Let's pray together Lord it is with Wonder and awe and gratitude that we study your life tonight and next week in its last week We admire you as our Lord and Savior. We admire you for your courage and for your boldness and for your great wisdom For the way in which you prepared your disciples then and the way you prepare us now For living in the days after your death and resurrection and ascension What we pray that we would hear your words of grace and your words of judgment Both for our own sake and for the sake of those to whom we minister And Lord now we thank you for your word that has preserved perfectly an account of your life and your teachings and what they mean Give us ears to hear we pray in Jesus name Amen Well, turn with me if you would to Matthew Chapter 20 as we look at the last week of the life of Jesus Matthew chapter 20 we're actually beginning around verse Well 17 to 34 just in a quick sort of way the theme of this lecture the first part is That in the final week Jesus blends Triumph and tragedy we see both triumph and tragedy We see him both accepting claims of royalty and in his own way denying claims of royalty the first events of the last week including the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple set the tone It's a tone of a great deal of of conflict during this week The mixed nature event shows already at the very beginning. Let's take a look at the way it's set up chapter 20 Verse 17 Jesus has predicted for the third time and the gospel Matthew that he is going to Jerusalem where he will be betrayed flawed crucified and raised to life as you recall the last time we're together Jesus then had to encounter his disciples who didn't really quite understand What he was saying and asked for seats of authority again? Jesus said that he came not to be served but to serve To give his life as a ransom for many so he's constantly keeping his sacrifice in mind Once that's done Jesus then leaves and goes from Jericho to Jerusalem as he goes he sees two blind men Who cry out to him above the hubbub of the crowd Lord son of David have mercy on us Everybody tries to say to them shut up be quiet leave him alone But they cry all the more Jesus son of David have mercy on us He asked simply again showing his divine power and His ability to heal on his own simply what do you want? What is it that you want and they say simply we want to receive our sight? And he does it now this is another miracle that attests to his his His life as the Messiah and as the Almighty one now when you come to chapter 21 Verse one we have them approaching Jerusalem Via Bethage and the Mount of Olives and we come to the scene that we call the Triumphant entry There are a lot of questions we can ask about Jesus final week and I have an outline of it in your syllabus I don't think we really need to go over it, but simply to record the events and the order in which they take place Maybe I'll just briefly say he enters the city He debates publicly in the temple Primarily was adversaries chapters 21 to 23 and he privately teaches his disciples Matthew 24 and 25 then we have his arrest trial and execution in 26 and 27 roughly speaking and then 28 his resurrection and his various appearances But we're in that complex of events that just one right toward the other a Quarter of the gospel of Matthew or more really more like probably quarter of the chapters probably 30% or more of the gospel Matthew Higher percentage of that 40% perhaps in the gospel of Mark tremendous stress on these events from the last week the first of them is what we call a triumphant entry and There are a couple of riddles about the triumphant entry that I'd like to try to sort out with you One that I used to have and I was a young Christian and really not till not all that many years ago was how could it be At the same crowds that said Hosanna the son of David was in in the highest Should call out crucify him how many of you have wondered about that same thing as he heads nodding probably most of you have But the answer I want to give you first of all is that it wasn't the same crowds The sum of the same people but not by any means all the same people let me just show you briefly on The map that we have here you see the sign here. I'm this is a circle here Galilee and this little red around here And then comes Samaria if you can see it and next Judea Galilee was a Jewish area predominantly Jewish Lots of Greeks and so forth Romans but still predominantly Jewish but at least a small margin Judea Down here is also predominantly Jewish But Samaria is where the Samaritans lived and remember they weren't all good Samaritans in the eyes of the Jews therefore When someone wanted to travel if they were a pious Jew from Galilee to Jerusalem which is right here on the map they would not go there's a road here I don't know if you can see it or not but there's a road that goes through the highlands would be pretty direct They did not take that road They did not want to eat Samaritan food. They did not want to get Samaritan dust on their feet and on their sandals and on their clothes They would as Jesus says Alluding to that