Well, hello friends, and thank you for joining me in our daily reading from God's holy word. Today we're reading Mark chapter 11, and in this lesson we see Jesus provocatively make use of his authority. Before we read, let's pray. Our Father in Heaven show us Jesus in his name, I pray.
Amen. Mark chapter 11. Now when they dream near to Jerusalem, to Beth Fage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a cult tied on which no one has ever sat, untie it, and bring it. And if anyone says to you, why are you doing this?
Say, the Lord has needed it, and we'll send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a cult tied at the door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing? Untying the cult.
And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the cult to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it, and many spread their cloaks on the road and other spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Joseira, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David, Hosanna in the highest.
And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry and seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf. He went to see if he could find anything on it.
When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and he began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple.
And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. But you have made it a den of robbers.
And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him before they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came, they went out of the city. And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered.
And Jesus answered them, have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be taken up and thrown into the sea, it does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whenever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone.
So your father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him. And they said to him, by what authority are you doing these things?
And who gave you this authority to do them? Jesus said to them, I will ask you one question, answer me. And I will tell you by what authority I do these things was the baptism of John from heaven or from man answer me. And they discussed it with one another saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, then why did you not believe him?
But shall we say from man, they were afraid of the people. For they all held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, we do not know. And Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Amen, this is God's word. This chapter is woven around three events in which Jesus very deliberately calls attention to himself to invite us to ask, who is he? The first event is Jesus coming into Jerusalem. The second is his cursing of the fig tree.
And the third is his cleansing of the temple. He rides into Jerusalem to the cheers of the people. Jerusalem was filled with travelers from all over the world come to celebrate the Passover. He grabs their attention with the cult and the Paul branches and the shouts of and here Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah nine verse nine, which says, we Joyce greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, behold, your king is coming to you righteous and having salvation is he humble and mounted on a donkey on a cult, the full of a donkey.
That's what the people are shouting. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Jesus is claiming to be the heir of David, the rightful king of Israel.
Now don't forget, he knows why he's come to Jerusalem to be delivered up, mocked, beaten and killed to die for our sins as our Savior. But he wants us to know the one who dies as our Savior is the rightful Lord of all. He is King David's greater son, the king of kings and Lord of Lords. And then we see the curse of the fig tree.
Jesus is hungry. Now consider that. He could be touched with the feelings of our infirmity. He tasted pain and weakness and weariness and hunger and thirst.
When you share your burdens with him in prayer, he knows what you mean from personal experience. Now the fig tree was all leaves in no fruit, as the cowboys might say, all had no cattle, much like Jerusalem herself, the Jewish people in his day. There was an appearance of life, but no fruit for God, activity without repentance, religiosity, without genuine love. There was much hypocrisy and little humility, especially among her teachers and leaders.
Jesus cursed the fig tree as a parable for Israel, should they not bear fruit by believing in him. Reject your king and Savior, and you'll never bear fruit for God was its message. In the third event, Jesus cleanses the temple of thieves. The money changers are making bank on the need of the people of the by-law stock and the need of the poor to buy pigeons for temple sacrifices.
And it makes Jesus hot with anger. The temple ought to be the place where people meet with God, where people pray to God, where priests pastor the people, not a place where irreverent businessmen trade goods for profit. Now, unsurprisingly, people are sometimes shocked at the behavior of Jesus. He takes a cold that's never been written and passes a message to the owner.
I need it. He makes barren a fig tree and people get stirred up asking if innocent creatures suffered needlessly. He whips at money changers and drives them out, overturning their tables and messing up their businesses, so much for gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Here he is in strength and righteous indignation.
So then the spiritually blind chief priests and scribes and elders ask, by what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority to do them? Now, that's actually a good question. Though they don't really want the true answer, which is why Jesus asks them about John's authority.
If John was the prophet from God, and John said he wasn't worthy to stoop down and untie the sandals of Jesus, then who does that make Jesus? If John isn't worthy to do even the least part of what the lowest servant would do, even untie the sable, let alone touch or wash the feet, then who is Jesus? Well, he's more than near man. He's God in human flesh, King of Kings.
That's why Passover pilgrims worship him. That's why nature obeys him. That's why he's zealous that his house be a house of prayer and not identity robbers. And since he's God, your faith in him is not misplaced.
Your forgiveness comes from him. Your prayers should be in his name and your adoration be of him. May God make it so. Let's pray.
Father in heaven, your son is king and savior have mercy upon us in his name. Amen. Well, thank you for listening in and I hope you'll join me next time.