Mark 11:1-19 - Breaking Barriers

The Humble King

This is why the disciples could not reconcile the cross and the resurrection. Jesus flipped the script. He married so many character traits that seemed to be mutually exclusive. He was a waking paradox.

JK:ULDSG

Great imagery: stock exchange floor with livestock. (Livestock exchange)

The Humble King

Mark 11:1–10 NKJV

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, “Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. And if anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it,’ and immediately he will send it here.” So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?” And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Jesus enters into Jerusalem like a king but deliberately changes everything.

He fulfils a very specific OT prophecy in the process.

Zechariah 9:9 NKJV

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

(NKJV)

9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus is King, but He's not going to fit into your idea of what a king is. Or even what God is like.

He is Majesty and Meekness.

Jesus brings seemingly opposite characteristics together.

(NKJV)

5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” 6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Revelation 5:5–6 NKJV

But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.” And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

"In Jesus we find infinite majesty yet complete humility, perfect justice yet boundless grace, absolute sovereignty yet utter submission, all-sufficiency in himself yet entire trust and dependence on God."

Keller, T. (2013). Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God (p. 169). New York: Riverhead Books.

No More Barriers to God

No More Barriers to God

Mark 11:15–19 NKJV

So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. When evening had come, He went out of the city.

"The Court of the Nations"

The only part of the temple where non-Jews were allowed.

The biggest section of the temple.

You had to pass through it to get to the rest of the temple.

loud and busy

Thousands of people and livestock (smells, noises, manure)

the religious leaders oversaw everything.

Image HERE

This is where the gentiles were supposed to be able to "discover the God of Israel".

Jesus starts throwing stuff everywhere!

What explanation does He give?

(NKJV)

Mark 11:17 NKJV

Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

He quotes Isaiah 56

Isaiah 56:6–8 NKJV

“Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant— Even them 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 nations.” The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

6 “Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant— 7 Even them 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 nations.” 8 The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

How did the people react?

"...all the people were astonished at His teaching."

The New King James Version. (1982). (Mk 11:18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Jesus steps in to act as an advocate for the gentiles!

He doesn't show up to destroy the gentiles, like most Jews hoped for, but to love them.

Jesus was saying something so Radical!

The pagan gentile can now go directly to God in prayer!!!

The purpose of the Temple

Why was the temple even in existence then?

Why were the Jews sacrificing animals?

Only the Jews were able to connect with God through making payment for their sins through the blood of bulls and goats.

Isaiah was saying that all the world would be blessed one day.

How?

Isaiah 53:8 NKJV

He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

(NKJV)

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.

"And in Revelation, when John looks at the throne, the place of ultimate power in the universe, why does he see a slaughtered lamb? Because the death of Jesus Christ—the Lamb of God—is the greatest royal triumph in the history of the cosmos."

Keller, T. (2013). Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God (pp. 173–174). New York: Riverhead Books.

So, the tables were not the big deal! The Gentiles being allowed into God's presence is what offended people.

Questions:

Are you busy being religious and missing out on the crazy love of God for all people?

Are you doing what you are called to do as God's representative?

Are you praying for people?

Are you praying with people?

Are you loving the lost?

Are you revealing the heart of God to hurting people?

Conclusion:

What are you doing with Jesus?

"Jesus is saying that he wants more than busyness; he wants the kind of character change that only comes from realizing that you have been ransomed."

Keller, T. (2013). Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God (p. 176). New York: Riverhead Books.

"He is both the rest and the storm, both the victim and the wielder of the flaming sword, and you must accept him or reject him on the basis of both. Either you’ll have to kill him or you’ll have to crown him. The one thing you can’t do is just say, “What an interesting guy.” Those teachers of the law who began plotting to kill Jesus at the end of this episode in the temple—they may have been dead wrong about him, but their reaction makes perfect sense."

Keller, T. (2013). Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God (p. 177). New York: Riverhead Books.