Mark 11

Once we enter into Jerusalem, we are in the last days of Jesus’ life (presumably…)

Today we will look at three trips to the temple before the cross.

Jesus is headed for a collision with the Jewish religious system.

The King Enters Jerusalem

Mark 11:1–11 “Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage 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 colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! 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 twelve.”

Jesus knows where the donkey is. He knows that it has never been ridden.

Jesus knows about the colt and has authority to take it because he is the Lord. That is the ultimate answer: “The Lord has need of it” (v 3). He needs the colt because the Scripture needs to be fulfilled. The Messiah is to ride into Jerusalem on a colt

(Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice 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 colt, the foal of a donkey.” ).

A king always had the right to commandeer a beast of burden in ancient times (James R. Edwards, The Gospel of Mark, p 336). An unbroken beast of burden such as this one was regarded as sacred (Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3) and was therefore especially fitting

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 169.

Throwing garments before a king - see 2 Kings 9:12–13 “And they said, “That is not true; tell us now.” And he said, “Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’ ” Then in haste every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.””

Fulfillment of promise to Judah

See Genesis 49:8–11 ““Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.”

The crowd quotes Psalm 118:25–26 “Save us, we pray, O Lord! O Lord, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.”

Jesus later quotes from Psalm 118:22-23 for an explanation for His rejection. Psalm 118:22–23 “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

V.11 — Jesus enters the temple for a first time and then leaves. Nothing much happens, but the next verses give us a clue as to why that may be.

Christ comes on a donkey to the temple — the suffering servant rejected. But he comes on a warhorse in Revelation — making war with His enemies.

Fig Tree

Mark 11:12–14 “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.”

Jesus is demonstrating a parable from Jeremiah 8:13 — “When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.””

Jeremiah is prophesying this before the destruction of the temple

Cleansing (cursing?) the temple — Replacing It

Mark 11:15–19 “And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and 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, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.”

Jesus enters the temple for a second time.

Jesus threw out the unjust and manipulative/exploitive sellers, but He also threw out the buyers (v.15).

If the half shekel temple tax cannot be taken, then the sacrifices cannot be bought or made. Jesus is ending the whole system of sacrifice. See Hebrews.

Not a reform of the temple, but a sign of its end.

See quote from Isaiah 56:4–7 “For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. “And the foreigners who 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.””

Foreigners seen as priests — having more access than regular Jewish males.

“A den of robbers” — the temple was being used as a safe house to hide out after sin. It’s a hideout. (Hebrews sermon from last week — those who are trampling underfoot the Son of God)

From Jeremiah (preceeding the destruction of the temple)

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 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 these 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. Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.” (Jeremiah 7:1–15, ESV)

Antiochus Epiphanes and the desecration of the temple. Yet here the people are “restored” to proper worship, but are nonetheless worshipping an idol in the guise of piety.

Fig Tree Withered To Its Roots

Mark 11:20 “As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.”

Prayer

Mark 11:21–25 “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,’ and 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, whatever 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 that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.””

Jesus doesn’t say “any mountains”, he says “this mountain”

Jesus is standing on the Mount of Olives and is able to see the Temple Mount (which is in the view of the context)

What else has been cast into the sea in Mark? Demon pigs and those who cause little ones to stumble need to have a millstone tied around their necks and tossed in as well.

The temple was to be a house of prayer. What happens to prayer if this house is gone? Think of Jesus as our mediator and priest. We get to God through Him.

Prayer is not a matter of formal, external ritual or liturgy — prayer must come from a heart of faith.

Prayer also comes from a heart of forgiveness. Failing to forgive reveals a double standard.

Forgive as you would be forgiven — the ‘trap’ in the Lord’s Prayer

Jesus’ Authority Challenged

Mark 11:27–33 “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, or 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, ‘Why then 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.””

Jesus’ third trip to the temple (He will remain here until the end of chapter 12)

The Sanhedrin (or Jewish ruling council) comprised 71 members in three groups: the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Members of all these groups were present for this confrontation (v 27).

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 177.

They had previously (v.18) been noted for seeking to kill Jesus. They have been said to have been plotting murder since Mark 3:6 “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.”

They have to try to knock him down a peg before they can destroy him.

Where do they seek to question Him? On the topic of authority

Who is really on trial here?

John’s baptism stood out from the temple system — it was free. It was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

What do these “authorities” truly fear, Heaven or man? They fear man.

Parable of The Tenants

Mark 12:1–12 “And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country. When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. Have you not read this Scripture: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.”

A fulfillment of Isaiah 5:1–7

“Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!”

Jesus’ story focuses on how bad the stewards and managers have been - the religious leaders.

They killed the prophets (Zechariah, Jeremiah, Isaiah)

This is in response to the religious leaders’ earlier question: “Who gave you this authority?” (11:28) Answer: The Father

They not only murder the son, but they refuse to bury him — outrageous scorn and dishonor.

It’s a calculated risk to kill the manager’s son.

Maybe they thought the owner weak and powerless and spineless. AD 70 is just around the corner. The temple is still torn down.

Do they see the owner’s patience as weakness?

He destroys them completely.

The owner gives the vineyard to others.

Jesus quotes Psalm 118 again.

Psalm 118 is a celebration of going up to Jerusalem to participate in worship in the temple. One of the glories of the temple was the story of the temple architecture. There was a stone that would not fit any part of the building. It was rejected. But in the end, that stone fit perfectly as the cornerstone: the stone that stands at the summit of a corner and holds the whole structure together

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 181.

In its original context Psalm 118 focuses on the enemies of Israel’s anointed king. By rejecting him, they were sealing their own fate, because the king was the stone by which God would execute his plan to judge the world. Jesus applies this psalm in a stunning way. The builders who reject the anointed king are not foreigners but the religious leaders of Israel. They believe they are building God’s building, but they have rejected the cornerstone of the whole building. They are acting like the pagan rulers, not the people of God

Jason Meyer, Mark for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2022), 181.

1 Peter 2:4–5 “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

The initial prophecy of rejection ends in fulfillment —they reject Jesus and seek to arrest Him (12:12).