False Religion Makes Jesus Angry
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Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Mark 11. We come this morning to a portion in Scripture that rounds out more fully our understanding of our Savior. So many believers have incomplete Jesus’ in our heads. Like a portrait half-painted, our understanding of Jesus is undone. We know Jesus is meek and mild, we know he’s a friend of sinners, we know he’s a gentle and lowly savior. But for some of us, that’s all he is.
In our text this morning we encounter Jesus making a full frontal assault on the false religion that had infected God’s people. It’s an amazing insight into our Lord’s heart. He is by his very nature loving and merciful, and his anger burns against those who demean his love and mercy.
It’s an attack on self-righteousness, false religion. We need to listen up this morning. Open rebellion is a threat to our souls. But smiling, neat, nice, false religion is a much more devious and invisible danger. I think Grace Rancho is not in danger of following the devil into open rebellion. I think Grace Rancho is always in danger of being proud, self-reliant, and self-righteous because we’re quite convinced we’d never fall for the devil’s tricks.
A few weeks ago I mentioned Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, “The Admirable Conjunction of Diverse Excellencies in Christ Jesus” where he admires Christ’s infinite highness and infinite lowness. Here’s another pair of excellencies in Christ: tenderhearted gentleness and lionhearted anger. This morning we encounter a passage that describes the righteous anger of Jesus.
Mark 11:12-21.We’re going to see 3 things that make Jesus angry. 1) Hypocrisy makes Jesus angry. 2) Greed makes Jesus angry. 3) Self-absorption makes Jesus angry.
Let’s get our bearings. It’s a monumental day in redemptive history. Two weeks ago we spoke about Palm Sunday, Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem. Now it’s Monday of the Passion Week. By Thursday he’ll be joining his disciples for the Last Supper, he’ll wash his disciples’ feet, and by Friday he’ll be on the cross. He came into roaring crowds on Sunday, he’ll be killed by Friday.
Verse 12 he’s coming from Bethany. Remember, he and his disciples are staying in Bethany for the evenings. It’s a 2 mile walk from Bethany to Jerusalem.
The text says that he is hungry. Jesus experienced hunger, like you have. And verse 13, “seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.” Fig trees didn’t necessarily grow in large groves of trees, so it was common to see a single fig tree standing out from the rest of the landscape. It says he saw it “in leaf,” meaning it looked big and green and healthy and sometimes, when the leaves are full, you can expect to find fruit.
So the tree has the appearance of health and seems to be a promised source for food, and he goes up to it and there’s nothing on it. What seemed to be fruitful is empty. The text says, “When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.” What appears to be fruitful isn’t. Jesus inspects the tree and finds no fruit at all. Mark tells us that it wasn’t the season for figs. So was Jesus simply ignorant of when fig trees produce fruit?
No, it wasn’t uncommon for some fig trees to bear fruit early. But it happens from time to time. Now Jesus sees the fig tree, which appears fruitful but isn’t - and says, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And he says it loud enough that the disciples hear it. The disciples understood this to be a curse - verse 21: “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” Jesus saw a tree that appeared fruitful but was fruitless, and he cursed it.
Now, this incident with the fig tree must be understood in connection with his entrance into the temple. What he does with the fig tree is an analogy of what happens at the temple. The fig tree looked fruitful but was barren. The temple looks busy, looks active, looks alive, but is dead. And what he does in the temple is a graphic visual of what God is doing with Israel as a nation.
In other words, in the cursing of the fig tree we see the fundamental problem with the false religion Israel had embraced: hypocrisy.
#1 Hypocrisy makes Jesus angry: Leaves, but no fruit. Outward appearance, inward barrenness. This is what Israel, as a nation, was. They had priests and sacrifices and rituals and even the temple, but upon inspection, it was empty, barren, void - of anything that pleased God.
Israel was chosen by God, redeemed miraculously, given the law, given the covenants, but had, throughout the generations, become entrenched in hypocrisy. Israel was all leaves and no fruit.
