Jesus Comes to Jerusalem

This is always called the triumphant entrance. Jesus is approaching his final days and as he prepares to go into Jerusalem he tells his disciple:

Go into the village
You’ll find a colt which no one has ever sat on
If anyone asks why you’re taking it tell them “The Lord has need of it”

And the disciples do and find exactly as Jesus has told them. It’s not integral to our lesson today but a great point nonetheless – nothing ever surprised Jesus. As he goes into Jerusalem he knows about the colt, he knows about Judas’ betrayal, he knows about the cross waiting for him. Jesus did not have his life taken – he gave it. He knew exactly what he was walking into when he entered that city.

But before the crowds shout for him to be crucified they are shouting in verse 9 “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!””

The people are all acknowledging that Jesus is the king that has been sent by God, and when the king comes home it’s time to party!

Contrast that with what happens in verse 11:

Mark 11:11 ESV

¹¹ And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

You read about the kings like David, Solomon, or Hezekiah worshiping in the temple and they are grand affairs. Here comes God’s anointed king, descended from David – the man after God’s own heart, and we are going to give him a royal welcome.

But not Jesus. It’s almost like showing up to your own birthday party everyone else forgot about. He goes up. He looks around. Well, it’s getting late… might as well go.

This is God’s house – and nobody cares that he’s come home.

Cursing the Fig Tree

So on the next day Jesus is coming back with his disciples and we read at verse 12:

Mark 11:12–14 ESV

¹² On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. ¹³ And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

And the has puzzled people forever! It kind of makes sense to be mad at a tree until we’re told by Mark that it wasn’t the season for figs! So Jesus has been declared irrational, vindictive, and a bully of this poor little fig tree.

I’m going to preface a lot of this and tell you that most people who know a lot about the bible apparently don’t know much about fig trees. There’s quite a bit of speculation about what Jesus was hoping to find on the tree.

If it’s not the season for figs why was he mad to not find any?
He was expecting the unripe figs at the very least
If the unripe figs weren’t there yet this early in the season then that means there wouldn’t be any figs at all that season.

All that I can confidently say, is that a fig tree full of leaves implies that there should be fruit. The tree looked like it was ready to produce, but gave nothing.

This short event is really important for understanding what we read next. Notice how Mark structures this story:

Fig tree
Jesus in the temple
Back to the fig tree

Mark is fond of telling two stories at the same time. Think of Jairus who asks for his daughter to be healed, only for that to be interrupted by the woman who was bleeding for 12 years, and now we’re back to Jairus. Mark is telling us that we need both of these stories to see the point. They are both going to help interpret one another. Understanding the fig tree helps us understand the temple actions, understanding the temple actions is going to draw out the meaning of the cursed fig tree.

And this is one of our first hints as to why Jesus is going to be mad in the temple. Israel was often portrayed as a tree or some sort of vine in the Old Testament. Notably, we can turn to Jeremiah 8:13-14

Jeremiah 8:13–14 ESV

¹³ When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.” ¹⁴ Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities and perish there, for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.

God says he tried to find fruit on the tree of Israel but found nothing. And now the people are resigned to his judgment. Let’s go die because we’ve sinned against God.

This is the same message that Jesus brings into the temple

Jesus in the Temple

Mark 11:15–19 ESV

¹⁵ And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive 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. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “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.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ¹⁹ And when evening came they went out of the city.

There have been plenty of interpretations for Jesus’ action here in flipping over tables and driving people out. A popular one is that he’s mad about people turning the temple into a market. But God had expressly told Israel that when they were on a long journey to the temple they could bring money to buy an animal to sacrifice. It was a pain and too easy to mess up your unblemished sacrifice if you had to travel all the way form Dan.

Another popular one is that Jesus isn’t mad at the act itself, but the greediness of the sellers and money changers who were robbing the people through their high prices. They connect this with Jesus calling the temple a ‘den of robbers’ which we’ll get to, but also notice that Jesus isn’t just driving out the sellers in verse 15, but also the buyers!

What Jesus is doing is he is stopping people from offering sacrificing. He is shutting down worship. No money changing means no money to buy animals. No animals to buy means no worship. Notice that Jesus in verse 16 is stopping anyone from carrying anything through the temple.

Jesus Teaches in the Temple

After stopping sacrifices from being offered Jesus begins to teach the people, and Mark gives us two quotations from the prophets to tell us why Jesus is so mad at the temple.

Isaiah

The first is Jesus saying the “My house shall be called a house of prayer” quoting from Isaiah 56:7.

From Isaiah 55 God has issued the great invitation – everyone come to the feast that I am offering for free! Isaiah 56 tells us who exactly is invited to that feast.

Isaiah 56:3–8 ESV

³ Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” ⁴ For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, ⁵ I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. ⁶ “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— ⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” ⁸ The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

God says that the days are coming when everyone, even those who had always been cut off from God’s people, would be able to benefit from his temple. All people, even more than these he says in verse 8, would be gathered in. All nations would pray in this house.

What would the nations be praying for? When Solomon built the temple, he dedicates to God and pleads in 1 Kings 8:30 that God would…

1 Kings 8:30 ESV

³⁰ And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

And not only Israel!

1 Kings 8:41–43 ESV

⁴¹ “Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake ⁴² (for they shall hear of your great name and your mighty hand, and of your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³ hear in heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

When the temple is called a house of prayer, that prayer is for forgiveness. That’s why people brought sacrifice to God – for forgiveness of their sins!

And Jesus is shutting down the sacrifice and telling Jerusalem “There is no more forgiveness.” This place was to be a house of prayer for all nations but instead, verse 17 – “You have made it a den of robbers.”

