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The Gospel of Mark
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BIBLE STUDY MARK 11:1-33 REVIEW: Chapter 10 began with some Pharisees asking Jesus about whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife. The Pharisees were concerned about what constituted grounds for divorce. Jesus, however, makes the subtle but very important point that although Moses “allowed” divorce, it was certainly not God’s intention. Jesus also makes it clear that whenever a person divorces one’s wife or husband and (or perhaps in order to) marries another commits adultery. It may be “lawful”, but it is still a sin in God’s sight. The next section was about Jesus blessing little children. A major point for us to understand about this was that children were not highly valued – and that they were weak and vulnerable. The disciples apparently thought that Jesus’ time should not be “wasted” by these children. Jesus, however, is especially concerned for those who are weak, vulnerable, and accounted as being of little value. It is for people like these – for children – that God especially cares about and for whom his kingdom belongs. Time spent with these “insignificant” people, as far as Jesus is concerned, is always time well used. The next several sections are perhaps “amplifications” of Jesus’ teaching that we must receive the kingdom “as a little child.” 1. The rich man thought that he could “inherit” eternal life by “doing” something – by being “good enough”. Jesus, however, wants him to understand that only God is “good”. We can only receive eternal life when we recognize that it is by grace alone and NOT by anything we do to “earn” it (in other words, to understand ourselves as being like children). 2. Jesus goes on to say that it is hard for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom. Why? Because wealth gives us a false sense of security or self-sufficiency and thereby keeps us from recognizing our need and dependence upon God’s grace. 3. The disciples have left everything in order to follow Jesus, and thereby have made themselves completely vulnerable (like children!). As Pastor Josh put it, “they have made themselves last in society, and have become some of the first into the kingdom.” Next, Jesus gives the third foretelling of his passion and resurrection – this time explicitly suggesting Gentile involvement and telling about the extent of his suffering in much greater detail. The important thing, however, is what the disciples constantly seem to miss – that he will rise again! This is something that WE need to keep in mind as we suffer – that, like Jesus, even though we die we will rise again! James and John then ask Jesus to grant that they would be the ones to sit at his right hand and his left in his glory. Perhaps they are trying to usurp the places of honor from the others. On the other hand, Pastor Josh makes the speculation that they actually might be asking to share in Jesus’ Passion (and that the role they asked for was given to the two thieves who were on the crosses on his right and on his left). Jesus in his address to the ten underscores his teaching that “greatness” comes by serving, by being “last” and “slave” of all, and by being even willing to give one’s life for others. The final section is about the healing of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus. He, like the children, is at first treated sternly by those surrounding Jesus. He, like a child, has no claim upon Jesus’ mercy but receives it nevertheless. Jesus says that his faith has made him well. This phrase, which he has said previously to the woman with a hemorrhage (Mk. 5:34), encourages us to approach Jesus boldly and expect him to have what we need. CHAPTER 11:1-11 “Jesus’ Entry Into Jerusalem” “When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here immediately.’” They went away and found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.” The inclusion of the village of Bethany is probably wrong. Matthew in his gospel only mentions Bethphage – Bethany would have been on the opposite side of Jerusalem from the Jericho road on which Jesus was traveling. Be that as it may, it is obvious that Jesus had carefully planned his entrance into Jerusalem. First, it seems likely that he had made prior arrangements with the owners of the colt. It is mentioned that the colt “has never been ridden”, because in the ancient world an animal intended for sacred use must be unbroken. For example, this was also so for the red heifer whose ashes cleansed from pollution (Numbers 19:2; Deut. 21:3). What Jesus was doing here was making a dramatic claim to be the Messiah! He knew that this would be seen as a fulfillment of Zech. 9:9-10 – “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war-horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.” Note here, however, what kind of a messiah Jesus is claiming to be by riding the colt. Not a Messiah of war, but a messiah of PEACE! The people in Jerusalem, however, misunderstood Jesus’ dramatization. Their actions and greetings show that although they may have believed him to be the Messiah, they wanted to see him as a Messiah of WAR – as one who would lead them to victory over the Romans. For example, spreading their cloaks on the road before him was what crowds had done to greet Jehu – a man of war and bloodshed – when he was anointed king of Israel in the Old Testament (2 Kings 9:13). Their shout of “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” is from Psalm 118:26. William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible commentary notes that this Psalm most likely was written in order to commemorate the rededication of the Temple by Judas Maccabaeus in 167 B.C. after he had driven out the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes. In other words, Psalm 118 is a conqueror’s psalm – and the crowds were looking for Jesus to deliver them from Roman oppression just as Judas Maccabaeus had delivered Israel in the past! Finally, the word “Hosanna!” is not so much a shout of praise as it is a plea for deliverance (it literally means “Save now!”). The people were appealing for Jesus to save them from their bondage to Rome! People have consistently misunderstood the Messiahship of Jesus and have wanted him to fulfill their agendas. But Jesus’ agenda is service, suffering, and peace. Do we share that agenda? Matthew and Luke in their gospels then show Jesus as immediately going into the temple and driving out the moneychangers and sellers of animals – but Mark shows him as acting much more deliberately. Jesus goes to the temple and looks around at everything, but then goes to Bethany to