A portion of it would go up to Rome to keep Rome happy. But as long as we keep

Rome happy, we get to keep our system working for us. Jesus walks in and he

disrupts this system. And once you see these names, especially the one I keep

mispronouncing, you can't unsee it. And John 11, you know the story Jesus goes in,

he raises Lazarus from the dead, right? Well right after Jesus raises Lazarus

from the dead, we see this, John 11, 47. Then the chief priest in the Pharisees

called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin is like the religious elite of

the time. 71 men, they all come together in a room. They are the ones that run the

temple, the system. They said this, "What are we accomplishing?" they asked, "Here is

this man performing men's signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will

believe in him. And then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and

our nation." Then one of them named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that

year spoke up. You know nothing at all. You do not even realize that it is better

for you, that one man die for the people, that then that the whole nation perish.

He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year, he prophesied that

Jesus would die for the Jewish nation. And not only for that nation, but also for

the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one. Verse 53,

"So from that day on they plotted to take his life." Caiaphas, the high priest, you

see him here. This is right before Passover. Jesus raised his Lazarus from the

dead. I see this guy's a problem. We need to kill him. It's better for one man to

die than for the whole nation to perish. We don't want to lose our nation and our

temple. We can't lose our power of religion and nationalism. This is not a

theology, it was a strategy for them. Protect the system at all costs. And then

later in the story, we know Jesus gets arrested, right? I know we're

jumping, but Jesus gets arrested. And do you know where they take Jesus right

after they arrest him? So they arrest him in the Garden of Gethseman, you

right? Remember this? Peter cuts off a guy's ear. Jesus is like, "Morrow, chill out,

put the ear back on." That's not what we do. He didn't say chill out, sorry. That's

my version. This happens. They arrest him. The Roman authorities arrest Jesus, and

they bring him to John 18 says this. Then they detach the ministers with its

commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him and brought

him first to Annas. Who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that

year? Annas was not in any leadership position, but when you've got a plot to

kill the man that is trying to take away your system, you take him to the God

father first. So he goes to Annas. And Caiaphas was the one who had advised the

Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people. We saw that

when he was talking about right after Lazarus. In fact, in this trial with

Annas, a soldier slaps Jesus. It's the first physical abuse that happens to

Jesus in this time heading to the cross. And for me, I envision like those

movies that I've seen. The mob boss you brought to him, his gun smacks you. Like

this is what is happening here. Annas actually lived, I talked about the houses

that they found in archaeology and in history, from history. He lived in one of

the largest houses in Jerusalem. It was opulent, gold everywhere. Like who does

gold everywhere? Gross. They brought to Annas. He's still pulling the strings, he's

still connected. Then they take him to Caiaphas. He's the high priest and they

take him to the Sanhedrin. The Jewish temple leadership. And then they send him

to Pontius Pilate because temple leadership can't execute him. They need

Rome to do that. And suddenly you see the whole structure piece together.

Religion, power, empire all working together. And then there's a crowd, right?

Pontius Pilate says, I find nothing wrong with this man. But release one

prisoner for Passover. So let's let's let the people decide. And they take him

out. And here's Jesus, here's Barabbas. Who do you want me to release? Give

Barabbas, right? Crucified Jesus. Now, these are the same people that were at the

gates with the poem branches shouting "Hosanna." They would have been afraid to

be even associated with Jesus. They would not have shown up to this trial. The

people that were shown up to this trial would have had connections. So who is

yelling for Jesus to be crucified and give us back Barabbas connected to the

system? So, let me ask you, do you see a bed playing out through the last life or

last week in life of Jesus? Do you see what got him killed? I didn't grow up

hearing it this way. I think I grew up with a very flat reading of scripture where

the story was simplified. It was individualized. It was detached from the

idea of power. But I grew up as a young white man in the American South in Texas.

And so, most of the people around me and most of my leadership was all in that

same vein. And so, when we looked at this system or the story, what I had learned

was I was formed in a system and the text had been given to me like from the

center of the story. So as I got older and started to study and learn and meet new

people, I realized that I needed to see this from other perspectives. I needed to

read this and in this story there are people that are being affected. So you

need to read this from the perspective of the poor. You got to read it with

the excluded. So I started to look and find theologians in the the black

theology camp or liberation theology or womanist theology. And if you know what

womanist theology is actually a theology built off of the life and place of black

women. Because these traditions, ways of looking at the story, they ask different

questions. Liberation theology would ask like how does this text sound to the

oppressed? Black theology through voices like James Cone say you cannot

understand the gospel apart from real suffering in history. Because maybe

you're too far removed from that suffering but I can show you what

suffering looks like right here. Womenist theology through voices like Dolores

Williams remind us to not glorify suffering, especially when the system is

on causing it. She says you were the exact phrase but it's basically we can

remember the cross but to glorify the cross is to glorify suffering at the

hands of the system. When you read this through these lenses you start to see

what Jesus is doing from a different perspective. He's not protecting a

system. He's protecting people. He's not here to protect the church. He's here to

protect the people who are the church. And the part that gets uncomfortable is

this isn't ancient history. When religion aligns with power, when theology

protects systems, when leaders are defended at all cost, when people are

harmed in the name of God, that is not new. And if we're honest, we see it and

we've seen it. We are seeing it right now. So if we go back to the temple, this is

the last story. After all of this happens, Jesus has flip tables. He's

speaking in the temple and this is one of the final stories he tells in the

temple before he leaves that day. Says as he taught, Jesus had watch out for the

teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted

with respect in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the

synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows houses for a

show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely. And then you

continue in this story and a widow walks into the temple. Jesus sat down opposite

the place where the offerings were put and he watched the crowd putting their

money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in long amounts, but a poor

widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has

put more into the treasury than all the others." They all gave out of their wealth

but she, out of her poverty, but in everything all she had to live on. Put in

everything. All she had to live on. And for years we've been told to admire that.

Look at the generosity of this woman giving everything she's got. She is so

faithful. She's giving sacrificially to God. But that's not the point of the

story. What if Jesus isn't celebrating what she just did but he's exposing the

system that is harming the widow who is giving all that she's got? A system that

takes everything from someone who has nothing.

Do you see the system at play? Do you see where Jesus is like, "This is not my

if there's house. This is not how this works." You are taking advantage of the

people you are supposed to be protecting and loving. This poor widow comes in

because he feels that she has to in order to impress and please God she

must get all that she has. You are taking advantage of her. The system is

broken and I must fix it. So we have to question underneath all of this. Like

where does God stand in this system? And the answer over and over and over again

is the same. God stands with the vulnerable that love moves toward the

marginalized and Jesus protects his neighbor at all costs. Just for all this

in the temple Jesus teaches and he says that the greatest commands are to love

God and to love your neighbor. And if love is real then we see Jesus and we see

love always fights for neighbor. Not just gentle but honestly not just kind but

courageously because sometimes love looks like healing and sometimes looks

like truth spoken to power and breaking a system that's harming our neighbors.

Sometimes love looks like turning over tables that should have never been

standing in the first place. Jesus was shining a light on oppression on

exploitation on a harm of neighbor. He was showing how power and the gospel they

don't mix because power dehumanizes creates hierarchies and it corrupts the

heart. Jesus was calling us back to the love of God which always manifests itself

as love of neighbor especially the most vulnerable amongst us.

So this is our call from Jesus himself to go love well because that's who we're

made to be and that's what will break the system. I love you guys we'll see you

next week for Easter.