Sunday School Session 12

Good day, everyone. We continue our study in the Gospel of Mark as we study Mark Chapter 11, Verse 1, through Chapter 12, Verse 44. Chapters 11 and 12 are our next talic section. And the purpose of this section is that Jesus reveals His authority as Lord and Teacher, while at the same time revealing the state of men's hearts.

And so we see in these two chapters Jesus revealing His authority as Lord, and He reveals Himself as the Teacher. And while He's doing that, He reveals the states of men's hearts. So you should be then in Lecture Number 6.

This will be the sixth lecture. Now, in the Gospels, you find the self-disclosure of Jesus. That is to say, Jesus discloses something about Himself. He reveals something about Himself, not only by His words, but by His actions.

And as we come to this part of Mark's Gospel, we find both actions and words disclosing to us the true character of Jesus. Now, as we proceed, we see that we look at Chapter 11, Verse 1, through Chapter 12, Verse 12.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem as the Peaceful King

Here you see that Jesus reveals His authority as Lord. Now, as you look through this passage, you're asking this question. How does Jesus reveal His authority? How does He reveal His authority? Well, as you look at the first 11 verses, you see that Jesus purposely reveals Himself as the King, the promised Messiah with His entry into Jerusalem.

You see that He reveals Himself as the Messiah with His entry into Jerusalem. Now, Jesus could have walked into Jerusalem. In fact, He'd been walking quite a ways by now. He had come all the way from the north in Galilee walking to Jerusalem.

He could have walked right into Jerusalem. But He deliberately chose to enter the city on the donkey's coal. He sent, as you read, He sends the disciples into the city to get the coal so that no one would think He was being called a king against His wishes.

He sent them and said, go get this coal. So when I ask you what you're doing, you say, the Master has need of it. This is a deliberate act of self-disclosure for all those who have eyes to see. And then Jesus presents Himself as the King who comes in peace.

No one considered a king riding a donkey as an undignified thing. You know, we're so used to our westerns, right, where everybody rode horses. If anybody rode a donkey, that was kind of... we kind of chuckled about that, right?

In Gunsmoke, one of the characters, I don't recall his name, rode a donkey. And we all kind of chuckled about that. But that's not the case here. When a king rode a donkey, he was coming in peace. He came in peace when he rode on a donkey.

If he was on a stallion, he would be coming to wage war. But Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem as the Prince of Peace. He enters showing Himself as the Prince of Peace. He rides no stallion. He does not come with fearful pomp and power.

He does not arrive to terrify His people. The people filling Jerusalem that day recognized that Jesus was indeed the promised King. Now pilgrims came all around to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem.

They came from everything around, you know, Galilee and the regions around there. But some, if they could, would come from different parts of the world. Remember, the Jews have been dispersed over much of the world.

And if they could, they would come to Jerusalem for the Passover. Well, Jesus and His disciples are coming from Galilee. They're traveling with a whole group of pilgrims. But when Jesus came over the Mount of Olives just east of Jerusalem and rode through the Kidron Valley, these vast crowds reached a fever pitch of Messianic enthusiasm.

Remember, right before this, as He's traveling with this crowd of pilgrims, you remember what happened? There's blind Bartimaeus calling out, Jesus, Son of David, heal me.

Jesus, King.

And so that contributes to it, no doubt. And as they come through the valley, they reach a fever pitch of Messianic enthusiasm. They give Jesus the red carpet treatment. Now, when a dignitary comes and visits a country, if our president or our secretary of state or secretary of defense would go to another country, as his plane would pull up, there would be a red carpet there.

And that was to signify the dignity of the emissary that was coming.

All right.

I remember seeing that once in Romania as we taxied up to the terminal. There was another area over there with a red carpet laid out. Obviously, someone very important was coming because they had the red carpet out.

We all know that frame, that saying, the red carpet treatment. Well, that's what they're doing here. As they throw down their cloaks, as they lay down those palm branches, they're giving Him the red carpet treatment.