shake the dust off their feet one of no part of that and so what they would do Is go down here to the sea of Galilee and then travel down the Jordan River now You can see this is green here which says there's some vegetation here. It's brown or yellow No vegetation except right by the Jordan River They would travel down here and then they come you probably can't see the map At the end here. This is this is sort of salt flats very barren land They would come to Jericho which is the one big oasis in that region and that was Jewish territory again And then they would cut up and walk up the road about 17 miles as the crow flies 27 miles is the foot walked from Jericho To Jerusalem. I just I just have a picture here that I tried to show you before That's just a little shot of the road the Jericho right after the spring rain. So that's the best that ever looked So if you if you like that that's you can be in that's dry That's the best that ever got and then this is just a picture of the Jordan River And you see a lot of trees and vegetation but in the background you can see how dry it is Elsewhere nearby If you want to get a really good feel for how dry it was There's another picture Those are the caves that come on and It looks about as barren as things can get and and I want to tell you that's what most of it looks like That's I didn't pick the most horrible thing I picked the most typical thing perhaps in that region Around the flat so they were willing to go through some Some territory. It's pretty frightening Except of course the Jordan River was there and then they traveled up the road Until they reached Jerusalem. So who is it who enters Jerusalem with Jesus crying Hosanna Most the Galilean Jews the traveled down that path and then to Jericho and then up Therefore it would be the people who knew Jesus the best Because most of his ministry was in Galilee the people had seen the largest number of his signs who'd sat for the greatest amount of his teaching It would not be identical with all of the Jews Who were crying out for his blood in the last week those would be Jews from all over the world Rome and Parthian Fridian you just you just name it and they would be from there many of them would not have known Christ at all And Jesus at all and would have been relatively Easily influenced by the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees because they were used to Respecting them so when they pushed in another direction They were easily swayed and of course there'd be the Jews who lived in Jerusalem and Judea throughout their lives when I'm saying is this then There would be some overlap between the two crowds, but they would not be identical crowds and they're probably Really weren't even all that many people who cried out Hosanna now one reason Why I say that is that no troops come by to break it up Which they would have if they'd seen it as a demonstration for a potential king And when Jesus is charged during the last week No one brings that demonstration up. It just comes up once a little bit But at his trial no one says well, hey, you know you are claiming to be a king or your Followers were saying you were king. It doesn't come up So it probably was a very important demonstration is reported in the gospels But probably not all that many people and probably not lasting all that long at least not long enough to get the attention Of the Jewish authorities Now I have another thing I want to ask you about the triumph letter really cool bunch of interesting things about this in my view anyway Another thing is If this is a triumphal entry, where's the triumph? You're wondered about this you were wonder about the headings in your Bible Let me give you an account of what a triumph and a triumphal entry Contained in Jesus' day when Alexander the Great Conquered a city and he would enter the city and receive a claim or when Judas Maccabeeus entered Jerusalem after defeating the colonies who were oppressing God's people here's some things that that happened first of all there was a military victory Second you would have a formal entry into the city With welcome and acclamation and invocations by official people from the city A forced thing you would have would be an entry into the temple Where there would be some kind of religious activity very commonly offering a sacrifice say by Alexander the Great To local gods or offering a sacrifice to God or maybe just occasionally an act of purifying a temple Now does Jesus entry to Jerusalem fit that pretty well? How well does it fit? What do you think? See I asked the question vaguely is it fit it pretty well so you can say well. Yeah pretty well I don't even say it's a close fit There's no military victory There's no official group reading him So it doesn't fit all that well and I wonder if we're rightly calling it a Triumphal Entry Another thing I notice about the Triumphal Entry is if you just count the verses in Matthew and Mark and Luke They're all the same here. There's actually more attention paid to the donkey Verses two three four five six seven In Matthew even more clear in Mark then there is to the acclimations one two