was exposed as an empty sham. The Temple too had forgotten its original purpose. No longer was it a ‘house of prayer for all nations’ (Isa. 56:7); now it had become ‘a den of robbers’ (Jer. 7:11). Both these texts are found in v. 17. Mark is the only Evangelist to put these two texts together. He understood what the Temple should have been and recognized what it had become. Here he shows Jesus exposing the sham as did Jeremiah before him. This is a difficult passage for many of us. It reveals Jesus