Passion Week- Monday
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Intro:
Intro:
last night we looked at the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
We talked about this being the beginning of the last week of Jesus’s earthly ministry.
for 3 years Jesus has been doing ministry. He has healed the sick, He has proclaimed salvation to the lost, He has rebuked the religious leaders..... and yet we understand, that all of this ministry was building towards an event. The time when Jesus would would offer Himself as the perfect spotless lamb of God for the sins of the world.
And as we look at the ministry of Jesus, it is important to understand that not only were the actions, miracles and sayings of Jesus important...... but the timing of His ministry as well.
the timing of His ministry was crucial in God’s plan of Salvation. Which is why Jesus Himself would often say...... “for my time has not come”.
there was a specific timing in God’s plan to reveal Jesus as the Son of God and to reveal Jesus as the Lamb of God.
as we looked at yesterday, the time had now come. It was here during the Passover feast in Jerusalem, where Israel remembered their liberation from slavery. Where the Lord would pass over and spare the first born of the household where the blood of the lamb was on the door frame of the house. The blood would bring salvation.
it was here during this time of year, at Passover, where millions of Jews would come from all over the area to Jerusalem, to celebrate the passover. Where the Passover lamb would be sacrificed on Passover night at the temple.
it would be here, that the true lamb of God would offer Himself as the sacrifice for the world. This would take place at the end of the week. And Palm Sunday, was the beginning of the last Chapter of the life and ministry of Jesus if you will. His entire life would build to the moment of Passover on this year, fulfilling many prophecies.....
And so it was fitting for Jesus to start this week by revealing Himself as the Son of God, the promised King, the promised Messiah who came to save the world.
and as Jesus made way from Bethany to Jerusalem passing the Mount of Olives, people proclaimed..... “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”
Transition
now as we pick up our story tonight, we have to get an understanding of what is happening.
John 12:1 tells us that Jesus and His disciples came to the City of Bethany 6 days before the Passover. Bethany was a city 2 miles East of the Temple Mount. Remember that during this time of year you had some 2 million people gather in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas in order to celebrate the Passover.
So Jesus and His disciples appear to have been staying in Bethany which is where Martha, Mary and Lazaras lived. Very possible that they were staying with old friends during this time.
In Mark 11:11, we are told that after Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He entered the temple and looked around , but the hour was late.... So He went back to the City of Jerusalem with the 12 disciples.
this is important, because as we pick up our story on Monday, we start on the road from Bethany back to Jerusalem on this 2 mile trip.
Mark 11: 12-19
I. Jesus curses the fig tree (v.12-14)
So Jesus and His disciples are now back on the road from Bethany making their way to Jerusalem. They will eventually pass Bethpage and the Mount of Olives. And we are told that Jesus was hungry and He saw a fig tree at the distance having leaves, so He went to see if He could find something to eat.
now we see that when Jesus came to the tree, He found nothing on the tree but leaves, so He cursed the tree.
- The question comes up, if Jesus was God and if HE was hungry, why didn’t he just make food for Himself. Why did He have to curse the tree?
- In order to answer that question we have to look at the fig tree and understand what Jesus was doing.
Fig Tree
- In the land of Israel, during the month of March, fig trees produce small edible green buds or first ripe fruits. In April, large green leaves sprout forth from the tree.
- In May, these buds fall off and are replaced by figs. Now from the time in which the Passover was celebrated and the mention of the “leaves”, we know that this incident happened in April.
- So when Jesus saw from a distance the green leaves, He expected not to find figs, for Mark tell us “it was not the season for figs”, the figs would come in May, but He expected to find these small edible fruit buds.
- This tree was deceptive, in that while it had the green foliage of the leaves, there was no fruit.
- So Jesus did not curse the fig tree because he was upset that He did not get food from it. He cursed the tree in order to provide His disciples with a visible parable or object lesson of what was happening to the Nation of Israel. See the Nation of Israel was compared to the fig tree in the old testament in Micah 7:1-6, Jeremiah 8:13).
So Jesus is giving the disciples a picture of what is happening and what the end result will be to the Nation of Israel.