They're recognizing Him as a dignitary of great stature. So not only are they enthusiastic with their praises, they're enthusiastic with their actions. In these great shouts of praise to God, Hosanna, Hosanna to God in the highest, it becomes evident what they're thinking.

The promised King has arrived. Praise God in the highest. Those praises come from the Psalms that talk about the King, and they would shout these praises to this King. And so Jesus reveals His authority.

By the way, He enters Jerusalem. He comes on a donkey disclosing to everyone around Him, I'm coming as a King, a King of peace. And the people recognize that they're shouting their praises, and they're laying down all these things along the way, giving Him the red carpet treatment.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple and Condemns Empty Worship

But Jesus also reveals His authority by cleansing the temple. Now, as you look in chapter 11, verses 12 through 25, you see this great scene of Jesus cleansing the temple. Now, again, you remember what we talked about a few weeks ago about this literary device called an inclusio.

We find one in this section. The inclusio is chapter 11, verses 12 through 14, and chapter 11, verses 20 through 26. It revolves around that fig tree, and that fig tree is cursed. It's a tree with much foliage but no fruit, and that's supposed to bookend this section of Jesus cleansing the temple, and it's supposed to color that, remember?

That inclusio is supposed to say something about everything that's in between. And so as we start out, they're coming out as Jesus has gone into the city, and then He has taken lodging for the night in Bethany.

And then on the following day, as they come from Bethany, Jesus is hungry, sees a fig tree. He walks up, lots of foliage but no figs, and Jesus reveals His authority at this moment by cursing that tree.

He curses that tree. But notice especially that without apology, Jesus cleanses the temple, making utter chaos out of what was going on in these courts. Jesus reveals His authority in the pronouncement He makes regarding the worship that's going on in this place.

He says, "'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.'". He makes this pronouncement. He says this is not the worship that God accepts.

This is not what God expects to go on in worship. "'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it into a den of robbers.'". Now what's happening here is Jesus is quoting two Old Testament passages, one from Isaiah 56, the other from Jeremiah Chapter 7.

Now notice something here. Now this is very careful. Please listen carefully. Notice carefully that Jesus was not just angry with the people who were selling things in the temple. He isn't just angry with them.

He is angry with the buyers as well, not just those who are selling, but those who are buying. That is, He is upset with the worshipers, the very people who the day before had been singing His praises.

So He is upset. He is upset with those who sold and those who bought, not just the ones who sold. Notice that carefully. You see, the selling that was going on in the temple precincts was not in and of itself wrong.

Did you hear me? Selling the things, doing the things they were doing in the temple precincts was not in and of itself wrong.

Why?

Why?

Because for one thing, the people, according to the law, needed a temple shekel to worship. Now a temple shekel was a religious form of money. They didn't have it in everyday life. They were using Roman money.

So they would take their Roman money and exchange it for the temple shekel that was required by the law for them to worship. Nothing wrong with that. Not only that, but pilgrims were coming from all over the place, as we mentioned earlier, and they couldn't bring their sacrifices with them, could they?

Can you imagine in a whole crowd trying to bring your lamb that you're going to sacrifice, bringing the ram, whatever you had to bring to sacrifice? They couldn't bring that along on the trip. That would be chaos.

So what they would do is they would come and they would buy their sacrificial animals. These pilgrims who are coming from far away would come and buy. So there's nothing wrong with that's necessarily wrong in and of itself with the selling and the buying that's going on.

But what had happened is in all of the buying and the selling, they had perverted the worship of God because God intends worship to be characterized by joy and prayer. Notice that Jesus quotes parts of Isaiah 56.

If you want to turn there, Isaiah 56, verses six and seven. This is the prophet Isaiah talking to the people and the foreigners who joined them to join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants.

Everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it and holds fast my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

So he says, I expect joy and prayer, even from those who are Gentiles, who've come and want to be part of the people of God, as Isaiah said. They've come for joy and prayer. But instead of prayer and worship and joy, the people now were angling for the best deal.

