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Welcome back to our Bible study on the Gospel of Mark. Last time we talked about Jesus making his way, we talked about the way narrative from chapter 8, verse 22 to chapter 10, verse 52. And we saw that that whole section was framed by the healing of two blind men. We saw the first blind man in Bethsaida healed in two stages. And that's exactly what's happening to the disciples. You know, Peter professes that Jesus is the Christ, and yet he doesn't understand that he is the Son of God. He doesn't understand the fullness of the mission of the Messiah. And so he has partial myopic vision like the rest of the disciples. And they're making their way. And as they're making their way, Jesus is teaching repeatedly, three times about his passion, that he has to suffer, die, and then rise again. And of course, each time they ignore it, they put it off, they want to bury it. And then finally we see the blind man Bartimaeus in Jericho, who's healed because of his faith. And he follows Jesus on the way. And that way now leads us to chapter 11. And we're going to see Jesus entry, his solemn entry into Jerusalem and to the temple, where he will cleanse the temple. And here we're going to see the last week of Jesus life. And things are going to be a little bit more intense. And there's so much richness to this narrative. I want you to know that there's many things I'm not covering. There's lots of echoes and allusions to the Old Testament. We're just picking out a few to follow the major thread of the narrative as we go through this. But we come to chapter 11 now. We're going to see in chapter 11, Jesus entry into Jerusalem, his demonstration in the temple. In chapter 12, we're going to see his teaching in the temple. And then finally in chapter 13, we're going to see his teaching about the demise of the temple that he gives from the Mount of Olives sitting opposite the temple. So that's what we're going to walk through now, starting with chapter 11. So it says. And when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent to his disciples and said to them, go to the village nearby, you'll find a colt. And so he's going to have them procure this colt for him to ride. Now, Bethphage means literally the house of the fig tree. And we're going to see a fig tree playing a large role in Mark's Account of the narrative. Mark is going to remember and place the story of the fig tree in a particular way. So as Jesus has the colt that the two disciples get for him, and they secure that by exactly what Jesus foretells. Then in verse seven of chapter 11, it says they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments on it, and he sat upon it. And many spread their garments on the road, literally on the way, right? So they're making the way for Jesus. And of course we know from Isaiah, from Mark chapter one, where he quotes Isaiah, make straight and prepare the way of the Lord. And we also saw that that way of the Lord had a citation of Malachi 3 1. And now we're going to see the fulfillment of Malachi. We know that Jesus has been making a new Exodus way just like the Exodus. We know that he's fulfilling the new Exodus as Isaiah promised. Now we're going to see that that way leads to the temple. And In Malachi chapter 3 1, Malachi picks up the theme of the way. But the way of the Lord ends in the temple. And remember the expectation of Israel since the destruction of the of the temple in 587 B.C. by the Babylonians. The temple of Solomon, where God's glory manifests itself. When Solomon dedicated the temple in First Kings, chapter 7. That glory of the Lord. The presence of God's spirit has not dwelt in amongst Israel since the exile. And even though they are rebuilding the temple in Jesus day, they're waiting for that temple to be finished. And they're waiting for the return of the Lord and the glory of the Lord to settle upon the temple. Malachi foretells that the Lord will make his way and come back. And when he comes to the temple, it'll take everybody by surprise. The messenger whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple. And he will refine the sons of Levi. And who can withstand the day of his coming, Right? So that's Malachi, which echoes, of course, if you know that the allusions and Handel's Messiah, that great oratorio, has some of those lines from Malachi. Who can abide the day of the Lord is coming? Well, Mark is telling you is they're throwing their garments on the way. This way of Jesus that we celebrate every Palm Sunday. Jesus entry to Jerusalem into the temple. We recommemerate the disciples preparing the way of Jesus to the temple. But if we put all these threads together, we know that the way of Jesus is the way of the Lord. Because it's the Lord whom you seek who shall suddenly come to the temple. So again, Mark is showing you for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, that Jesus is the Lord himself, fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi. And he will suddenly come to the temple, and woe to the priests and to the Levites, whom he will have to purify. So then they spread their leafy branches, and that's why. And they cut from the fields. So, you know, we have. We call it Palm