Jeremiah

This is coming from Jeremiah 7, where Go tells his prophet to stand at the temple gate and warn the people:

Jeremiah 7:4 ESV

⁴ Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

Jeremiah 7:8–10 ESV

⁸ “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?

Here’s the problem in the days of Jeremiah:

I can steal, murder, cheat, lie, and even worship other gods
And when I come to this temple here – God will have to forgive me!

Rather than bringing God a broken and contrite heart, God asks:

Jeremiah 7:11 ESV

¹¹ Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.

Robbers, both in Hebrew and the Greek in Mark, is not the stealthy cat burglar. They’re the bandits and outlaws who ambush people on the roads and plunder them. And God says the temple has become your little bandit hide-out where you think you’re safe.

But they’re not safe from God’s judgment.

Jeremiah 7:12–14 ESV

¹² Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

Shiloh was where the tabernacle was – and it wasn’t there anymore!
So I’ll do the same thing with this house – this temple that you’ve turned into a den of robbers.

That’s the message that Jesus brings to the temple in Mark 11. That’s the message that everybody else heard as well. You’ll notice in Mark 11:18 that the chief priests, scribes, and people aren’t afraid or astonished at his actions – but his teachings. They heard in these quotations God’s judgment on the temple that was eventually destroyed 600 years prior to this.

And Jesus is saying that it’s going to happen again.

Casting Mountains Into the Sea

His disciples heard it too. In Mark 11:20-21

Mark 11:20–21 ESV

²⁰ As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

Whoah!

You cursed the tree for not bearing fruit!
And then you said the temple and Israel wasn’t bearing fruit
And you warned about it being destroyed
And now the fig tree!

Mind blown!

And in verse 22:

Mark 11:22–23 ESV

²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

This is not a general teaching on prayer and how faith can move mountains. Pay attention to what Jesus is saying: it will move this mountain. Not any mountain, but this one. They had left the temple in the evening. In verse 20 it’s morning again as they pas by the same fig tree on the way to the temple – also known as Mount Zion.

Have faith – you’ll see this mountain and the temple with it cast down.

It’s a picture of judgment. And it’s something the disciples needed to have faith in. They needed to have faith that Jesus was king, and that he would overthrow his enemies for 40 more years before they actually saw the temple cast down by Rome.

Have faith and you’ll see this mountain cast into the sea.

Praying for Forgiveness

And then he tells us in verse 24

Mark 11:24–25 ESV

²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Remember back to what the temple was to be – a house of prayer, where people could pray for and find forgiveness. But what happens when God takes that place away? In John, Jesus calls himself the temple.

He is the place of forgiveness
He is the means of forgiveness
He is now the one we direct our prayer to when we want to be forgiven

Application

The Time to Bear Fruit is Now

The temple was a beautiful building. We even read of the disciples telling Jesus “Look at how wonderful the stones and building are!” And when you have the Pharisees who are known for obeying to the degree when they’re tithing even the tiniest amount of spices, it’s a safe assumption that their sacrifices were flawless as well.

But for all of its beauty, it was empty – like a fig tree full of leaves and promise, but devoid of any fruit. And as a result it would be cursed by God and overthrown.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful our worship is:

That we know all the songs in four-part harmony
That the Lord’s Supper talk is engaging and concise
That the sermons are full of insight
That the prayers are thoughtful

If none of that results in us actually doing something.

We can’t say that it’s just not the time for bearing fruit. Jesus didn’t care that it wasn’t the season for figs. As Paul tells Timothy

2 Timothy 4:2 ESV

² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.

Now is the time for our hearts to live up to the expectations that our worship sets.

A House of Prayer

That fruit is to be a house of prayer for all nations. This is the place where anyone can come in to find their start with God.

The temple was set up with a series of courtyards to prevent certain people from coming near God. Jewish men were allowed in the inner court, priests even further inside than that. But if your a woman? You gotta stay out in the Court of the Women. And if your a Gentile? You’re even further than that. There were even sign written in Latin and Greek:

No stranger is to enter within the balustrade round the temple and enclosure. Whoever is caught will be himself responsible for his ensuing death.

The Romans refused to allow the Jews to carry out the death penalty with one notable exception – Gentiles who passed that barrier.

The temple that Jesus condemned had no interest in inviting the nations in, they were doing just about everything they could to keep them out!

Are we a house of prayer for all nations and people?

Bunker mentality
Us vs them mentality
Enjoy the prospects of judgment day more than a day of reconciliation

But we need to push it to a more personal level than that. We go back to how Mark ends this whole event with Jesus discussing prayer:

Mark 11:24–25 ESV

Israel lost their temple because they had become a den of robbers – lying stealing, murdering, you name it. Jesus pronounces woes on the Pharisees for their lack of mercy, justice, and righteousness.

Jesus warns us that we can loose our forgiveness when we choose not to forgive others.

It’s something that, the more I think about the more I think we might be missing out on something.

When we get ready to pray for forgiveness, we need to forgive others
In Matthew 5, Jesus says if you have something against your brother to go and reconcile with him before you come back to worship God
Paul condemns the Corinthians for taking the Lord’s Supper in a way that excluded their brothers and says that’s the reason why some of you have died!

We cannot be a house of prayer, the place of God’s forgiveness if we don’t ever forgive one another. We cannot be like the temple who demanded grace for themselves while withholding it from others. You look real good showing up to services, but where its the fruit of forgiveness?

So here are some questions to prompt some soul searching for us today:

Who do you have something against?
Why are you holding that grudge?
Who do you not want to forgive? Is it someone in here or out there?
Did you get in a fight with your spouse on the way over here only to put on a smile that everything is ok?

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

¹⁶ Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

When we talk about restore, rebuild, revive – we’re talking about much more than just a building or a refined Sunday service. We’re talking about our very hearts.