three four verses There's more about the donkey than there is about the praise And that makes me think since the Matthew was inspired and since Matthew also was a clever man and knew what he was doing That we ought to pay attention to the donkey. Don't you think All right, so let's think about the donkey just a little bit by the way for for Um Well, let's just stop there Jesus chose to enter Jerusalem on a donkey. What does that say We'll only play it just a little quiz with you If you saw a man broad daylight Drive up to the seminary and go running into library administration building a classroom and he drove up in a Old Dodge caravan or some kind of a minivan or station wagon something along those lines And it had two car seats in the back and it had a Barbie doll and a GI Joe doll and it had it had crayons Melted against the the carpet and against the seats and it had McDonald's wrappers and and a little bit to candy and coloring books and pencils strewn all over the place What would you say about that man You would say he's a family man. He's a father. Okay. That's easy. All right. What would you say if a man drove up in a small red Convertible sports car and he's about 44 years old and just starting to get gray. What would you say? You would say midlife crisis very good Try and what would you say if you saw somebody drive up in some little subcompact, you know 10 or 12 or 14 years old with rust holes here and there and You know, maybe a bumper bashed in a little bit and they walked into library classroom. What would you say? You would say seminary student absolutely You're very good at this very good at this game. All right. What does Jesus Entering on a donkey tell us
Because he didn't enter on He did not enter on a horse. He did not enter on a charger on a stallion on a battle horse He chose to enter on a donkey now You just think about it a little bit If you enter on a stallion that symbolizes war power might military victory can you imagine Waging war against your enemies and raining blows down upon their heads while riding on a donkey You've ever seen anybody ride a donkey Probably the only time you've seen somebody ride a donkey is one of those donkey basketball games that people use to raise money Because it's so ludicrous to watch a person ride a donkey when I was in Israel. I did see people Racing on donkeys and I want to tell you they had to kick those animals so many times Just to get them up to seven or eight miles an hour. It was just amazing as soon as they stopped kicking it Just stop immediately and you know, they're just not high at all You don't you wouldn't want to fight anybody from a donkey You might want to do a comedy show from a donkey, but you don't want to fight from a donkey Well, what is a donkey? Of course Jesus is not interested in a comedy show a donkey is a animal for labor It's an animal for Helping somebody who doesn't want to walk or can't walk um, it is an animal of peace You know the prophecy on this score What does it say? Zechariah chapter nine verse nine your king comes to you gentle or humble depending on your translation and Writing on a donkey kings did sometimes ride donkeys in times of peace Can find them for example in judges chapter five and in first kings chapter one, but not for war So in Jesus centers on a donkey he is saying I'm entering in peace Second thing about the Animal is the way Jesus gets it now. I don't know. I may upset a few of your ideas about the gospel In fact, I hope I do actually just a little bit tonight one of them is Again something I used to believe maybe because I was taught it in sunny school or maybe in church that Jesus Had sort of a vision of a donkey and when he went to the end of the city he said, you know I there is a donkey he said it was disciples there is a donkey somewhere and and I want you to go get that donkey as if he's Using his supernatural sight and he also knows the heart of the owner of the donkey so that when the disciples walk up and say We want this donkey the master wants the donkey then they'll say great you can have it And that would then be a miracle of insight or foreknowledge But I know I don't read it that way actually the way I take it is That first of all I'm prejudiced against that because Jesus miracles Always had a purpose didn't they At least signified something what would the significance be if Jesus could simply see a donkey That would get too close to it would get for me uncomfortably close to Miracle as amazing trick Miracle as mere wonder. I'm not sure what at the significance of it might be if you look carefully and Now you're going to have to trust me with regard to the Greek here in our passage If but if you could read Greek You would know that what Jesus says is this If anyone says you'll see a donkey tied and then a verse three if anyone says anything to you Tell him that our translation say the Lord needs them and he will send him right away But in the Greek it's their Lord needs them They're Lord it's plural They're Lord needs them now what would that be two animals um The word for Lord Kurios in the Greek me is is used of Christ Jesus is Lord, but