Meandering through Mark

The MARKetplace in the Temple | Gareth Nicholson | 30 Mar 2025

Is the Marketplace meant to be in the temple? Or are you meant to be the temple that transforms the marketplace? In this story in Mark 11, set against the themes of God's desire to be with his people and for his people to do good to others, we learn that Jesus has a different idea about the temple and what goes on there!

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Text Mark 11:12-15

Two truths that reoccur throughout the Bible:

1/ God Desires To Be With His People

2/ God's Aeople Are To Do Good

Backdrop

In Genesis (Eden) and Revelation (New Creation), heaven and earth overlap perfectly, and God dwells with his people.

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. Genesis 2:8
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:3

However, things go wrong when people reject God in Gen 3.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4

God pursues his people

PROMISE Gen 12
TABERNALCE that echoes Eden “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. Exodus 25:8-9
David decides to build a TEMPLE (2 Sam 7) which Solomon undertakes (960BC)
Soon, the people's hearts turn away from God, but they feel secure because they have the temple.
4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
9 “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. Jeremiah 7
Later, God's presence leaves the temple (586BC)
18 Then the glory of the LORD departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. Ezekiel 10:18

Enter Jesus...

Like the fig tree, the temple appears to be good from far, but it's far from good.

When the PLACE is more important than the PRESENCE, the PEOPLE are full of PRETENCE

The temple is supposed to be the place where heaven is touching earth/ Jesus, carrying the presence of God, not in the temple, but outside the temple. The place set aside for foreigners to come to worship is taken up by trading market.

He quotes: Isa 56 - which speaks of the inclusive heart of God - all people

He links back to Jerimah 7:11 "a den of robbers" - a place where evil is the normal

The people of God don't have the presence of God, and they're not doing good.

It seems the fig tree, is a metaphor for the religious system, which looks good from far, but is far from good.

The clearing out of the temple, and the withering of the fig tree, it's as if Jesus is saying, we're done with this idea of the temple, and it's now time for a different kind of temple - a living temple, where heaven meets earth.

God's Presence is now in His People not a Place (building)

It would be a mistake to transpose that temple onto a church building today and think "There is a café outside, Jesus wouldn't like that". Jesus has become the new temple "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19).

○ He is the person where the presence of God is

○ He is the high priest

○ He is the ultimate sacrifice

By His Spirit, the Church (ekkelsia) carries the presence of God (1 Peter 2:4-6)

4 As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, 1 Peter 2:4-5

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16

At the end of the story, there is no physical temple

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Revelation 21:22

God's People Produce Good Fruit

Don't be all leaves and no fruit! Look good from afar, but be far from good.

What is the opposite of good fruit?

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. Galatians 5:19-21

What is good fruit?

2 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control Galatians 5:22-23

Fruit is for others!

Gifts are given, fruit is grown. It takes time. Stay connected to the vine.

Best place, in a Life Group - where there is Safety, Vulnerability and shared mission

Asking for help is not weakness, it's wisdom.

God has called you to be home to His Spirit, the place where heaven and earth meet. And from that, to bear fruiir.

How is it going?? No sense of condemnation, rather an invitation to deeper formation.

WAS THE MARKETPLACE MEANT TO BE IN THE TEMPLE?

WAS THE TEMPLE MEANT TO BE IN THE MARKET PLACE?

YOU ARE TO BE THE TEMPLE THAT TRANSFORMS THE MARKETPLACE!