Mark 11:15

When they returned to the temple, Jesus was very upset about the buying and selling of sacrificial animals and the money exchange. It was supervised by priests, who alone could certify that a potential sacrificial offering was acceptable. Selling animals for sacrifices guaranteed that they only used animals that had no imperfections in temple services.

They placed exchange tables throughout Jerusalem and inside the temple. They did this on the fifteenth of Adar, the month before Passover. The exchange rate usually had a 4- to 8-percent fee. Because of the large number of half-shekels (see Exodus 30:11–16) and sacrifices involved, the money exchange and the sale of sacrificial animals was quite profitable.

Jewish writings of the time criticized priests for gaining wealth by taking advantage of poor people. Jesus did not oppose the temple or the system of sacrifices (Mark 1:44; Matthew 5:17–19, 23; 17:24–27; Luke 17:14; Acts 6:7; 21:20–26). But he saw this profit-making as theft. It did not honor the temple as a holy place.

The actions of Jesus likely affected fewer people than many think. These actions occurred in one area of the large Court of the Gentiles. Most people in other parts of the temple did not see it happen.

The lack of interference by the Roman authorities suggests that they did not observe the event or did not regard it as a riot or a political rebellion. At the trial of Jesus, they did not mention this action. It was not a big attempt to stop all activities like this, but it was a symbolic act pointing to the judgment that was coming upon the temple and the city.

The largest area of the temple in Jerusalem was the Court of the Gentiles. Covered porches surrounded it. This was probably where the selling took place.

• In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as the Messiah is closely associated with the cleansing of the temple (see 11:15–17; compare Matthew 21:1–17; Luke 19:28–48). In John's Gospel, the cleansing of the temple occurs early in the ministry of Jesus (John 2:13–22).

  It is uncertain whether there were two separate cleansings of the temple (an early event recorded in John and this later event recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke) or just one cleansing recorded at different times by John and the other gospel writers.

• In Mark’s Gospel, the story of the cursed fig tree (Mark 11:12–14, 20–25) surrounds the story of Jesus cleansing the temple (11:15–19). This literary pattern, called an inclusio (a structure that places one story around another like bookends), shows that the cleansing of the temple should be understood as an act of judgment, not simply an attempt to reform the temple.

• This section focuses on the relationship between Jesus and the temple in Jerusalem. In Mark’s Gospel, all the events and teachings connected with Jerusalem are gathered in 11:1–16:8.

• The section ends with the second long teaching discourse of Jesus (13:1–37) (see 4:1–34). In this discourse, Jesus speaks about the destruction of the temple and the coming of the Son of Man. This teaching is the high point of many warnings in 11:1–13:37 about God’s coming judgment on Jerusalem and the temple (see especially 11:12–25 and 12:1–12).