Worship was a noisy, bustling business affair rather than seeking after God. They weren't seeking after God. They were trying to find the best return for their dollar, for their Roman money. And the attitude of these worshipers did not reflect reverence, but only the fact that they carried on as they always did, even outside, only they're doing it in a different location.

Nothing has changed. They're not there in reverence. They're just there to do their religious thing. They're there to get their shekel, to buy their sacrifice, to go in and do their thing. It's just a hustling, bustling business affair.

They're not there to worship God, to worship him in joy. They're not there to pray. They're there to do their religious things. It's kind of like our Memorial Day, our Memorial Day. Memorial Day is intended, right?

It's intended to remember those who gave themselves, who gave up their lives in service to our country, right? The veterans who fought in our wars, who died in order for us to be free. Memorial Day is intended to turn our attention to these folks.

Well, you know what we do? We give a nod in that direction, right? We give a nod in that direction. We go to some kind of a memorial service in the morning. But the rest of Memorial Day is what? It's just a big party day.

It's the day when we all get together and we all have as much food as we can. We cook out and a lot of people get drunk. They party. This is a holiday. We got the day off from work. It's an opportunity.

It's an opportunity to have a good time. Well, that's what's going on here. They give a nod towards God. Yeah, we're here to worship, but they're not there to worship.

There's no reverence.

There's no joy.

There's no prayer. They're there to do their religious thing, and it's just a hustling, bustling affair. They had perverted worship because they acted like their forefathers, condemned by the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 7.

Jeremiah chapter 7. If you want to turn there, notice what Jeremiah says against the people who have come to the temple in his day. So Jesus is likening the worshipers of Jeremiah's day to the worshipers of his day.

And he is essentially saying that the rebuke leveled against the worshipers of Jeremiah's day is the same rebuke that needs to be leveled against these people who are worshiping or, you know, making the pretense of worship in his day.

Here's what we read in Jeremiah 7, 9 through 11. "'Shall I not punish them for these things?' declares the Lord. And shall not I avenge myself on a nation such as this? I will take up weeping and wailing for the mountains and lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard.

Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled and are gone.'". And of course, I'm reading the wrong passage. Sorry about that. I'm reading in chapter 9. We should be in Jeremiah chapter 7. I'm sorry about that.

You know these recordings are about as true to live teaching as we can get them, and that includes me making mistakes. Jeremiah 7, I'm sorry, verse 9. "'Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered?'.

Only to go on doing all those abominations. Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,' declares the Lord.".

All right?

So they're acting like their forefathers did in Jeremiah's day. And God calls them robbers because they thought they could buy off God. Now what's going on here? He's not calling them a den of thieves necessarily because they're buying and selling.

Here's what's going on. The thieves were not the business people running the concessions, but smug worshipers who lived immoral lives outside of the temple, but came to the temple for the assurance of God's love anyway, right?

And Jeremiah says, you go out and you worship other gods, you live these abominable lives, and then you come to the temple and stand before me as if, okay, I've done all these horrible things. Now I'm going to cover all my bases and I'm going to stand.

I'm going to do the religious thing before God, and I'll be okay. Like thieves who kill and steal and then run to the cave for protection. These people lived immorally, and then they run to the temple and do their religious thing so that they're protected.

That's what he's talking about here, right? He's talking about what's going on here. There isn't joy. There isn't worship. There isn't prayer. There's no worship going on here. And besides that, you live your abominable lives out there, and then you come to the temple and expect to worship God.

You're like a bunch of thieves who run to the cave for protection. You're not worshiping me. You don't care about me, says God. That's what Jesus is condemning. That's how he reveals his authority. He makes his pronouncement as he cleanses the temple, and he tells them you're no different than your evil forefathers.

Jesus Refuses the Authorities and Exposes Their Lack of Power

Now, as you continue reading in chapter 11, verses 27 through 33, you see that Jesus reveals his authority by refusing to answer the questions of the authorities. You know, as the religious authorities would come and they would question you, you had to respond to them.

