Mark 11:1-11; 15-19

Radiant Church, October 7, 2018 Mike Rydman Mark 11:1-11, 15-19 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. Mark 11:1-6 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount 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. A king would normally arrive into a conquered city riding a warhorse, not a donkey. Revelation 5:5-6 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. John is told to look for a lion, but there in the midst of the throne is a lamb. Traits that look mutually exclusive: Infinite majesty yet complete humility Perfect justice yet boundless grace Absolutely sovereignty yet utter submission All-sufficiency in himself yet entire trust and dependence on God Mark 11:7-10 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!” Mark 11:11 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. The court of the Gentiles, where buying and selling took place 255,000 lambs bought sold and sacrificed in a typical Passover week This was the place where Gentiles were supposed to find God through quiet reflection and prayer (?) 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 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. What was His “teaching?” He was destroying the division between the Jews and the Gentiles At that time, Jews believed the Messiah would purge the temple of foreigners Instead, Jesus is purging the temple FOR foreigners Jesus was challenging the entire sacrificial system The Garden of Eden was a sanctuary, the place were the presence of God dwelled. It was paradise, because death, evil rebellion and imperfection cannot coexist with God. It was paradise, because in the presence of God there is peace, Shalom, absolute flourishing, fulfillment, joy and bliss. But the first humans decided to build their lives on other things besides God, by other means to find ultimate meaning and significance. Paradise was lost. Genesis 3:24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. It’s was and is not enough to say “sorry.” No one can get back to the presence of God without going under the sword, without paying for the wrongs they have done. Two cultural problems with this: 1. We may not care about going back to our intended purpose of being in the presence of God 2. We very well may not feel like it should cost us something, yet alone our life, our autonomy, our opinions, our comforts, our preferred sense of security or our desires to be seen as significant by others But who can survive going under the sword, being put to death? Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement the Jews would be represented by the High Priest who would go into the very middle of the temple, the “Holy of Holies.” He would carry in a blood sacrifice It was symbolic It was only good for a year It was only for the Jews. The symbolic atonement did not extend to the Gentiles Jesus was overturning the sacrificial system of the temple and opening the way into the presence of God for everyone Who is “everyone” in our view? Jesus allowed Himself to be killed, so we could again be in the presence of God…which means we could be acceptable and accepted by God. And it means we can enjoy life for eternity with Him.