Transition
- The Nation of Israel had signs of being religious and having a relationship with God outwardly by their many works and rituals, yet they had hearts that were far removed from God and were not bearing fruits of repentance.
they resembled this fig tree. From a distance the nation had visible green foliage and leaves which gave the impression that it was alive and bearing fruit, yet under close examination, it would reveal to be fruitless.
- it is interesting because in - Matt. 3:7-12- you see John the Baptist out in the wilderness baptising and calling people to repentance.
- And you see that the religious leaders would come out to see what was taking place and when John saw then, he called them out. Called them broods of vipers, and calls them to “bear fruit worthy of repentance”.
- And then John goes on to give insight to the fact that they were finding false security in their Jewish culture assuming that their heritage and traditions brought a right standing with God.
- Yet, John would tell them that the ax is laid to the root of the tree, and every tree which does not bear good fruit, is good for nothing but to be cut down and thrown into the fire.
The heart of God is to bear fruit
- Jesus would later give a parable in Matt. 21:33-41 the following day on Tuesday to these religious leaders. The parable He gave was of a vineyard. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and leased it to vinedressers. Yet these vinedressers were wicked men, who stoned, beat and killed the servants that the landowner sent to receive the fruit, even killing the Son of the landowner.
- Then the parable comes with a question from Jesus to these religious leaders, “when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”
- And religious leaders condemned themselves in their answer, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their season” v. 41
- See God was looking for fruit from the Nation of Israel, yet they had become like these evil wicked vinedressers who bore no fruit instead rebelled against the master.
What Fruit is God looking for?
- In Isaiah 5 we see the picture of God disappointed in His vineyard. The vineyard being a picture of the nation of Israel. We see in this passage that God did everything he could to make the vineyard produce and be successful. He dug it up, cleared the stones from the ground, he built a tower in the midst of it, he put a winepress and it says…..
V. 2 “ So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes”.
- God was not looking simply for outward expressions of religion, but He was looking for truly repentant hearts that would express outward works from a broken heart.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
the Fruit that God was looking for from Israel was the fruit of love for God, the fruit of obedience to God and His law. The fruit of Humility. And while these things appeared to be present outwardly, after close examination, you would find a love for self, you would find disobedience towards God and His law, you would find pride and arrogance.
Application
Now lets bring this lesson home to our lives. Because you have the same principals here. God has removed the vineyard from the Nation of Israel and leased it to you and I, the church. Not that God is finished with Israel, but their rejection of God’s plan of salvation has made a way for you and I.
and just as there was an expectation for the nation of Israel to bear fruit, so God has that expectation of you and I. And i would quote Isaiah 5, that God has done everything possible in our lives to make us successful spiritually in Him, and to bear fruit.
He has given us health, He has given us the ability to read, the ability to walk, to listen, to see, the ability to hear the word of God. Here in the west, we have more blessings than most around the world. We have freedom and the access to so many different things. We can pick and chose what church we want to go to, we can pick who we want to listen to, we can pick what type of worship we want to sing along to.
and i personally feel that the freedom and excess of choices has left the church much like the nation of Israel in our story. From the distance there is an appearance of life and an abundance of Fruit. But if we really take a close look, we may find that much of the church has been focused on outward expressions of religion and while the inward heart has distanced itself from God.
and i don’t say this in a way to bash churches. i put myself in this catagory also. I too can lose sight of what is important and of what God is looking for in my life. i too can get caught up in the outward expression of works, while my heart is removed from God.
i am reminded of the message to the church of Ephesus in Rev.2. Jesus would say, I see your works.... but you have left your first love.
- The Fruit that God is looking for from you and I, is the fruit of the Spirit, which is love. And love for God is manifested through love for others, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, self control etc. Gal. 5
God is looking for the fruit of our praise
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
II. Jesus Cleanses the Temple (v. 15-19)
A. Jesus Shows righteous anger (v.15-16)
Jesus now comes to Jerusalem and enters the temple courts.
- What this is speaking about is the area called court of the Gentiles.
- The temple mount was broken out into various sections which certain people were allowed to enter.
