House of Prayer

House of Prayer (Mark 11:11-17)

Mark 11:11 This scene comes during the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem.

• After Jesus comes riding into the city with everyone cheering and singing praises.

Verses:12-14 He curses the fig tree and a few verses later we see that the tree has died.

• First, There is a metaphor between the fig tree not having any fruit and what Jesus saw in the Temple the day before.
• Second, Jesus is teaching the disciples a lesson about faith filled prayer.

Verses 15-16 Jesus now enters the Temple again. But this time He has a plan,

• He begins driving out the merchants.
• What is the problem with the merchants?
  • Briefly: They were preventing people from worshipping.
  • They were charging exorbitant prices for sacrificial animals.
  • The Temple had become more about the business than worship and prayer.

Verse 17 Then He says that, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

• The house of prayer for all nations is a quote from Isa 56:7
  • This passage in Isa has a heading and a topic of “Salvation for Others.”
    • First, that the Lord’s house will be a house of Prayer.
    • Second, The Lord is making a way for other nations to come to Him.
  • Back in Mark And the den of robbers is a quote from Jer 7:11
    • The prophet Jeremiah was warning against what he called false religion.
  • When God says house of prayer, he means the essence of the Lord’s house is to be prayer.
    • And the subsequent fruit. Prayer always bears fruit.

Then the next part of the quote is “For all nations”

• Because God is a God of all nations, His house is to be a house for all nations.
  • The church is to be a church for all nations.

Verse 17 continues “But you have made it a den of robbers”

• Jesus’ teaching or admonition then turns to that quote from Jer.7:11
• The topic or heading in that passage in Jer is “False Religion is Worthless”
• The people in the Temple of Jesus’ day had made it about religious practice.
  • But it certainly wasn’t about prayer and true worship.
• It could be really easy today for any church or leader to fall into that same trap.

Mark 11:20-24 Jesus makes this comment about faith in prayer with the back drop of a dead fig tree and mountains moving.