WHY SO ANGRY, JESUS?

MONEY CHANGERS AND FIG TREES

You know that awkward passage in Matthew 21, how Jesus gets all mad at the men selling stuff in the temple? He overthrows tables and yells at them, and us readers are like, "Woh! Why so angry, Jesus?"

Well, these courts were the house of prayer "for the nations." This part of the courts was where Gentiles were welcome to come and worship. Jesus hated that the Jews had stolen this room from the Gentiles and no longer welcomed others into his home. He even quotes Isaiah 56:7. Here's the context: vs1-8:

This is what the Lord says:

“Maintain justice
    and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand
    and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
Blessed is the one who does this—
    the person who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
    and keeps their hands from doing any evil.”

Let no foreigner who is bound to the Lord say,
    “The Lord will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let no eunuch complain,
    “I am only a dry tree.”

For this is what the Lord says:

“To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
    who choose what pleases me
    and hold fast to my covenant—
to them I will give within my temple and its walls
    a memorial and a name
    better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
    that will endure forever.
And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord
    to minister to him,
to love the name of the Lord,
    and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
    and who hold fast to my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain
    and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
    will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
    a house of prayer for all nations.”
The Sovereign Lord declares—
    he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather still others to them
    besides those already gathered.”

This scripture shows how much our Father's heart has always desired ALL PEOPLE to know him! The Jews of Jesus' day neglected this teaching.

Furthermore, Jesus is not just angry about them stealing this room from the Gentiles but also that they make it a place for gain instead of giving. He refers to Jeremiah 7:10 when he says they have made it a den of robbers. Now in the context of Jeremiah, the "den of robbers" was not just robbing but neglecting justice (see vs1-11): 

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand at the gate of the Lord’s house and there proclaim this message:

“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 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!” If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 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, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever. But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
“‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 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?  Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.

Jesus wanted them to be actively caring for the fatherless, widow, and foreigner, not just seek financial gain!

This passage in Matthew is so rich. Jesus isn't just having a temper tantrum, and he's not reacting over something small. Jesus was speaking deeply into their hearts by confronting the injustice of the Jewish culture in the temple and by quoting from their own sacred text in a new way.

For us?  Let’s live out his purposes for us!  From the beginning, even in the Old Testament, our Father has designed us to desire unity with all nations in shalom wholeness, to care for one another in our weaknesses, and to be givers and not gainers.  When Christ came, he not only lived it out but felt the injustice of our actions full-heartedly, pleading with us to return to our original purposes once again.  Amen.

We shouldn’t be surprised in the next passage, then, when Jesus curses a fig tree in Matthew 21:18-19.  Just like in the temple, Jesus is not just acting superficially in the physical world but teaching deep truths.

Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.  Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

This passage has always confused me, like the money changers passage.  “Why so angry, Jesus?  That poor fig tree never hurt you!”  When the disciples are surprised at HOW he did this action, he reminds them to have faith.  However, is faith what the passage was all about?  Was he just showing off to them? 

In this passage, Jesus has just left the temple the day before.  He is now seeing a tree that shows no fruit.  Sound familiar?  In John 15, Jesus tells us that he is the vine and we are the branches.  John 15:1-8 says:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Therefore, fruit is the love and actions we have as children of God.  In this case, Jesus has rejected the evil actions of the Jews of the time.  He has rejected their corruption inside and outside of the temple.  He has corrected the Pharisees and Sadducees over and over again.  When he sees this fig tree yielding no fruit, he uses it as an example to teach his disciples about the Pharisees, just as he used bread as an example to teach them about the Pharisees (Matthew 16). In fact, in the same passage of Matthew 21, by verse 43, he has provided two new parables to the Pharisees to explain this fig tree principle to them:  "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."

In this case, Jesus had a greater plan for his people to extend his promise to those outside of the Jewish people.  Just like he had this plan from the beginning of time (as we read in Isaiah and Jeremiah), Jesus wants the nations.  Salvation through Christ has come to all people.  The Jews were not abiding in God’s purposes, and many rejected Christ.  Those that rejected Christ were cut off from his branch (they did not produce fruit any more and was cursed like a fig tree).  However, those that chose to abide in Christ (whether Jewish or not) could be grafted into the branch and become a part of the promises of the people of God.  Romans 11:11-24 explains this principle:

Again I ask: Did they (the Jews) stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.  And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.  After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

“Why so angry, Jesus?” is irrelevant when we see what he is saying within the context of the scripture.  His teachings are deep and beautiful and are rooted far past the words printed on paper.  Let’s seek him together and abide in his branch.