that word for Lord with a capital L is also the word you've noticed for Lord with a small L like sir, right? So when people ask him for a favor they say Lord and it may only this mean they know who he is I just asking for a favor or for some guidance It's also true that that same word also meant master or owner Would Kurios would be the most common word in fact for an owner of an animal So I take it this way that he's saying Their Lord that is to say their master their owner has need of them not me But the owner of the donkey is in the entourage and he is Pupposing to enter a donkey and simply ask people who are with him why Sorry to give Who among them can give him a donkey and then when it happens the disciples go and they get the donkey is it's told and when they go to get it mark And Luke tells us that those who were standing there said what are you doing? Not the owner doesn't say the owner spoke it said people who are standing in the street people who are standing around said why are you doing this? The miracles in here is not in Jesus seeing a donkey The miracle is The he rides a donkey that has never been broken successfully If you know he about animals and sitting on an animal that's never been used Jesus We might say breaks the donkey and enters peaceably and quietly on an animal never ridden He enters there's a symbolism in the ancient world that an animal that's never been ridden is the only animal that a king can ride Kings don't ride on borrowed animals So Jesus is very quietly perhaps asserting his kingship Through a symbol that people would have understood but he's also showing us one more time his humility See when he wants to enter on a donkey he has to ask one of his disciples if he can borrow one That's how humble he is not a stallion Not a donkey of his own he has to ask around and come into the city Get one from one of his disciples well They do enter and the people praise him and they say Hosanna to the son of David blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in The highest now again This is something we need to just think about as to its meaning a little bit first of all the word Hosanna Was To be translated praise God it was actually something that people said when They wanted to praise The king and kind of a nationalistic sense of it was a little bit like God save the queen in England It doesn't really you don't have to be a theist to say God save the queen in England. You just mean I'm an Englishman. I'm an English woman. That's all you really mean when you say that I'm not sure how many people say that nowadays with enthusiasm, but at least they did in the past And so when they say Hosanna It can be construed as a very nationalistic hope for military deliverance What I'm saying is the people who said this Did not necessarily understand what they were saying they didn't necessarily understand That they were praising Jesus as the Christ who was coming to win his victory through his sacrifice And then you team that up with son of David Blessed as he who comes in the name of the Lord it sounds even more like a nationalistic hope because there Outlook was it the Messiah would be a son of David Who would give them as David gave Israel a military and social victory Defeating enemies with a sword. I'm going to quote something From what's called the Psalms of Solomon and they're not the Psalms of Solomon really It's called pseudopigraph of false writings That is to say someone writing probably just a little before Christ maybe at the most 100 years or so before Christ birth was writing in the name of Solomon and Expressing his theology through Solomon's mouth This is from song of Solomon or Psalms of Solomon chapter 17. This is what it says C. Lord and raise up for them their king the son of David to rule over your servant Israel in the time known to you O God Undergrew them with the strength to destroy the unrighteous rulers you hear what they're asking for did you hear it They're asking for destruction of the unrighteous rulers who would that be That'll be Rome absolutely To destroy the unrighteous rulers to purge Jerusalem from Gentiles Can anything be more plain than that get rid of the Gentiles The trample her to destruction And he will be a righteous king over them taught by God There will be no unrighteousness among them in all his days for he will be holy And the king shall be the Lord Messiah That is what they expected their Messiah to do and that's At least part of what they have in mind When Jesus enters and they praise him you can see that so clearly in verse 10 of chapter 21 when Jesus entered the whole city was stirred and they said Who is this and the people answered this is Jesus The prophet from Nazareth in Galilee what's wrong with that is the prophet Now listen as praise For the more the word the prophet the phrase not a prophet but the prophet was used often to symbolize the Messiah So it sounds like they're making maybe one of two mistakes or possibly both he's simply a prophet or maybe he's The prophet that is to say the great prophet the Messiah who will deliver And they don't know who he really is and that is why i ain't