Hypocrisy is particularly repugnant to Jesus. He called the hypocrites, “white-washed tombs” and a “brood of vipers” in Matthew 23. He reserves his harshest invectives for hypocrites.
Sometimes Christians are wrongly accused of hypocrisy. Your sin doesn’t make you a hypocrite.
But sometimes, it is an entirely accurate accusation. How many times have we heard about Christians who lived double lives? The kind of person who always agrees with truth and wisdom outwardly, even while pursuing selfish indulgence inwardly?
A text like this causes us to pause: Are you, perhaps, living as a hypocrite? Your aim is to present something outwardly about yourself that is not true inwardly? Are you more concerned about looking godly, or being godly?
Do you worship God in private, confess sins in private, rejoice in the gospel in private? Or are you, spiritually speaking, non-existent when you leave the crowd?
Are you becoming more legalistic, but calling it holiness? Or are you becoming more lazy, and calling it Christian liberty? Are you becoming more critical, and calling it discernment? Could it be that you are sliding into the sin of hypocrisy?
You can deceive some people for a while. I’ve known people who have spent years playacting as a Christian before their hypocrisy was exposed. You will not deceive God.
Here’s the irony of hypocrisy. The one who is most deceived is the hypocrite himself. God is not deceived. Often people can sniff out the hypocrisy. You’re only deceiving yourself.
Church, this is why we pray prayers of confession. They remind us that we cannot cover our own sins before God, but that we must bring them to him, remembering that he has covered them with the blood of Christ. Prayers of confession remind us who we really are. They wipe away the facepaint and makeup we’ve been trying to hide behind.
Hypocrisy angered Jesus. And he cursed it. But that’s not all that angered Jesus.
# 2 Greed makes Jesus angry. Vs 15-16: “And they came to Jerusalem. And 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. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.”
Jesus the night before, Jesus went straight to the temple, examined it, and left. This time, he goes straight to the temple to completely upend the entire system. It actually is a fulfillment of Malachi 3:1, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.” Jesus comes suddenly to his temple.
It’s his temple. Jesus is not invading their temple. They’ve invaded his.
Now to visualize this you have to understand that there was a huge courtyard outside the temple that was considered temple grounds. It was called the “Court of the Gentiles” because it was a place where Jews and Non-Jews, Gentiles, could come to worship God.
The Court of the Gentiles, however, had turned into a bazaar. Remember, during Passover week, thousands of Jews would come to Jerusalem to make sacrifices. The sacrificial animals they used had to be without blemish. So you had one of two options: You could bring your animal from home, walk it hundreds of miles, hope it doesn’t break a leg - if it does it can no longer be sacrificed. Then you would get to the temple to make your sacrifice, the priests would have to examine your animal to ensure it was kosher, and then, if it all checked out, you could go ahead with the sacrifice.
Or, and this is what most Jews did, you could save yourself the hassle of bringing your animal from home, worrying if it blemishes itself and worrying that it might not pass the kosher test. Instead, you’d bring money so that you could buy an animal. You’d get to the Court of the Gentiles and there would be money-changers, because you most likely had Roman money with false gods on it, and the temple wouldn’t accept that money. So you’d change your Roman money for acceptable Jewish money, and then you would buy a pre-certified kosher animal, and then you could make your sacrifice.
Of course, this became good business. The animal sellers could jack up the price because where else would they go? And here’s the thing - the Jewish high priest oversaw and profited from all this. It was all part of the system, and the system was driven not by a desire for pure worship, but by a desire for money. It was driven by greed.
Now frankly, what’s happening in the temple is a microcosm of what was happening in Israel as a nation. Of course there was a faithful remnant, but as a nation, Israel had embraced a false religion that was built on the greed of its leaders. They were greedy for man’s praise so they prayed loudly in the streets and made big, public announcements of their tithes. They were greedy for power and prestige so they consolidated their power and rejected anyone who threatened it. Jesus accuses them of “devouring widows’ houses” - they bilked the poorest of the poor, telling them that their gifts would honor the Lord.
What’s happening in the temple is simply a reflection of the whole system. The high priest and his family get rich on the backs of poor, traveling pilgrims trying to offer faithful sacrifices.