They were the religious authorities, weren't they? You had to say something. You had to answer their questions. You know how it is when you come to your... when someone says something to you, and you refuse to respond.

You're a little kid, and someone says, you know, hi, Timmy. How are you today? And you don't say anything, and your parents say, Tim, you answer Mr. Smith. You answer him. Well, you know, when the religious authorities would ask you questions, you had to answer.

Well, Jesus isn't going to play that game. Now, here's what happens. The religious authorities demand that Jesus give an answer to their question, and their question is this. By what authority do you do these things?

How dare you? How dare you think you have the authority to cleanse this temple and condemn the worshipers that are here?

Right?

How dare you do that? By what authority? So Jesus asks them a question, and he says, okay, you tell me. Before I answer your question, you answer mine. By whose authority did John baptize? Did his baptism come from God or from men?

Well, that puts them in a quandary. If they say John the Baptist was from God, then Jesus could say, well, then you ought to believe me, because he pointed to me and said I was the promised one. Well, they couldn't do that.

But if they say his baptism was from men, they were afraid that the crowds, because John was popular, that the crowds would turn on them. So they said, well, we're not going to answer your question. And Jesus says, fine, I'm not going to answer yours either.

And so he reveals his authority by refusing to answer the questions of the authorities.

You see?

The Parable of the Vineyard and the Rejected Son

Now, as you come into Chapter 12, in those first 12 verses, Jesus reveals his authority by telling them the parable of the vineyard. Now, let's understand that parable. Who's the owner of the vineyard?

Well, it's God. God is the owner of the vineyard. Who are the people and what is the vineyard? Well, they represent Israel, the people of God. Who are the servants that come that the owner keeps sending with these messages?

Well, those are the prophets. They keep coming with messages. And what do they do with God's messengers? They kill them. So the owner says, well, I will send them my son. They will listen to my son because he has a great deal of authority.

He is the heir of it all. They will pay attention to him. Well, they rejected the son. They rejected him too. But here's the point. The rejected son becomes the all-important capstone. Now, this comes from Psalm 118, verses 22 through 23.

Psalm 118, if you want to turn there, the 118th Psalm, verses 22 and 23. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone or the capstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is a Psalm about David the king and his triumph over the enemies. He had been rejected. This triumphant king had been rejected. He was the rejected stone. His father, his brothers, Samuel overlooked him.

Remember?

Right?

Samuel is told to go and anoint the king from Jesse's household. And Jesse assembles all the boys except his youngest.

He doesn't want him.

Right?

Samuel and Jesse and the brothers, they all overlook David. They overlook him. They don't consider him worth anything. Saul rejects him as well. But look at the marvelous things that God has done to David and through him.

Now, what is true about David is surely true about Jesus, the greater David. David's greater son who has come to fulfill the entire Old Testament. So, look at the words and actions of Jesus in this narrative.

Look at the words and the actions of the people who participated in these events and ask what do they reveal about their hearts? What does this reveal about their hearts? But we're going to stop there, and we'll pick it up in the next time we meet.

All right?

We'll pick this up at what this says about Jesus, the worshipers, the leaders, all the people involved. What does it reveal about Jesus? And what does it reveal about their hearts? Now, remember, as we pick it up next time, we're going to pick it up at that second bookend, the inclusio, right?

The fig tree is going to say something about all that's come in between, about all that's happened. We'll find out a lot. We'll look forward to that, right? All right, listen, if you would, let's pray together.

Father, thank you again that we can be together. We can learn together. We can look at your Word. We can see the glory of Jesus and the things that he reveals about himself and about us. So, Father, I pray you would help us to see, reveal our hearts, help us to see the glory of Jesus, our King, but also help us to see our own hearts and how our hearts can lead us astray.

But Lord, we want hope and help from you so that our hearts aren't led astray. And we can look and see Jesus in all his glory and follow him. Thank you now in Jesus' name, amen.