Mark: God’s Servant: In Jerusalem

September 7, 2014

Mark: God’s Servant

In Jerusalem

Mark 11:1-12:44

Zechariah 9:9

(Advance Slide #1)

Introduction

Thousands of devout Jews travel to the Holy City of Jerusalem.

(Advance Slide #2)

• They are filled with excitement and pride for their nation.
• For the Jews it was a season of delight, however that was not the case for the Romans.
• The population almost tripled.
• Because of this special military units were put on guard in case of riots or other disturbances.

The festivities of the Passover lasted for a week.

• Into this excitement, arrives God’s Servant.
• He only had one more week before He would be crucified outside of the city walls.

(Advance Slide #3)

This portion of Mark’s gospel account identifies 3 separate ministries of God’s Servant:

• The Servant-King; Servant-Judge, and the Servant-Prophet
• We are going to look at each of these this morning.

(Advance Slide #4)

Text

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. Zech. 9:9

This is the prophet Zechariah’s prophecy of Jesus’ arrival.

• The Jews likely heard this and saw Him arriving on His mount ready to begin His kingdom.
• In reality, this WAS Jesus’ arrival and it WAS to begin a kingdom, but not an earthly one they were looking forward to...Jesus’ kingdom was a spiritual one!

Let’s begin to look at the text and the ministries of God’s Servant.

Lesson

(Advance Slide #5)

Servant-King

Jesus is on His journey to Jerusalem.

• He first stops in Bethany and then Bethpage...about 2 miles outside of Jerusalem.
• Jesus is about to give His followers permission to give Him a public display of the honor He deserved.
• He sent His disciples ahead to Bethpage to get a ‘colt’ that He would need.
• He needed this ‘colt’ to fulfill the prophecy found in Zech. 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.

In fulfilling this prophecy Jesus does two very important things:

1. Declared Himself to be Israel’s King and Messiah.
2. Challenged the religious leaders.

To welcome an arriving king it was customary for people to lay their outer garments and festal branches along the way.

(Advance Slide #6)

• They shout “Hosanna” which means “Save now!” seeming to quote Psalm 118:25-16
• He allowed them to go right ahead and shout...openly affirming His kingship as the Son of David.

We call this the “Triumphal Entry” but no Roman would have ever said so.

• A Roman military leader would return with trophies of war and prisoners.
• Jesus’ entry would be a spiritual one and not like the military parade of the these leaders.
• Christ’s “triumph” would be the victory of love over hatred, truth over error, and life over death.

After being in the temple area he departs of Bethany.

(Advance Slide #7)

Servant-Judge

In the next text we see Jesus doing two symbolic acts that illustrated the sad spiritual condition of the nation of Israel:

• He curses a tree and cleanses the temple.
• In spite of its many privileges and opportunities, Israel was outwardly fruitless (the tree) and inwardly corrupt (the temple).

Cursing the Fig Tree

The fig tree produces leaves in March or April and then starts to bear fruit in June, with another crop in August and possibly a third crop in December.

• The presence of leaves could mean the presence of fruit, even though that fruit was “left over” from the previous season.

So why did He kill the tree and restore it?

• There is a lesson about failure here.
• Israel had failed to be fruitful for God.
• All it had to show was leaves...no fruit
• Matthew’s account says that it dried up from the roots!
• There is also a lesson on faith.
• It wasn’t until later that Jesus explains the fig tree cursing.
• Jesus said, “Have faith in God,” meaning, “Constantly be trusting God; live in an attitude of dependence on Him.”
• In Jewish literature mountains were symbolic of obstacles that must be conquered.
• Jesus is telling them to have faith and move those mountains.
• He also give a lesson on prayer.
• Real prayer is a part of our constant communion with God and worship of God.
• It has well been said that the purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth.