- The temple was broken out by the Main sanctuary, where the Holy of Holies was. Just outside of that was the court of the Priests.
- Just outside of the court of the priest was court of the Jewish men. Beyond the Nicanor Gate was the gate of the women.
- Then surrounding the area was the Sacred enclosure. Which is where the Gentiles were no longer allowed to enter.
- Then the large area that surrounded the temple was the court of the Gentiles. This was where Gentiles who had converted to Judism were allowed to come and worship. This area that Jesus was entering in.
- This court of the gentiles looked more like a marketplace than a place of worship. It is here where booths were set up for business.
1. The Temple Sacrifices
- now we need to understand a bit of God’s law for this passage. A person was ordered by God to sacrifice a blameless animal before the Lord. Lev. 22:17-25
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘Whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, who offers his sacrifice for any of his vows or for any of his freewill offerings, which they offer to the Lord as a burnt offering—you shall offer of your own free will a male without blemish from the cattle, from the sheep, or from the goats. Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. And whoever offers a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, to fulfill his vow, or a freewill offering from the cattle or the sheep, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it. Those that are blind or broken or maimed, or have an ulcer or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to the Lord. Either a bull or a lamb that has any limb too long or too short you may offer as a freewill offering, but for a vow it shall not be accepted.
‘You shall not offer to the Lord what is bruised or crushed, or torn or cut; nor shall you make any offering of them in your land.
- so what was taking place during the days of Jesus was that the priests would inspect the animals being brought by the people to sacrifice to the Lord. They would look for any blemishes on the animals, cuts, scares etc. If the animal was not approved, or did not have the seal of approval, it would be rejected.
- now because of this , there were those who were willing to make a business out of God’s law. They would sell approved animals in the temple court. Lets say you walked from Northern Israel to celebrate passover, and your lamb had a scare on it that you did not know about. Well it is too far to go back home and get another one, so you had those who would sell you an approved animal right at the temple, yet they charge at a high rate. They would sell them above the market price in order to make a profit.
2. The Money Changers
- now there was another problem, Roman coins were not accepted in the temple. You need the temple shekel to buy in the temple. So they had money changers who would exchange the Roman coins for the temple shekels. The problem was that they would charge a high exchange rate.
- so the person who was coming to the house of God to worship was being taken advantage of by those in the house of God.
- This is what moved Jesus to a righteous anger as He watched the people take advantage of those who came to worship God.
Transition
- According to Josephus the historian, these booths were owned by the families of the Chief priests, and they had become wealthy. In other words, this was an internal thing. The abuse and taking advantage of people stemmed internally by the religious leaders.
- It is interesting that today you can find the same type of abuse. People in leadership of churches or organizations, taking advantage of the desire of people to worship. And you see here that God is not pleased when His people are taken advantage, specifically by those in authority who are called to represent Him and to shepherd the people.
- Puts a check in my heart when I think about the responsibilities that God has given me. A huge responsibility to shepherd His people and not to abuse or take advantage of His people.
Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.
yet we see that taking advantage of people was the normal practice here.
B. The reason for Jesus’ anger (v.17)
1. The temple was a dens of thieves (v.17)
- Jesus quotes the Ish. 56:7, “my house will be a house of prayer”.
- But the second half of this verse is quoted from Jer.7:1-11. Read. This would have been what was on Jesus’ mind when He referred to it.
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ ” Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’
“For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.
“Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.
- this is what Jesus was referring to when He said, you have made the house of God a “den of thieves.”
- One writers put it this way…… Thieves don’t’ do their robbing in their den. Rather, their den is their safe hideout. So here Jesus is not only denouncing all the buying and selling , rather he is denouncing the false sense of security of those who come to the temple to offer sacrifices for sin without the fruits of repentance.
- The temple had become a place to where people thought they could find God’s fellowship and forgiveness no matter how they lived. It was the condition of the heart that Jesus was upset about.
- Jesus’ anger is seen in the contrast of what the temple was supposed to be, a house of prayer and what the people had turned it into, a den of thieves.
