Grace and peace be yours from God our Sovereign and from our Lord and Savior,
Jesus the Christ, and from the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The significance of Monday is hard to grasp right away for several reasons. First of all it is rarely read or understood in the context of Holy Week. So it is rarely connected to the street demonstration of Palm Sunday.
Second it is rarely read or understood in the context of the framing story of the fig tree which wraps around the whole temple protest scene we refer to it as the cleansing of the temple.
Finally, because we do not understand intra-textual allusions, its significance is minimized and we miss interpret “Den of Robbers” so as to miss the total impact of
Jesus’ action.
This morning I would like to look briefly at each of these issues.
Mark’s Gospel portrays a Jesus who primarily does three things. 1) Jesus speaks truth to power 2)Jesus has compassion on the people of the land, 3) Jesus calls a disciple community so that when he is gone they will in turn, speak truth to power, show compassion to the needy, and make disciples to continue the process when they are gone. Jesus does this all under the theme of proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
From the very beginning, Jesus speaks truth to power. This is primarily seen in the two exorcism stories that predominate the first half of Mark’s Gospel. The first exorcism is against the Scribe in the synagogue on the Sabbat. Jesus deliberately goes to a holy place on holy time to confront the scribal authorities. That confrontation is highlighted by the amazement of the crowds. Mark reports that:
“
They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
The second exorcism was of the Gerasene demoniac, whose demons name was
“legion” and who when cast out entered into a herd of pigs and they ran into the sea and drowned. If you know the story of the exodus and of Pharaoh’s army drowning in the sea, and if you know that a company of Roman troops was called a “Legion,” then it should not be difficult for you to identify the power and principality towards which this exorcism was aimed.
If you know the culture of Jesus day, the people were ruled by the power of Roman
Imperialism which governed through the collaborators of the Jewish Temple System in
Jerusalem. These were dual exorcisms aimed at the power brokers of Rome and

Jerusalem. When you understand this then it is not hard to read the two street demonstrations that begin Holy Week.
Sunday is a protest primarily against Rome, but also against any would be domination system, thus including the hoped for Davidic Messiah. Jesus humbly riding on a donkey and not a war horse, is an allusion to the prophet Zechariah.
Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth
And for our purpose today, Monday is clearly understood as a protest against the
Jerusalem Temple System. This is not simply about money-changers in the temple court, this is about the whole Temple System. The two primary comes that flowed out of that system were the Debt Code and the Purity Code. Through the rules and regulations supporting these two codes, the rich ruling class of Jerusalem, controlled the life and the economy of the people. Thus the rich were getting richer at the expense of the people. So instead of serving the people, the proper role of government, the Temple System preyed upon the people, taking from them, through the tax and tithing systems their livelihood and their land. Those in power seem always to make the laws favorable toward the wealthy at the expense of the general population.
So Sunday and Monday go together, they are a statement against Roman Imperialism and its Jewish Temple State collaborators.
Mark is a literary masterpiece. One of the primary techniques he uses in his narrative is framing. That is he frames one story with another. Note this is not two stories in tandem, but one story wrapped around another. Story “A” begins, it is interrupted by story “B,” and then when story “B” concludes, you return to finish story “A.” The significance of this is that story “B” then can only truly be understood within the framework of story “A.”
I think the easiest frame to grasp in Mark’s Gospel is the story of Jairus’s daughter.
21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22 Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23 and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of

death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." 24 So he went with him.
Note that Jairus is male, wealthy, has a name and a voice. He has an expectation of privilege and is not afraid to make his request known. In an honor society, Jairus’s actions would have honored Jesus and put Jesus in the position of needing to reciprocate.
It’s at this point that Mark begins to tell of another story. This one about a woman, with a hemorrhage that has lasted 12 years, she is poor, she has no name, and no voice.
According to the purity code she is at the very bottom of the list, she is considered to be unclean and worthless, the scum of the earth, disfavored by God, it was a “sin” for her to even be in public, let alone in a crowd. And she had the audacity to covertly touch Jesus’ clothing.
Jesus stops, acknowledges that power has gone from him and asks who touched him.
What ensues is that the woman is healed, She finds her voice, and Jesus ends up calling her daughter …
Then, and only then, does Jesus return to the issue with Jairus, and ends up raising his daughter of 12 years from the dead.
Mark has given us three key symbolics so that we know the stories are to be interpreted one within the other. First the absolute contrast between a rich man and a destitute woman. Second the rich man’s child was 12 years old and the woman had bled for 12 years. Third they are both Daughters.
Taken separately these are two stories of healing and compassion. As such they are significant. Taken together they take on so much more. What Jesus is saying here is that the wealthy of this world, although they may indeed be hurting, cannot be healed until the destitute and the poor of this world are restored. When the poor are healed, then the wealthy may indeed be cured as well. In an age when most of us suffer from what has been called “affluenza” it is a lesson we need to hear.
When you understand framing, then you truly can understand the frame of the fig tree and the temple. Jesus comes to the fig tree looking for fruit. He finds none and condemns it. Jesus comes to the temple looking for the fruit of righteousness, finding none, he condemns it. The fig tree withers and dies, the temple will wither and die.
Not one stone will be left on stone.

When we finally begin to understand intra-textual allusions we pick up on Jesus reference to “Den of Robbers.” Exegetes for years, reluctant to condemn the temple as Jesus did, suggest that Jesus reference was to the money changers, soft peddling his actions. But when you know the Jeremiah reference it becomes clear that the Den of Robbers is the whole Temple System and its Authorities.
Jeremiah says:
J8 Here you are, trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, "We are safe!" — only to go on doing all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight?
Finally you need to hear Jeremiah’s judgment of that temple
13 And now, because you have done all these things, says the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh
This is not a cleansing, but a symbolic shutting down. It is a total rejection of the
Jewish Temple System. Note very very carefully, this is not a rejection of Torah, nor of the people of the land. This is a rejection of a corrupt system which abused and preyed upon the people of the land.
Yes, it happened on the Sunday and again on the Monday, Jesus confronted the failed domination systems that instead of protecting the people through proper governance, preyed upon the people and abused them. It’s no wonder the crowds were on Jesus’ side.
Surely one cannot read this and not think of another prophet, Ezekiel by name.
The word of the LORD came to me: 2 Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them — to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. 4 You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you

have ruled them. 5 So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals.
7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: … 0 Thus says the
Lord GOD, I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.
The events of these first two days will set in motion what will transpire in the remainder of the week.
Amen

Just for a moment, consider if Jesus came not to Jerusalem riding on a donkey, but to
America. Would his rejection of the Domination System of Rome and the illusion of banning the war horse and the chariot and the bow, have any consequence for us today? Should it?
Imagine Jesus not coming to the temple in Jerusalem looking for fruits, but to
Gethsemane Lutheran in Carmichael. What would he find? Would there be sufficient reason to fertilize and tend this fig tree? Or would we, like the temple in Jerusalem be given a death sentence?
If Jesus came to us looking for fruit, would he find sufficient food to bless us?
Remember much of Mark’s Gospel story is a story of failed discipleship.
Just imagine!
Go in Peace, continue your pilgrimage. Remember the poor. Amen