Sunday because we have the palms, because they process with Jesus Christ before him and after him in a kind of royal cortege, a royal procession with palm branches and leafy branches. Why do they do that? Why do they have these palm branches and these leafy branches? That's a key question. But it's alluding to a key story in the book of Maccabees. In second Maccabees, chapter 10. And following Judas Maccabeus fights off the Greeks and he comes back into the city of Jerusalem. They all greet Judas Maccabeus, waving palm branches because the palm is the sign of victory. And they sing hymns of thanksgiving as Judas Maccabeus comes into Jerusalem in the temple. And Judas cleanses the temple from the profanation of the Greeks who had defiled it. And so, as they greet and welcome Jesus, what are they thinking now? The Jews of Jesus Day have longed for this moment. In fact, the most popular Jewish names are the names of all the Maccabean sons. Of course, one of the most popular names is Judas. For Judas Maccabeus, we've got two Judases out of the 12. Another son of the Maccabees who's famous is Simon. Well, we have Simon Peter. Another famous name of the Maccabees is John. And so the Jewish families under Roman occupation are naming their kids all the names of the Maccabean sons, because their hope is that their generation will throw off the yoke of the Romans and cleanse the temple and the city from the Romans like the Maccabees did from the Greeks. And so the expectation now has reached its height. Jesus is coming in, and they expect him to cleanse the temple. And he will. But he will do it in a way they don't expect. He will do it in a way they don't expect. But for now, they're greeting him as if he is a new Judas Machabeus. The other thing that they do by throwing their garments down before him is alluding to another event and another story in the life of Israel. It's from Second Kings, chapter 9, verse 13 and following, when a prophet anoints a new king, and that prophet anoints him, and, and that king is Jehu. And when he comes out after being anointed by the prophet, all the people find out that the prophet had anointed him king. And every man took off his robe, his garment, his robe, and threw it down before Jehu. And Jehu walking over their robes was a sign of their submission and acknowledgement of his kingship over them. So when they're throwing robes before Jesus, what they're saying is, Jesus, you are king. This is an inauguration that Jesus is king. In fact, the fact that he's riding a donkey, the colt goes back to first Kings, chapter one, where David says, for the enthronement of his son Solomon, when they make Solomon David's son king, David says, have him ride my donkey into Jerusalem. And when he does that, that's the sign that Solomon is king, that he's been anointed king. So go back to 1 Kings, chapter 1, read the whole chapter, but especially verse 38 refers to Solomon riding on the king's donkey. So all these actions, palm branches, riding on a donkey, throwing down of garments, all these symbols are royal and they resonate. And that's why we're going to get the song that we get as they sing from Psalm 118. And those who went before him and those who followed after cried out Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our Father David that is coming. Hosanna in the highest. So again they're singing Blessed is the kingdom of David. They think everyone's expecting Jesus to reign as king. What they don't see coming is that he'll be enthroned in Jerusalem, no doubt, but have been enthroned on the cross that they don't see coming. Verse 11, he enters the Jerusalem and he enters the temple and he looks around and then he goes back to Bethany with the 12. On the following day in verse 12, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry and seen in the distance a fig tree and leaf. And of course what's significant too is a fig tree in the book of the prophet Hosea, chapter 9, verse 10, a fig tree is a symbol for all of Israel. So again, all these little actions have deeper meaning if we know the story of Israel, the scriptures of Israel. So Jesus goes up to the fig tree because he's hungry and he looks, and there's no, there's no figs. So when he Came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season of figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. Now he comes into Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and he began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, which was a new feature. In the outer court of the Temple, the chief priests were allowing the selling of doves and pigeons and certain things in the outer court. Now, the chief priestly families owned the monopoly of selling the pigeons. And they moved the selling that had been down by the foot of the Mount of Olives into the temple precincts. And, and this is even recorded in memory in the Talmud that this was happening in this time period. And so Jesus is going to be upset that they're turning the outer court of the temple into a market. And he's even more upset that the priests are profiting and profiteering by charging exorbitant prices for doing that. So Jesus drove 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 taught and he said