spend the night before returning the next day to drive out the merchants out. Mark therefore shows that Jesus did not act in the heat of anger, but that his actions were carefully considered to dramatize his teaching. CHAPTER 11:12-14 “Cursing the Fig Tree” “On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.” This, like all of Jesus’ actions in this chapter, is an enacted parable. Figs in Palestine do not ripen until June – several months after Passover – and so (as Mark makes clear) it was not the season for figs. Jesus certainly knew that. His point is that although the leaves symbolized the promise of fruit, that promise would remain unfulfilled. In the same way, Israel’s promise of bearing fruit for God was unfulfilled. William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible commentary points out Luke in his gospel does not relate this incident at all, but does have the parable of the fruitless fig tree (Lk. 13:6-9). Both parables seem to be making the same point – that the purpose of fig trees (and people and Israel as a nation) is to bear fruit. If they do not, they will face judgment. CHAPTER 11:15-19 “Cleansing the Temple” “Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.” This is another enacted parable by Jesus. Contrary to popular interpretation, there is no indication that Jesus did what he did out of anger. This was rather another demonstration of his claim to Messiahship – fulfilling the prophecy of Malachi 3:1-4 that the Lord would purify the temple. The commerce that was taking place in the temple (actually, in the outer courtyards) was for the purpose of helping people to meet ritual requirements. All Jews were required to pay a temple tax of one half shekel a year. Pilgrims would come an change their money into the required Jewish currency. Doves (certified to be without blemish) were purchased by pilgrims for temple sacrifices. Some commentators have focused upon possible abuses of this commerce – that perhaps the money changers and the sellers of doves were making exorbitant profits. That may or may not be so, but this does not seem to be the main issue that Jesus is addressing. Jesus’ central protest is against the tendency to “ritualize” religion. One’s relationship with God is first and foremost a matter of the heart rather than insisting upon the “correct” money and sacrificial offerings. Needless to say, Jesus’ actions did not sit well with the chief priests and scribes – for two reasons. One is that Jesus’ protest did condemn their profit-making – it is likely that the temple did receive income from the buying and selling. The other reason is that they understood his actions to be another claim to his being the Messiah – a Messiah who was beyond their control and who might turn the people and the Romans against them – and therefore they were afraid of him. This is the first specific mention in Mark’s gospel that they wanted to kill Jesus. CHAPTER 11:20-26 “Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree” “In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” This is a very difficult section to understand. The theme of Jesus’ earlier cursing of the fig tree and his teachings on faith and prayer in this passage do not seem to be naturally related. It appears that Mark wanted to include these sayings of Jesus in his gospel, and decided that this section was as good of a place as any to do so! Jesus’ teaching of The Lord’s Prayer occurs in the gospels of Matthew (Mt. 6:9-15) and Luke (Lk. 11:2-4), but not in Mark’s gospel. This section seems to be the equivalent. According to William Barclay, this passage gives us three rules for prayer:
i) We take our problems and difficulties to God – rather than trying to deal with them by ourselves. ii) We are ready to accept God’s guidance when he gives it. “Not my will, but thine be done!”
CHAPTER 11:27-33 “The Authority of Jesus” “Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” – they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.” Mark had a block of five controversy stories during the early part of Jesus’ ministry (2:1-3:6) – and now he begins another block of five controversy stories during the early part of Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem (11:27-12:37). Jesus’ dramatizations of his Messiahship had obviously upset the religious authorities. In this scene, a delegation from the chief priests (the “practitioners” of temple religion), the scribes (the accredited teachers of Jewish religion), and the elders (the Sanhedrin – the chief religious council) came to confront Jesus. They demanded an answer as to what gave him (an unaccredited lay person) the authority to do and teach what he did. They thought that no matter how Jesus answered, he would come out a loser. If he was to claim that it was by his own authority, they could have him arrested as a megalomaniac before he created any further upset. Or if he was to claim that he was acting on the authority of God, they could arrest him on the charge of blasphemy. Jesus here shows himself to be a skillful debater. Rather than answering them head on, he challenges them to describe the authority behind the ministry of John the Baptist. If they were to acknowledge that John’s ministry was from God, he would be able to ask them why they did not believe him – or if they were to deny the divine authorization of John’s ministry, they would lose the popular support of the people. Therefore, they had to refuse answering Jesus – and Jesus was able to escape their trap. Be that as it may, it is obvious that Mark regards both the ministry of John and Jesus as being from heaven. The “proof” was that people’s lives had been changed in dramatic and powerful ways by their ministry and teaching. William Barclay in his Daily Study Bible commentary states that this story is a vivid example of what happens to people who will not face the truth. As he puts it: “They have to twist and wriggle and in the end get themselves into a position in which they are so helplessly involved that they have nothing to say. The person who faces the truth may have the humiliation of saying that he was wrong, or the peril of standing by it, but at least the future for him is strong and bright. But the person who will not face the truth has nothing but the prospect of deeper and deeper involvement in a situation which renders him helpless and ineffective.” May we as God’s people always be willing to face the truth rather than trying to avoid or deny it. Then our lives will be effective, both for ourselves and for others as well. -------------------- George R. Karres, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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