Word Live: Proper Purpose
Jesus once asked someone, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’(Mark 10:51). How would you answer if he asked you today?
Bible passage
Mark 11:12–19
Jesus curses a fig-tree and clears the temple courts
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.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
After I had been living in Romania a few years, I made my first trip to Hungary. I’d heard there was a well-known British supermarket there, so I was excited to find all my favourite products. But you can imagine my disappointment when the shop only stocked the same things I could easily find in Romania. No proper British teabags!
Jesus went to the fig-tree expectant but found no figs (vs 12,13). Mark’s comment about the season for figs might make you think that Jesus is being unreasonable to be disappointed at finding none. However, some commentators point out that fig trees can produce fruit all year, and certainly before coming into full leaf. The main fig harvest was around the time of the Passover. So it was perfectly reasonable for Jesus to expect to find figs that day.
It was also perfectly reasonable to expect to find the Temple full of worshippers bringing sacrifices, prayers and praise. Instead what Jesus found was a corrupt market place (v 17). So here is a kind of enacted parable. What does Jesus find when he looks at our lives? Are we fulfilling our God-ordained purpose? Are we bringing him glory? Do we have a great show of leaves – looking grand and impressive – but little actual fruit?
Author
Alison Allen
Respond
Take a look at the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22,23. Is Jesus able to find fruit in your life?
Deeper Bible study
‘Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools’.1
The Temple in Jerusalem: grand, beautiful and of central importance to the Jewish people. It was built as a place for God to dwell – being present, though not contained; and as a place for God’s people to meet him through prayer and worship.2 In yesterday’s passage, we read of God himself – in the person of Jesus – entering the Temple (v 11). What did he find? A worshipful community of people seeking God and ready to meet him? Quite the contrary! Just as the fig tree failed to deliver what it promised (v 13), so it was with the Temple.3 The Temple courts were bustling with people who were not seeking and serving God but seeking and serving their own interests. There were those who were indifferent to worship – who were using the Temple courts as a thoroughfare as they advanced their trade (v 16). There were those who were hindering rather than helping worship – selling animals for sacrifices at a profit, making the Temple a ‘den of robbers’ (vs 15,17). No wonder Jesus was indignant.
Of course this was not always what awaited Jesus in the Temple. We remember Simeon and Anna – righteous and worshipful people who were drawn to the Temple in eager anticipation of meeting the Messiah. When they encountered the infant Jesus, they recognised him as such and praised God.4
What would Jesus find in your church today? A ‘house of prayer for all nations’ (v 17) – a place of true worship, where people are seeking and serving God? Or a ‘den of robbers’ – a place of sham worship,5 where people are seeking and serving their own interests? What would Jesus find in your heart as you worship him there? What of your life, as you live it as an ongoing sacrifice of worship to him?6
Meditate upon Psalm 27:4. Pray for yourself, that you may be one who worships in Spirit and in truth. Pray also for your church.
1Eccl 5:1 21 Kings 8 3 R Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries: Mark, IVP, 1995, p250–251 4Luke 2:22–38 5Jer 7:1–11 6Rom 12:1
Author
Fiona Silley