to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? That is from Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 7 and following. So Isaiah 56. Again, we've been following Isaiah throughout. And in Isaiah 56 we see that God is. Wants his servant to be a light to the nations. And he wants to invite the nations to serve him and worship him even in the temple. And at the end of Isaiah, all the nations gather and come and bring tribute and honor and glory and worship to God. That will be important for Paul when he brings the collection from all the nations that he talks about to Jerusalem. Because Paul believes that's fulfilling that great prophecy at the end of Isaiah. But that's another story from. For another Bible study. Right, but now back to back to Mark. Jesus then quotes another passage from Scripture, but you have made it a den of thieves, a den of robbers, literally brigands. It's not just thieves, but those who rob violently. Brigand would be a better translation. You have made it a den of thieves. Now, when he does that, he's quoting from another prophet. And this quotation speaks volumes. Jesus could not have said anything more volatile and controversial. And you all remember, of course, you're like, okay, of course he called it a den of thieves. That goes back to this story, particular story in the Old Testament. Right. And the person who said that in the Old Testament was going to be murdered, and he was captured and thrown into a cistern. And the chief priests and leaders of Israel plotted and they planned to kill him. And then God had to send a way for him to escape. But of course, that person is Jeremiah. And the quotation that Jesus quotes is from Jeremiah, chapter 7, verse 11. And Jeremiah, chapter 7 is a very incendiary speech of Jeremiah the prophet, saying, right before the temple in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonians, and Jeremiah predicts the destruction of the temple and of the city. And Jeremiah says to the people, you think the temple, the temple of the Lord. We have the temple of the Lord, therefore we're invulnerable. We can't be defeated by the Babylonians. It won't happen. And this is what the Lord says. You have made the temple into a den of thieves. And do you think I will protect it because you've turned, turned it into a den of thieves? By no means. Go look at my former sanctuary that was in Shiloh, and you'll find Shiloh, what, in ruins? And he's referring back to the story in 1st Samuel where the Philistines destroy Shiloh, and Shiloh had the Ark of the Covenant, and the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. So just because you have God's presence and just because you're at the temple doesn't mean you're. You're invulnerable. And that's what Jeremiah says, as he says, the temple is about to be destroyed. Now, Jesus, by quoting Jeremiah and saying that you've made my house into a den of thieves. Jesus is saying that what happened at Jeremiah's day is about to happen in our day. And Jesus rightfully predicts the destruction of the temple and the doom of Jerusalem, which the Romans will destroy like the Babylonians before them within 40 years after Jesus gives this speech, 40 years to the day, Jesus is crucified in the year 30 A.D. and the Romans will destroy the temple in 70 A.D. 40 years exactly. The temple and the city will be destroyed. So as they come out after Jesus gives that powerful teaching, verse 20, and as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its root. So notice the fig tree sandwiches. Jesus is teaching in the temple. Jesus curses the fig tree because it's without fruit on the way in and on the way out, the fig tree is barren and withered. In other words, the fate of the temple is embodied by, by the fig tree Jesus word against the fig tree proved to be true, and his word about the temple will likewise prove to be true. We'll see more in a little bit about the demise of the temple and Jerusalem. But then after this event, the Pharisees and the leaders and the elders of the scribes and the priests come, and especially those from the chief priests. Now, not just the Pharisees, but now it's the chief priests who lead the assault against Jesus in verse 27 and following of Mark 11. And they asked Jesus, by what authority do you do these things? And then Jesus asked them a question in response, which is a good rabbinic ploy. And he says, by what authority did John the Baptist preach? And they consult and they can't make a decision because they say, we don't believe John the Baptist was legitimate. The chief priests, but if we say that he wasn't legitimate, the people who thought he was legitimate will, you know, that would be really unpopular. So they say, we're undecided, we're not sure. And then Jesus says, well, if you won't answer me, then I won't answer you. And then Jesus tells a parable in chapter 12. And again, he's teaching here in the temple. And the parable in chapter 12 is actually Jesus subtle response, by what authority he does these things. And this parable is retelling the story of Jesus and, and the nature of his authority. So let's look at that parable in chapter 12, verse 1. He began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, and dug out a pit for the winepress, and he built a tower, and he let it out to tenants, and he went into another country. Now, for those who have ears to hear, he's not just talking about any vineyard. This is exactly the description of a vineyard that Isaiah described in Isaiah, chapter five. Isaiah talks about. In fact, Isaiah describes it in Isaiah 51. He says, Let me sing for my beloved a love song. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill, and he cleared it and dug out a wine vat and built a wall and a tower, and he planted choice vines. Now, in Isaiah's story, the grapes, the fruit, are bad and bitter. But in Jesus story, the vineyard is fine, the fruit is fine, but the tenants have stolen and keep the fruit for themselves. And they reject the owner of the vineyard and his heir. So that will be the story. But again, if you have ears to hear. And of course, what's interesting is in the Targums, ancient Jewish writings in The Targum in Isaiah that interprets that parable of Isaiah, it says that the vineyard is the temple. The parable of Isaiah, speaking about a vineyard on a very fertile hill, the hill is Mount Zion. In fact, when Herod the Great rebuilds the sanctuary, just at this time, when Herod the Great's rebuilding the sanctuary, the outer part of the sanctuary building, the holy of holy building, is decorated with grapevines to make it look like a vineyard. In fact, Herod adorns those grapes with gold. He plates those grapes with gold. And so that Josephus says that when the light shone on these gold vines and trellises on the sanctuary building, it was almost blinding to look at. And so the idea is that the temple itself is like a vineyard. It's adorned that way physically in the way that Herod built it. That's why when Jesus says, I am the true vine, he is saying in the imagery of Israel, I am the true temple. So knowing the history through Josephus and knowing the story of Israel through Isaiah, we can better grasp what Jesus is talking about here. He's talking about the temple. He's talking about a parable, a story about a vineyard. And the vineyard means the temple. And where is he at right now? He's in the temple where people could see those clusters shining and sparkling off the sun. As Jesus teaches this, so then he goes on and says, when the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and they beat him and sent him away empty handed. And again he sent another servant and him they wounded in the head, maybe an allusion to John the Baptist. And they treated him shamefully, and he sent another. And him they killed. And so with many others, some they beat, some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son. Now remember, in Jesus baptism, going back to the first chapter of Mark, going back to verse 11 and 12, Jesus is called in that episode, my beloved son. He had another, a beloved son. By the way, that phrase beloved son was first used in the story of Israel. For Isaac, when God says to Abraham, take your son, your beloved, your son whom you love, and go to Mount Moriah. So there's an allusion to Isaac here, he stole another, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them. Now what's interesting is at the end of second Chronicles it talks about how God sends his prophets, who are his servants. So God's the story of sending servants is sending the prophets. And the last prophet sent is John the Baptist, whom they killed and Then finally, in the fullness of time, God at the end sends his beloved son. Jesus has just retold the story of Israel where God sends the prophets who get maltreated by the people of Israel. And then finally he sends a beloved son. Finally he sent to them his son, saying, they will respect my son surely. 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 cast him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? And then the people answer, he will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. And then Jesus says, have you not read the Scripture? The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. And this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. And that is from Psalm 118, I believe it's verse 25. And of course, we already heard Psalm 118 on the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where they said, hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That was Psalm 118. So now we find they sing, blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord for Psalm 118, because it's a hymn of thanksgiving for God's deliverance. But then Psalm 118 goes on to talk about the temple and about the stone which the builders rejected, which became the head of the corner. And that, I believe, is talking about the new temple. Because in Ezra, chapter three and four, we hear that when the priests come back and Ezra leads the people from. Return from exile from Babylon, and they lay the foundation of the temple, the elders who know the former temple of Solomon, its glory, are depressed and cry, and they give up trying to build it. And the young generation shouts for joy. So you couldn't tell the shout from joy from the shout of lament from the old and young. And then they stop building the temple. And then God has to send Haggai the prophet to say, the day of small beginnings. I know this looks