Cleansing the Temple

• They had set up a “religious marketplace” in the court of the Gentiles.
• This is the place that the Jews should have been doing missionary work.
• Mark specifically mentions that there were doves sold.
• A sacrifice that even the poor could afford.
• Jesus quoted two Scriptures to defend what He did—Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.
• The Jews saw the temple as only a place for sacrifices
• Jesus saw it as a place of prayer...worship!
• True prayer can be a sacrifice to God.
• “den of thieves” - a place where thieves run and hide.
• The chief priests were using their “religious activities” to cover up their sin and hypocrisy.
• When the authorities heard what He had done they kept seeking after Him.
• Judas would solves that problem for them.

(Advance Slide #8)

Servant-Prophet

A few days later representatives of the political and religious establishment came to Jesus in the temple.

• They tried to question, interrogate, trick Him with questions.
• He answered 4 questions and then asked one that silenced them for good.

(Advance Slide #9)

A Question of Authority

They had the right to question anyone claiming to come in the name of God.

• “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” vs. 28

• They were not seeking truth, they wanted evidence to bring charges against Jesus.
• Jesus knew what they were doing, so He countered their question with another question and exposed their hypocrisy.
• But why take them back to John the Baptist?
• They had rejected John why should God say anything more?
• And then He tells them the parable of the vineyards.
• If Mark 12:2–5 covers the three years when the fruit was not used, then it was in the fourth year that the beloved Son was sent.
• This is the year when the fruit was devoted to the Lord and it makes the sending of the Son even more meaningful.
• If the tenants could do away with the heir, they would have a clear claim to the property, so they cast him out and killed him.
• They wanted to preserve their own position and were willing even to kill to accomplish their evil purpose (John 11:47–53).

A Question of Responsibility

The Pharisees and Herodians unite to question Him next.

• “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?”
• No matter how He answered He would offend either Rome or Herod.

Jesus turns the question from something political to a matter of principle.

• Allow me to paraphrase:

“Caesar’s image is on his coins, so they must be minted by his authority. The fact that you possess these coins and use them indicates that you think they are worth something. Therefore, you are already accepting Caesar’s authority, or you would not use his money! But don’t forget that you were created in the image of God and therefore must live under God’s authority as well.”

A Question of Eternity

This is the first time that the Sadducees are mentioned in Mark.

• They question Jesus again about marriage. - READ vs. 19-22
• This is another trick question because they didn’t believe in existence of a soul, life after death, the resurrection.

The Sadducees thought that they were smart, but Jesus soon revealed their ignorance of two things: the power of God and the truth of Scripture.

• Resurrection is not the restoration of life as we know it; it is the entrance into a new life that is different.
• In the eternal state, where our new bodies are perfect and there is no death, there will be no need for marriage, procreation, and the continuance of the race.

They also showed their ignorance of scripture.

• They claimed to accept the authority of Moses, but they failed to notice that Moses taught the continuation of life after death.

A Question of Priority

The scribes challenged Him next.

• “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
• There were 613 precepts in the law.
• A favorite discussion for them was which was the most important.

Jesus begins with the Shema.

• Also, Jesus made love the most important thing in life, because “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:8–10).
• If we love God, we will experience His love within and will express that love to others.

A Question of Identity

(Advance Slide #10)

Now it was Jesus turn and He was about to ask the greatest question of all.

• Who is the Messiah? What do you think of Christ? Whose Son is He?
• If they were wrong about Jesus then they would be wrong about their salvation
• Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1 to prove that the Son of David can also be the Lord of David.

This section ends with two warning:

1. Against the pride of the scribes
2. Against the pride of the Pharisees

• If a person is “important” only because of the uniform he wears, the title he bears, or the office he holds, then his “importance” is artificial.
• It is character that makes a person valuable, and nobody can give you character; you must develop it yourself as you walk with God.

As an example Jesus uses a woman’s small offering.

• Jesus rejected those that made a production
• He accepted the woman’s who had consecrated her whole being as an offering.

PRAYER

Conclusion

Pride of living and pride of giving are sins we must avoid at all cost.

• How tragic that the leaders depended on a religious system that shortly would pass off the scene.

(Advance Slide #11)

• How wonderful that the common people gladly listened to Jesus and obeyed His Word.

In which group are you?