So we have to understand what Jesus is doing here. He’s not merely doing this because he doesn’t like that people are buying and selling. No. Some call this a cleansing of the temple, suggesting that Jesus simply wanted to reform the activities in the temple, get reoriented in the right direction. No. Just as Jesus cursed the fig tree for appearing fruitful but being barren, Jesus is pronouncing judgment upon the false religion built on greed and power.
He’s driving out buyers and sellers. He’s turning over tables. Coins are clinging everywhere. Chairs are being thrown down. Verse 16 - no one is allowed to walk through. Jesus assaults the entire system. No more purchasing sacrificial animals. His overturning of the money-changers is an assault against the profiteering of the high priest’s family. If no one can pass through the temple, no sacrificial activity can occur. Jesus is shutting the whole place down.
And not because he’s trying to reform it. In fact, in 13:2, he says the temple’s about to be destroyed. He’s not trying to cleanse it and let it go on its merry way. This is a prophetic declaration of judgment. This is the curse of the fig tree being enacted in real space and time.
The corrupt system had turned from a pure devotion to God to a perverted devotion to money, prestige, and power. It didn’t happen overnight. The prophets of the Old Testament warned against this. Jeremiah accused Israel of having shepherds who are more concerned about themselves than about their people: Jer. 34:2 “Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them…” And so what’s God’s verdict: “Behold, I am against the shepherds...I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.”
The true purpose of the temple - the worship of God - had been corrupted. It had turned into a place where people jockeyed for wealth and power.
Paul says the church is God’s temple. Do you know how much Jesus hates greed in the church? Jesus left the riches of heaven and became more that we might become right, and how many of us are like Scrooge with our finances?
Or worse - and may it never be here - How angry must Jesus be at those false teachers who have made their millions claiming to speak for Jesus. Jesus is against them. And insofar as we are following and supporting them, Jesus is against us.
Greed has no place in Christ’s church. Christian, it should have no place in your heart. If greed is ruling the courtyard of your heart, Jesus wants to barge in and turn over some tables. What do you think he’s given you money for? What do you think he’s given you life and breath for? All that you have if for him! Banish greed today - and do so by being definitively generous!
If there is greed in your heart, would you confess it to the Lord? We must not have it take root here. Would you ask for forgiveness? He will grant it, and help you realign your heart to be more like his - which denies self and gives freely and generously.
# 3 Self-absorption makes Jesus angry. Verse 13: “And he was teaching them and saying to them, ‘Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers.”
Jesus quotes Isaiah 56 to show how they had been abusing the temple. Now, many people think that Jesus is quoting this because he wants to reclaim the temple as a place of prayer. But when you read the verse he’s quoting in context, his point isn’t that the temple should be a place of prayer - as if preaching and singing and fellowship are not right.
Let me read the whole thing: Isaiah 56:6 “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant - these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
In other words, the whole context shows Jerusalem being a place of worship, of prayer, of sacrifices - for all peoples, for all nations. Jesus’ concern in this moment, is that the temple had become something of a nationalistic shrine. In fact, though there was a Court of the Gentiles where gentiles were allowed to come, during Jesus’ day there was a small wall farther in where Gentiles could not go, and warned them that crossing the line was punishable by death.
What we need to see is that God has always been concerned about his glory among the nations. From Genesis 12, where Abraham’s offspring was to be a blessing to all nations. To God's giving of the law, which was to make them a holy nation and a light to all nations. People often ask, “Why did God only care about Israel in the Old Testament?” It’s a complete misunderstanding! God chose Israel to be his tool for demonstrating his glory among the nations! Israel was to be the canvas upon which God painted his own character, so that the nations of the world would see Israel and come to know their God!
This is why Jesus is rebuking them. The temple, which was intended to be a place for even the Gentiles to come and worship the one true God, had become a nationalistic shrine, and Israel had become so self-absorbed that they did not concern themselves about the nations.