small and insignificant in your eyes, but the day of small beginnings will be vindicated. And the former, the latter temple, will be greater than the former. And so here Psalm 118, which I think refers to that story. Now Jesus is saying he's the new cornerstone that's being rejected because he used that word, rejected in his passion. Predictions that the scribes and the elders will reject the Son of Man and. And kill him. And so Jesus is the one who will be rejected like that cornerstone. And yet God, the Father will vindicate him in the resurrection, and he will be the cornerstone of a new temple, of a new creation. And they tried to arrest him, but they feared the multitude. And they perceived that he had told the parable against them. And they perceived rightly so, they left him and went away. And then Jesus is going to be teaching in the temple. And finally, in the midst of the teaching of the temple, they try to trap him. And so what we see is several attempts to trap him. And just as Jesus was tested by the devil at the beginning, now he's tested by those who are acting as sons of the Satan. Right? That's why Jesus calls them a brood of vipers. There are serpents like the serpent. And I'm just going to take one test as an example of this, and that's in chapter 12, verse 13. And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to entrap him in his talk. And they came and said, rabbi, we know that you are true and care for no man. You don't care about political correctness. We know that for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Now, that was a hot button issue in the first century, because when Judea went from the rule of one of Herod's sons, Archelaus, to the Roman governors, now Pontius Pilate, the tax was collected. It was going directly to Caesar and Jerusalem and Judea being the land of Israel, to pay taxes directly. It wasn't like you're writing a check to the IRS when you paid taxes in the ancient world, it was about royalty. It was about kingship, and you were acknowledging Caesar as your king when you pay taxes. And so when Jesus was a young boy, there was a man from Judea called Judas the Galilean, who led a revolt saying, no king, but no, Caesar is not king, only God is king of Israel. And he was killed by the Romans and he led a revolt. So this is the kind of issue that's not a theological abstraction. It's the kind of thing that people die for. And so now, of course, the crowds want. Don't want to see Caesar as having legitimate kingship over Israel. Only someone from the line of David should be the legitimate king of Israel. So if Jesus says it's lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, they've got him against the people. If he says it's unlawful to pay taxes to Caesar, now the Romans should execute him. So they think they've got the perfect trap. And what does Jesus do? Should we pay them or not? But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, why do you put me to the test? Bring me a coin and let me look at it. And they brought him one. And he said, whose likeness is on the inscription of this? Now, that likeness would be everywhere. That's the likeness of Caesar. And Jesus sees that, you know, he says, does somebody have a coin? And they say, oh, yeah, I got a coin. And they put it on his. And Jesus is like, whose face, Whose image is on that coin? And they say, caesar's. Notice he's pretending not to even know who Caesar is, which is remarkable. And also notice where they are. They're in the temple. You're not supposed to have a Roman coin in the temple because the Roman coins have on there Caesar D. Vi Filius, son of God. It's a pagan image. It's idolatrous. That's why there was money changers. You're not supposed to have a pagan coin in the holy temple. But here the Pharisees are shown as hypocrites. They're exposed by Jesus, by, hey, do you have a coin? Oh, yeah, I got a coin. Whose image is on that? Caesar's. Gotcha. He just trapped them. And then Jesus does something brilliant. The word likeness is found in scripture with the creation of man and woman after the image and likeness of God. And image and likeness is used in a very big way in the Book of Daniel, where the king Nebuchadnezzar wants the Jews to worship his likeness in the statue, and they refuse. And now Jesus, showing his enemies holding pagan coins with idolatrous images, says, whose likeness is that? And they say, Caesar's. And he says, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. In other words, Caesar. Yeah, give Caesar his image back to him. Give him his idolatrous coins back to him. But give to God what has his image on it, which is the human heart. We are made in the image likeness of God. Who wins out, Caesar or God in that deal? Jesus is saying, render to God what has his image on it. Give yourself to God and gives Caesar his lousy coins that have his ugly mug on it. Right? Jesus has turned the tables. They cannot entrap him. And it's beautiful. And we're going to see in the next time as he's going to teach about the demise of the temple and the end of the temple. And that will foreshadow his own demise in the passion area that we're approaching. So let's conclude here and we'll follow the demons demise of the temple next time.