say we need to question The idea that this is simply a triumphal entry we have to ask The question if that's the best title you understand the title trample entry doesn't come from Matthew Mark and Luke Comes from our Bible translations And there's something else i want to point out to you and that is in luke 19 luke 19 verses 41 through 44 It tells the same account in luke 19 28 and following Blessed you know same thing about the donkey and and Same thing about the words blessed as the king who comes in the name of the lord And then it says this as he approached Jerusalem And saw the city He wept over it And said if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace But now it is hidden from your eyes the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you And encircle you and ham you in on every side They will dash you to the ground you and the children within your walls They will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of gods coming to you some translations will have The day of god's visitation Now what he's saying is you missed your chance for peace therefore war is coming Their chance for peace was to receive the salvation of christ and receive peace spiritual peace leads to other kinds of peace too certainly People live out their faith. They'll be social and economic peace as well, but first of all spiritual peace but because you wouldn't take that spiritual peace Because you looked at Jesus as a messianic king to deliver with armies and soldiers and all the rest because that's what you expected And he won't give it to you You'll look for it somewhere else and the Roman armies are going to come and tear your city apart And kill your people by the thousands and so he wept over the city because he knew The defective nature of their praise for him. He knew Where that was headed You didn't recognize the day of gods coming to the day of gods visitation The word that's used there in the original language is alluding back to the Old Testament The day of god's visitation not that god comes for a visit But the day that god comes to inspect they god comes to see and evaluate your life He didn't recognize that this was the day And so you're going to take matters in your own hands Rebellion's room and be destroyed. Yes questions
The question is the phrase it is hidden from your eyes And then one of the classic difficult questions It is hidden is this god hiding from your eyes I think the way we have to view this is is the both hand and when people ask me the question about You know divine sovereignty versus human responsibility my basic answer is no no divine sovereignty and human responsibility They were not compelled to no one forced them To misconstrue Jesus ministry that was of their own free will The unregent mind looks at Jesus in an unregent way And so we might say they hide it from themselves But on the other hand when someone Refuses the heed the light that god gives them what does god do commonly He would draw us the light He would draw us the word Amos talks about that he would draw us the word and that is his punishment and then once it's withdrawn their heart becomes hard So you know I know that in some ways we want to say ultimately which one you know is the final answer And of course, I think we would all agree God is god and god is finally in control but most of the time when these questions come up it is probably they blinded themselves and God Blinded them to or hit it from them they hit it for themselves They didn't want to listen to those parts of Jesus teaching that pointed in a spiritual direction And god also hit it from them Because ultimately of course this purpose is for Christ to die You know, we're back to that. Let's take a look at Acts chapter 222 It's the same idea and it's really good that it comes up now because it has to come up As we look at Jesus life But this is Peter's first sermon after Jesus resurrection and he is addressing the crowd after the Holy Spirit comes Appenic cost Toward the end of the sermon where I'll actually not toward the end toward the end of the first section He says many of Israel listen to this Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited to you By God by miracles wonders and signs which God did among you as you yourselves know 23 this man was handed over to you by gods set Purpose And four knowledge and this is not near four knowledge, but his purpose Is his decree his will and then he knows himself and he knows his powers So his purpose in four knowledge and you With the help of wicked men put him in death by nailing him to the cross And then he goes on to say of course, but God raised him up and there in one verse verse 23 you have both things God's purpose Human responsibility God determined this But you are culpable and you need to repent If you want to receive life and the refreshment that God offers as Peter says in chapter 3 Good question. Let me pause for a couple more because I've talked about a variety of things triumphal entry donkeys Nationalism any other questions you have right now
