The Church as a Den of Thieves and Robbers? Is the past really past? (Mark 11:15-17)

Context: I read a lot. For my mental health, or at least that's what I tell myself. And certainly I feel more balanced when I am reading, learning, imagining. More than that, the reading, learning, and imagining help me see the world in new ways.


For example, when I read about the Nazi children, I begin to see parallels in the world today, ways the Western world has chosen to overlook its own complicity in oppression, whether it is the Jews or indigenous people, blacks, Asians, Latinx.

That helps me see the problems in my country, the West, and the world in new ways. And it helps me see myself in new ways.

That's my most recent example, but it's early still, and I want to get to my point before I forget. I have spent a lot of time in Philippians this summer. Who am I as a member of the community of God? How do I fit in? How should I live with others? How can I grow in love and service? How can I be like Christ?

That's probably why I started reading about the Enneagram, but now I'm off topic.

As I spent time in Philippians, bouncing back and forth between the four very short chapter, I remembered that if I really wanted to know how I fit in, how I should live with others, how I can be like Christ, I need to know Christ. Well, I remembered it because Paul says as much in Philippians 3. (I want to know Christ.)

I also have questions like, Jesus, if you are really king, what are you doing about the problems in the world? Why is there still so much oppression? When will you intervene?

And so I started reading the Gospels, starting with Mark because it is the shortest and the most straightforward. I used to go through them regularly, and for some reason I got out of the habit. I'm asking a few questions as I read.

• Who is Jesus? What can I learn about him in order to know him better? What do Mark's descriptions of what Jesus does and says tell me about Jesus' character? 
• How does Jesus interact with people? 
• What parallels can I see between the people Jesus interacts with and the people I interact with? What do Jesus' actions show me about my own interactions? 
• What can I learn about how Jesus sees people? 

And that brings me to this post focused on Mark 11:15-17:

    Upon reaching the temple that morning, Jesus dealt with those who were selling and buying animals for sacrifices and drove them out of the area. He turned over the tables of those who exchanged money for the temple pilgrims and the seats of those selling birds, and He physically prevented anyone from carrying anything through the temple.Jesus (to those who were listening): Didn’t the prophets write, “My house will be called a house of prayer, for all the people”? But you have made it into a “haven for thieves.”

I've heard a lot of sermons about this passage in my 59 years of attending church. I don't think I remember any of them, except for some vague justifications for God's people getting angry. And I've seen this passage used to condemn selling things outside the church and paying to attend concerts or speakers.

But the passage stood out to me today as I asked my questions?

• What can I learn about Jesus? Jesus stands up for justice and stands against injustice. These sellers are working in the name of God to take advantage of people already oppressed by the Romans, by life in general. If this were a book and not a blog, I would do a lot of research to describe the oppression, the taxes, the corruption of the priests, the longing for connection to God, the weights and measures that were inaccurate. I guess I've heard all those things in sermons. 
• Bottom line, when Jesus sees the church complicit with injustice, perpetuating injustice instead of devoted to prayer and worship, he speaks out, he steps in. 

And so my next question, in response to this observation, is what parallels do we see in our world today? In what ways is the Western church complicit with oppression, injustice? (I'm not saying other churches don't have problems, but I'm not in those other churches. I'm in America.)

• Historically the American church justified slavery, genocide of indigenous peoples, othering of blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, anyone who wasn't white. Even when those things weren't happening indirectly, attitudes persisted, and the church didn't defend equal treatment of everyone. 
• Historically, the church held that women were not equal and tried to keep women controlled by men, their fathers and then their husbands, even if those fathers and husbands were abusive. 
• Historically, the church co-oped cultural and political views of race and women and made them God's views. 

This was the problem Jesus saw outside the temple. And this was a problem with the historic American church. 

• Are we doing that today? In what ways? To what extent? 
• How are we doing in defending the causes of equality? Do we still see our white selves and our white culture as superior to other cultures? Do we equate elements of our white culture with Scripture? 
• Do our churches work to alleviate oppression, or do we perpetuate some of that oppression, that othering, attitudes of superiority, all in the name of God?

So I'm just asking questions. I don't have examples. If I were making an argument, I would need those. And a lot more than questions. All I've got are questions. 

I don't think the answers are yes/no answers. I think this is on a continuum, that we're doing better at some things than we used to, that we're changing in some ways. 

And finally, what about me? Do I need to spend more time exploring this idea? Do I need to do something? I don't know. I'm just thinking. 

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