loudandclear

Mark 11:15-33

 ¹⁵ When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, ¹⁶ and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. ¹⁷ He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”

 ¹⁸ When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.

 ¹⁹ That evening Jesus and the disciples left the city.

 ²⁰ The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. ²¹ Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”

 ²² Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. ²³ I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. ²⁴ I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. ²⁵ But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

 ²⁷ Again they entered Jerusalem. As Jesus was walking through the Temple area, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. ²⁸ They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right to do them?”

 ²⁹ “I’ll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question,” Jesus replied. ³⁰ “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human? Answer me!”

 ³¹ They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. ³² But do we dare say it was merely human?” For they were afraid of what the people would do, because everyone believed that John was a prophet. ³³ So they finally replied, “We don’t know.”

   And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.”

(((Jesus enters the Temple (where Jewish people worshiped and saw a disgraceful sight.  People were buying and selling livestock in the middle of the temple…even more disgraceful to Jesus was that certain materials had to be purchased (for a steep price) for pilgrims to actually worship.  Jesus, taking a cue from Jewish prophets from the Old Testament, dramatically throws tables and causes a scene to explain that the Jewish leaders were missing the point of Worship.  This passage also explains that Jesus was not just a hippy who didn’t get mad about anything.  This truly angered Jesus.  We also see that the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead because of His dramatic cleansing of the Temple.  Jesus was threatening to the old religious systems that benefited the Jewish leaders.))) 

(((They leave the city and they pass the fig tree that Jesus had cursed in verses 12-14 and to the disciples’ astonishment, it is now withered.  Some scholars believe that the withered fig tree is a prophetic teaching of Jesus as a warning to the Jewish leaders for their rejection of Jesus, the true Messiah.)))

(((The Jewish leaders again try to trap Jesus in verses 27-33.  They ask him under what authority He was performing miracles, specifically because Jesus wasn’t a “temple-approved” rabbi.  Jesus points them to John the Baptist’ ministry (which the people clearly believed came from God) and the teachers of the Law didn’t respond because they were fearful of the people killing them.  Jesus implies that He comes from God, but does not clearly state it because He knows the true heart of the Jewish leaders was to trap Jesus and not worship Him.)))