You're my quiet group That's okay. I have lots of notes. So let's keep on going and And you think of your questions and if you want to pose them to me as you have been doing a break. I'd be happy to answer them after our first break But Jesus does enter the city as a king But a king of peace not a king of war. He also enters the city as a priest And we see that by his Temple Action wait did in the temple the first thing he does When he enters the city is to go to the temple Now right now for now. I just want to stay with the account in Matthew We're going to switch to mark a little bit later For reasons that will become clear, but right now Matthew chapter 21 when Jesus entered a temple area He drove out those who were buying and selling overturned the tables of the money changers the benches of those Selling does saying my house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers What is Jesus doing? What does it all mean? The first thing he's doing is taking responsibility for God's house He is not an ordained priest But he is the son of God and therefore he has the right to care for God's house. That's the first thing He's cleaning up the house of God He is Removing that which should not be present at the house of God Now I want you to show you something here on the overhead that will Maybe make things a little bit clear. This is a picture of the Temple district in Jerusalem. I'm going to show you another very quickly. So you don't misconstrue Here's a modern-day replica of it. This one's in black and white. There are work Streets and houses all around In this particular picture they've been removed just so you can focus on what's there You will notice if you can see the relief and the shading of the artist who Care for this reconstruction that it's on a mountain and we'll come back to that in a little bit You can see the idea is pretty pretty steep in the temple district if you go to Jerusalem today It's not as steep because there've been so many people living there and so many wars and so many heaps of rubble From walls being torn down that the city's gotten more rounded But the temple is called the temple mount in the Old Testament and New Testament and you can see that so much from this picture This is the in here is the holy of holies and the places where the priests had their activities the area here and here would be Places of teaching and instruction and here would be the temple of the the court of the Gentiles Which is a place where they're supposed to pray and he knows there's not really all that much room for them It's a court of the women also, but right now we're talking about the court of the Gentiles There's not that much room for the Gentiles and what the Jewish leaders in Jesus day did was to put valuable and valid services money changing buying and selling of animals for sacrifices valuable services somebody comes from Rome somebody comes from Spain. They don't want to carry a donkey and doves And bowls and goats and sheep with them you buy them once you're there And that you can't use your own coins from wherever you want you have to use the coins for the temple and so these are valuable legitimate services two problems with one bad exchange rates Exorbitant exchange rates two So I want a and wouldn't be one a absorbing exchange rates probably charging too much at least they were they were accused of this and some literature even from the day Charging too much for the animals The main problem is that they did it right in the temple districts. Why why put it in the temple Why did have it a few feet outside the temple why did have it in the commercial district in fact In earlier years the money changing and the buying and selling of animals for the sacrificial system Was done elsewhere the priests in Jesus own generation people aren't exactly sure when maybe just a couple years before this some people think The priests move these services into the temple proper now. What's going to happen if you're a Gentile You don't have all that much space in the first place. I mean, that's a that's a Obviously scaled down model maybe 150 by 50 feet something a little more than that But still you've got this limited space to pray to hear teaching and so forth through a godfaring Gentile And now you've got money changing and animals and the sounds of animals bleeding and being dragged off and People talking about rates of exchange would make it absolutely impossible to worship god So what Jesus does is throw those things out of where they do not belong Out of the temple districts and when he does He says these words my house will be called house of prayer But you are making it a den of robbers if anybody knows your Bible really really well You may know that these statements that Jesus makes are taken from the prophets Part of it comes from Isaiah 56 verses 3 to 8 The temple is to be a house of prayer for the nations Den of thieves is a phrase just one phrase from Jeremiah chapter 7. Do you know what's in Jeremiah chapter 7 does anybody know Jeremiah's predicting his judgment against Israel. You know what's in Jeremiah 7 It's where they say Jeremiah Your prophecies not going to happen because this is the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord