Mark 11: A House of Prayer

In Mark 11, Jesus famously overturns the tables of those buying and selling in the Temple. He blocks trade from moving through the courts of the Temple as well.  In the course of His actions, Jesus quotes from two Old Testament verses to justify what He is doing.  The second verse from Jeremiah 7 makes obvious sense.  The merchants have turned the Temple into a den of robbers by taking advantage of those who shop there.  But why the first quote?  Why does Jesus say that the selling of the merchandise detracted from the Temple's mission of being a house of prayer for all nations?

Many scholars believe that the buying and selling of the merchandise was going on in the court of the Gentiles.  This was the part of the Temple into which people of all nationalities could enter.  Jews could move beyond this point to inner courts to pray and worship but Gentiles could not. This was as far as a non Jew could go if they wanted to worship God. It would have been very hard for a Gentile to come to the Temple to worship the true God with the bleeting of sheep, ther cooing of doves, and the sounds of merchants hawking their wares filling her ears.  The selling of merchandise upset Jesus because it compromised the Temple's mission of evangelism. 

The Temple was more concerned with the needs of insiders than with outsiders.  It wanted to cater to faithful, sacrifice-offering Jews more than to those who were not yet part of the community.  This same mindset troubles many churches today.  We need to remember that as much as the Church exists for its members, it also exists for those who are not yet members.  We should always make sure that room and space is provided for those yet to join and to come.