Free Methodist Church Of Santa Barbara

Mark 11:15-19. This Sunday is designated as Freedom Sunday, a day we set aside to worship the Lord as we grapple with the truth of living in a world where slavery is still a thriving business. As Free Methodists, we have been committed since the beginning of our movement in 1860 to take a stand against the inequalities in this world, which God did not mean to be. We declare all people are indeed created to live in equality and we work for that truth to become a reality. The scripture we are studying this week is Jesus cleansing the temple. Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem and this is His first act in that great city. You will notice we skipped over the Triumphal Entry, because we studied that on Palm Sunday this year. And, since this passage is sandwiched in between a story about the Fig Tree, we will be studying that next week. We might think about why Jesus is so mad here. This is a fairly violent scene as the Lord is acting as the High Priest. I encourage you to read through this a few times this week in