Begin with prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you. 

Read Mark 11:15-33 in your Bible. 

As you are reading, ask the questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how as well as any repeated words or phrases. We’ll go through these together. Look for a verse(s) that stand out to you the most. The one that grabs your attention. 

Now let’s go through these questions together.

Who? Who is speaking, who is being mentioned?

Jesus, Peter, religious leaders: chief priests, scribes, elders, and crowd

When?

Continuation from the previous verses. Keep on going.

Where?

Jerusalem

What? What is happening in these verses?

Jesus came to the temple, saw that the temple was turned into a marketplace. He drove out all those who were participating in this corruption. Afterwards He began teaching in the temple. The next day on the way back to the city, Peter notices the fig tree that was cursed in verses 12-14 and that it was completed withered. Jesus gives a little sermonette on faith and prayer. As Jesus was walking through the temple, the chief priest, scribes and elders question Jesus about his authority to do what He did in the in the temple the day before, to which Jesus responded with a question for them to answer. The religious leaders cannot answer without cause a problem one way or another. They don’t give an answer and neither does Jesus answer their question.

Why? Why is this being mentioned? Why is this/will be happening?

All of this is showing what is about to take place with the temple and to understand the authority that Jesus walked in. Overall, this was a foretelling of the judgement that would be coming to the Temple and the city very soon. He was emphasizing the purpose of the Temple. It was a house of prayer and worship not a place for sin and corruption.

How does this happen/take place?

Jesus drives everyone apart of the corruption out of the temple as well as challenging the religious leaders. 

Repeated words or phrases?

Temple, prayer(-ing), authority, faith/believe

Before we continue any further, what verse(s) stood out to you? 

Verse 17 is the verse that stuck with me in this reading. “He said to them, ‘The Scriptures declare ‘My temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.’”

What does this mean?

The chapter is centered around the Temple and Jesus’ authority. Once again Mark is demonstrating who Jesus was as the Messiah, who fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. We know this from Jesus’ entrance into the city earlier in the chapter. But in the last episode, I shared about how Jesus went to the Temple and saw all the corruption taking place there. Our story continues here. Jesus goes back to the Temple and drives out everyone apart of the corruption. You see the Temple, a place for worship, it was turned into a marketplace where people were exchanging money and selling animals for the sacrifices that the Jews were required to do. The people were forced to use “temple” currency in order to purchase the proper animals for sacrifice as it was custom to do during Passover. But this particular area that was now a marketplace was the place where the Gentiles, the non-Jews, was allowed to enter for a time of prayer and worship unto God. Of course the religious leaders were upset with what Jesus did because they got a portion of those transactions. This is also why the religious leaders questioned Jesus’ authority to do what he did by driving them out since it affected them. Jesus was righteously indignant for what these leaders had allowed to take place in this house of God. This brings me back to verse 17 when Jesus quoted the Old Testament (Isaiah 56:7), “‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

What does this mean to me?

In the previous verse, I talked about how our lives should be producing good fruit, and that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit according to 1 Corinthians 6:19. So if our bodies are the temple, then what are we doing with our temple?! Is it producing fruit? Is our temple a house of prayer or is it a den of thieves? The den of thieves is where the thieves would go and hide out. So are we hiding out and allowing sin to remain within our temple? I don’t know about you, but my desire for my temple is not only to produce good fruit like I talked about in the last episode, but to be a place of worship and prayer to God, honoring him in all that I say and do, inside and out.

Just a quick note because I don’t want to ignore verses 22-25 since there’s a lesson in it as well. Right after Peter points out the withered fig tree that Jesus cursed because it wasn’t producing any fruit, Jesus talks about faith and prayer. Anything we ask for in faith through prayer will be answered, but this is right after the fig tree is mentioned. God will answer our prayers, not because of our positive mental attitude, but because we are producing good spiritual fruit, forgiven those who have offended or hurt us, and had the faith that God will answer our prayers for the benefit of God’s Kingdom.

What verse spoke out to you and what is God trying to show you through it? Write it out in your journal. Then say a prayer and have a conversation with God about it.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank you for speaking to us today. Let my temple be one that honors you with prayer and worship. Help me remove any sin or any corruption that needs to be eliminated from my life. I want to be used by you, and I know this is just part of the process to being a light for others to see you. Thank you for your grace and your mercy as I learn through this journey. In Jesus name I pray. AMEN.