See God can't allow his name to be besmirched through trampling the mud This is impossible. God would never allow this Jeremiah says listen. This isn't the temple of Lord anymore. This is a den of thieves This is a place of rampant inequity So by doing this he is alluding to the fact that the temple in Old Testament times Is now was corrupt and judged You know he's saying now The temple is corrupt and it must be judged We just stop right there. See if anybody has a question about that See what Jesus is doing and what it all means Yes, the question is is it possible that Jewish leaders would be upset with Jesus for favoring the Gentiles Not only put it this way whether that was a particular problem. They certainly didn't like what he did And they certainly didn't think he had a right to do it The problem actually we might say That might be a better problem. What you're supposing Is is almost loftier than what was really bothering them What was really bothering them and you see it here in just a moment is The Jesus was treading on their turf I'm going to get that just a second. I want to show you however that in chapter 21 14 Then once it's been cleansed The temple can be dedicated to its proper use the blind and the lame come to him and he heals them Matthew says in Mar it's alright in in the mark and Luke It says it he closed the temple down wouldn't let anybody go in or out for a while and he was teaching them So he is healing and teaching and the temples now being used its precincts are being used for godly purposes again
But the Jewish leaders didn't appreciate that The Jewish leaders asked a question They said to him of writing things, but the one that matters the most is found down in verse 23 They said to him By what authority are you doing these things? You know what they're saying Wait a minute We're in charge of the temple like you Where's your authorization for this? We're in charge around here You're stepping in our territory You see how wrong that question is What should they have asked? They asked by what authority do you do these things? What should they have said?
Why are you doing things is the question or possibly another question? What is the significance of this? Well on what basis do you do this? But instead they ask a turf question Who gave you the right to step in our territory? It shows their lack of concern Primarily the lack of concern for the things of god Do I see another hand in the back? Yes, they're sure is
Very good question question is there's also a cleansing of the temple in the gospel of John chapter 2 Here's my view if you look at it closely
There are a lot of differences between the count of John and Matthew Mark Luke It is possible, you know, good men, Bible believing men And women will take it either way But I think that there are so many differences that it's much more likely that this is two separate events separated by probably three years And they were different enough you know it happened long enough ago before Jesus was well known In John that he was able to do it again And may account for how angry they were maybe some of them might have remembered With regard to the question of things appearing in different places in different gospels As you know, I believe that Matthew Mark and Luke group things For their own purposes So you know Matthew joins the miracles together chapter 8 and 9 and some of them out that might have been scattered Or maybe the mission teaching might have been a summary of several talks that he gave Clearly his first sermon at Nazareth appears earlier in Luke And it does in Mark some Luke 4 and Mark 6 and Luke is much longer gospel So there's some freedom for theological reasons to move things But that's a lot that's a lot of movement from you know The tale end of his ministry to the very beginning of his ministry seems to me like Like too much and it would be And they can out mean to put down my brother should take a different view But I would say it almost verge on misrepresentation To put it that far apart from when it really took place I mean no disrespect to others when I say that Well good questions and this is a very significant event in Jesus life because This is probably the first time that he began to shall we say cross Those who had the real power who's been mad at Jesus up till this time This is when I wish we had a smaller class and 10 people fell free to speak now who's Jesus been up Crossing and who's been mad at Jesus up till now the Pharisees and That's scribes how much power do the Pharisees and the scribes have What okay not a whole lot. What kind of power do they have? Okay, they have influence they have spiritual leadership over the masses very good various answers come from Here however Jesus is coming into contact with those who do not simply have I don't mean to put down spiritual power, but these are not people who are simply religious leaders now This is the chief priests These are those who are well connected to the Sadducees and the Herodians in Jerusalem where the power lies Jesus is now Offending those who have the power to kill Pharisees and scribes might have wanted to kill them