Kent Huges
When Jesus entered the temple, the fruit He expected to see were prayers and praises being offered up to God, along with the necessary fruits of righteousness- humility, kindness, and justice. Instead He discovered merciless injustices as the Gentiles were pushed out and the poor were extorted.”
Transition
- While the temple was a supposed to be a place where people could come to seek God in worship, in prayer, in times of need and draw near the presence of God…… the people had turned this place into a business by taking advantage of the desperate needs of people and it was also a place that provided a false sense of security in others.
- People had come to think that they could simply live the way they wanted, come once a year to the temple, buy an animal, have it sacrificed, stand before God, and declare….
“I am delivered”.
- They thought they could walk into this confessional if you will, go through the motions, and walk out completely absolved of their sins, and run right back to live the same way. To live in Hypocrisy. Many religions today have a way of projecting this way of life. I remember growing up in the Catholic church. This was the way of life of many who attended.
when i was young my father was a worship leader in the Catholic church. i remember going early with Him and watching him set up and watching him lead worship. But i have 1 memory that always stuck with me. After leading worship on a sunday, i remember him passed out drunk on a hammock in our backyard just a few hours later. I never forgot that image, even at an early age, that mentality didn’t seem right to me.
But that is what religion and tradition can do, it can produce a false sense of security in works rather than focusing on the relationship.
Transition
- This should be hitting close to home. Lets turn the tables on ourselves for a moment.
- Because we can often have the same mentality. As long as I read my bible in the morning, as long as I go to church on Sunday, as long as I don’t do that……. fill in the blank…. Then I am in a good standing with God. And we can go the rest of the day or week living however we feel like.
- And we can often take the same attitude that we are seeing here. The attitude of not being genuine in our relationship with God. We can pretend to be someone we are not on Sundays and Wednesdays, when our hearts are far from God. And we can be fooled into thinking we are in a right relationship with God, simply because we go through the motions.
“I’m talking to you who rob God throughout the week by doing things you ought not to do and not doing things you should do and then go to the sanctuary, a hiding place for a now guiltless conscience”.
Kent Huges
“ Nearly 2,000 year ago the Lamb of God who was the Lion of Judah walked into the temple. He walked into the temple to save the poor in spirit but also to judge those who are rich in religious hypocrisy”.
2. The temple should have been a place of healing(MATT. 21:14)
now Matthew gives us a bit more information on this scene.
Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
- Here you see in the midst of the overturned tables and the chaos, those who were handicapped with sickness, blind and lame came to Jesus at the temple, to be healed. This is what the temple was supposed to be, a place where people could come to worship God, where they could come to be touched and healed by God.
- This is a great picture of those in need coming to the temple, the place where God’s presence was, in order to find healing. Jesus became the blameless lamb of God that took away the sins of the world, He torn down the wall of separation EPH. 2:14, He torn the veil in half LK. 23:44-47……
What once kept people from the presence of God, either Gentile decent or sin….. had now been removed by the finished work and final sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It is because of Him that we can come boldly to the throne of Grace to find grace in time of need. Heb. 4:16.
C. The Religious leader disapprove of Jesus (v.18-19))
In Matt. 21 we are given more insight as to why the religious leaders were upset.
After Jesus healed the sick, we see children proclaiming. “Hosanna to the Son of David!”. They were declaring praise to Jesus as the promised Messiah, crying out “save now”.
and the religious leaders would ask Jesus if HE heard what they were saying, and Jesus would say yes, then he would quote PS.8:2
Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have ordained strength,
Because of Your enemies,
That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
in other words, Jesus was using this passage describing praise to Yahwee from children in Ps.8 to be the same thing being seen here. He was making Himself equal with God.
so these religious leaders were upset at what they saw Jesus do in healing the sick, in the declaration of the children praising Him, and of Jesus making Himself equal with God.
Conclusion
Kent Huges
“Like this green tree, Israel was fruitful in appearance alone. Spiritually they were barren. From a distance the temple looked inspiring, but upon close examination it was fruitless. Inside, the activities that surrounded the Passover sacrifice were only hollow rituals, offered to God neither spirit nor in truth.”