Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’, but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.'”  Matthew 21:12-13 NKJV

Two things we see Jesus do on Monday (after Palm Sunday) is curse the fig tree that was not bearing fruit. This is an illustration of Israel; despite its many advantages it was a nation that was not bearing fruit.

Then Jesus cleanses the temple. He did this at the beginning of His ministry and again near the end. The temple was supposed to be a house of worship, but it had been turned into a den of thieves.

Jesus’ death is drawing near. He knows this. He knows that He is about to die for his followers, but also for those who oppose Him. His death is to bring salvation to anyone who chooses to believe in Him and accept Him as their Savior.  We can see Jesus’ disappointment in the Jews as He curses the fig tree and as He cleanses the temple. We know that Jesus certainly does not want to die, but He is doing God’s will so that all mankind will have a chance at eternal life.

Many people use this Scripture passage to explain their own bad behavior, but don’t get it twisted. Jesus was upset because of the profaning of God’s house or the Holy Temple. We should be angry at the same thing. There are so-called churches today that preach a prosperity gospel. They are using their platforms to make money and lots of it. They are using their churches to make huge profits for themselves. We have so-called pastors that are actually asking people to send money to them for things like jets. They are building palatial estates from money collected in their churches. They are not using this money to further God’s kingdom but to build an earthly kingdom of their own.  I wouldn’t want to be them on judgment day, just sayin’. If Jesus was angry about this going on in the temple back in His day imagine how upset He must be with those false prophets today.

The gospel of Mark separates Holy week into the days of the week and from reading Mark 11 and 12 we can see that Jesus had a very busy start to Holy week. On Monday He cursed the fig tree and cleansed the temple.

Tuesday, His disciples saw the withered fig tree. Jesus used this to teach them what they can do if they truly believe and have faith in God.  Jesus taught about faith and forgiveness. His authority was questioned. He spoke of being the cornerstone. They tried to trip Him up about taxes, He told them to give to Ceasar what is Caesar and to God what is God’s. When questioned about the greatest of the commandments, he told them to love the Lord with all their heart and love others as they love themselves. He spoke about his deity, about pride and giving and about the future. He warned them that many will come in his name. He warned them not to be mislead by false prophets and to be alert because we do not know when He will return for us. He calmly addressed every issue brought to Him. Even though they were trying to trick Him, He did not become angry.

Jesus was not angry because of what they did to Him. He was angry about how they dishonored God and His Holy Temple. Are you angry today? Is it because of selfish reasons or because of the way the world seems to be going against God?

My friend if we are not angry today about the way people are dishonoring God and His church, there is something wrong with us. Our anger should not be a self-centered anger. If we are having problems, we can take them to God. But we should be angry over false prophets leading people astray. We should be angry over the hatred and bitterness we see in the world today. We should be angry about churches being misused. Just as Jesus’ time was short, I believe ours it too. It’s time for us to get angry about the things that disappoint God and make Him angry. But we must remember not to sin in our anger, but to do what we can to lovingly restore those who have fallen into sin. Turn to God today. Trust in Him and live a life of obedience to Him. If you must be angry, be sure that it is righteous anger and not the kind of selfish anger that causes us to sin.

Have a great day!