off and on at least some of them But they couldn't pull it off Now he's offended those who do have the power to actually kill this is therefore a crucial event in the unfolding on a historical basis and on a human level This is a crucial event in the unfolding of Jesus life and the Arousal of the wrath of his opponents, but is going to cause them eventually to execute him I set you an assignment for today And it's uh to take a look at the withered fig tree and Matthew in Mark chapter 11, right? How did you did that one for today? I know I know a lot of you are just way ahead of schedule and you're all finished But a few of you did this one and I hope a lot of you thought about it. Let's just take a look at the withering of the fig tree and for this I want to turn over to mark chapter 11 Mark 11 recounts the events of the final week just a little bit differently in Matthew 21 Matthew had a had a habit of simplifying events or accounts sometimes And Matthew makes the withering of fig tree take place all at once Mark tells us that it was really rapid that the fig tree was withered but it didn't happen Just in one minute Let's take a look at the way it's done in the gospel of mark triumphal entry chapter 11 verses 1 to 11 Jesus clears the temple verses 12 to 19 Then we read Then I'm sorry I skipped I missed something Uh in verse 12 of mat of mark 11 we read the next day as they were leaving Bethany Jesus was hungry he saw a fig tree in the leaf Went to see if it any fruit but when he reached it he found nothing but leaves Because it wasn't the season for figs Said the tree may no one ever eat from you again as the disciples heard him say it and he cleans the temple out And then we read the next morning they saw the fig tree withered and they said rabbi look the fig tree you cursed has withered
What on earth is this mean? There's another riddle from the last week Uh Jesus miracle so far have old and positive haven't they They bring healing they bring life they bring restoration Are miracles always positive in the Old Testament? No Carol shakes her head right away What are some negative miracles in the Old Testament? You think of any? Okay, the 10 plagues that'll be 10 you just thought of 10 Okay, what else? Sodom and Gomorrah, okay, what else? Okay, leprosy being given to uh Moses's sister Miriam, right? Trill hands earth opening up the swallow people Walls of Jericho falling lots of miracles of judgment. Jesus Is not performing any miracles of judgment in his ministry uh What what then is happening is he You know Do you want to say? It's it's finally too much He just had enough of those people and he just was so angry and so Sick and tired of all the opposition he just said you know Oh, I just want a fig and and you know and this the lack of that one fig he finally snapped, you know Was the straw that brought you just said kaboom Is that what happened? What does it mean as an example somebody said who said that an example of what Who's to study this for today? What does the withering of the fig tree mean?
The cleansing the temple is represented by the fig tree and the The cleanse that the destruction of the fig tree represents the coming destruction of Israel Now that's a good answer. You know why that's good answer partly Did anybody look up fig tree? Anybody do that? What's a fig tree But want to tell us either be back there you're almost in a line of fire. What's a fig tree represent in Israel's represent anything? They're shy Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah
In Jose, yes No, you're doing that you're on the right track in Jose. That's right
That's right. Jose chapter seven Sorry, Jose chapter nine versus nine to ten. God came to Israel He's looking for some fruit. He didn't find any. He craved. He found none. What's the fruit? He was looking for Well early figs. What does that represent in the in the context represents righteousness It represents good deeds represents holiness. God looked to Israel. He found none It's also in Micah chapter seven where we read what misery is mine I'm like one who gathers summer fruit at the gleaning of the vineyard There's no cluster of grapes to eat none of the early figs that I crave God is seeing and searching for spiritual fruit This is a symbolic act of judgment
Just as Jeremiah took a pot and smashed it and said social Israel be smashed just as Jeremiah took a brand new sash Garment decorative garment and deliberately stuck in a rock so be ruined by dirt and worms and all the rest He said so Israel shall be ruined Jesus curses a fig tree to say you are under the judgment Because like this fig tree you're all show and no fruit the leisure there might have been a season for figs, but there should have been some Buds at least something there. There was nothing the the first buds like the buds of an apple Like a peach tree or something I should have been there. There was nothing All beauty all show no fruit Therefore like the temple beautiful magnificent building No fruit Therefore the judgment is coming now that's what that means the disciples followed up with a question and they essentially ask How did you do that?