They were so concerned about their own comforts, their own agendas, their own successes, that their whole world had shrunk to the size of their own concerns. And they began to conceive of God not as a God of all nations, a God concerned for all nations, but rather some tribal deity.
Church, do you realize that God has a heart for the nations? The gospel we have here came from across the world, and it must continue to go across the world, to every nation. We do not exist for ourselves. We exist for God, and God gave marching orders to the church - to make disciples of all nations!
Did you know that’s why we are praying through the nations of the world? Because that’s the heart of God, and we want our hearts to be like his. But did you know, church, that you ought to have a heart to see God glorified in Africa and Asia and Chile and Japan? Did you know that you should care about those things?
Some of you pray regularly for our missionaries. We have them in the back of our bulletin, and whenever you get to that page, you pray for them. Some of you have gone further; you’ve reached out to them. You sent them an email, you asked for specific prayer requests.
A Christian who does not think, or pray, or participate in world missions is not very much like Christ. And a church that does not think, or pray, or participate in world missions has abandoned its post, has shirked its mission, and is acting like God is a genie.
I love John Stott’s story about this: “I remember some years ago visiting a church incognito. I sat in the back row. . . . When we came to the pastoral prayer, it was led by a lay brother, because the pastor was on holiday. So he prayed that the pastor might have a good holiday. Well, that’s fine. Pastors should have good holidays. Second, he prayed for a lady member of the church who was about to give birth to a child that she might have a safe delivery, which is fine. Third, he prayed for another lady who was sick, and then it was over. That’s all there was. It took 20 seconds. I said to myself, it’s a village church with a village God. They have no interest in the world outside. There was no thinking about the poor, the oppressed, the refugees, the places of violence, world evangelization.”
Oh, may our prayers never convey the blasphemous thought that our God is a village God, a sort of modern tribal Grace Rancho deity. No! Grace Rancho should pray and give and labor in such a way to advance the gospel to the nations. We should support and send and become missionaries. We should listen and learn from them. We should participate and pray for them. Why? Because we are God’s people, and our God is a global God.
Quick commercial. Tonight we’ll have some missionaries visiting. They’ve been in Papua New Guinea for 16 years. We will hear their story and pray for them. You won’t want to miss it.
Back to the gospel of Mark: the false religion had crowded out concern for the nations. Instead, they had become a den of robbers, that is, the temple was like a thieves’ hideout, where they could spend all their days in greedy, self-absorbed living while feeling pretty good about themselves because of temple activity.
Verse 18: “And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.”
The crowds were astonished. The religious leaders were afraid of doing anything to Jesus because the crowds loved him. But still they planned to kill him. The darkness hates the light.
They were angry at Jesus. Murderous anger. They were set on killing him. Now it wasn’t a question of if, but a question of how and when. They needed to do it when the crowds weren’t there. They needed to do it under cover of darkness.
This is always a truism, hypocrites hate to be exposed. They are more willing to murder than to be exposed.
How did they get there? Is it possible that we can drift into the same false religion they embraced? Yes. How? Care more about appearance than reality. Dive headlong into spiritual things, while actually only living for yourself. Convince yourself - and others - you’re fine.
One of the ways you can be sure you’re slipping into false religion is this: like these religious people, you simply don’t need Jesus very much.
How badly do you need Christ each day? Or are you, like these religionists, slowly shoving him out of your life. Do you pray to him? Do you seek his strength? Do you trust his promises? Do you rejoice in his grace? I’ve been thinking about a quote from HB Charles a lot this week: “The things you neglect to pray about are the things you trust you can handle on your own.”
If so, let me remind you why Jesus was in Jerusalem. He was there to offer himself as a payment for sin on the cross. But only for those who humble themselves, admit their need for mercy, and in repentance embrace him as Lord.
Jesus sees your heart. Jesus knows whether your devotion is true or fake. Oh sinner, Jesus will soon come to judge the world. Just as he judged the temple, he will judge your own heart. What will we find there? You will not deceive him. You cannot trick him. You cannot swindle him.
But you can receive mercy if you bend the knee, confess him as your Lord, and receive by faith his abounding grace.