-Ever seen a parade?

-Parades aren’t new inventions, been around for a while! Kids love them, adults go for the kids. Celebrating holidays, major events, victories

-Romans would have parades to celebrate victories on a regular basis. (including a slave who would whisper in the ear of a commander “remember you are mortal”) The Roman audience who was hearing this from Mark would have understand what was taken place by Jesus’ humble parade, but there were some weird things about it that we’ll see as we walk through it!

READ/PRAY (pg. 494)

1. A Humble Entrance (1-11)

-Let’s think about where all this is taking place. 

-Over the past few weeks, we’ve been slowly approaching Jerusalem, we finally get there today! Perea, last week was Jericho, you can see the road traveled to get to Jerusalem, which looks like THIS

-Jesus sends 2 disciples nearby to grab a colt.

-A donkey seems like a weird choice and Mark tells us has never been ridden before. 

-At this point of the journey, you’d have to think the disciples were wondering why he needed a donkey. They’re within sight of Jerusalem, only a few more steps and they’ll be at their final destination, if Jesus has gotten tired, just let Him take a quick break! Thankfully, the disciples have learned not to question Jesus, so they respond with obedience

-Now, notice that Jesus gives them basically a password in order to take this donkey away. You know like “open sesame,” but in this case the code is “the Lord has need of it.” And that’s exactly what happens!

-Mark’s trying to make a point here. Notice who’s in charge here: Jesus. At times we view Jesus as the victim in this story (innocent man killed on the cross, some even go so far to describe it as “divine child abuse” which would be true only if Jesus hadn’t been a part of the planning). None of it caught Jesus by surprise! This was His eternal plan from before the earth was even created, and He continues demonstrating that plan through each step of this process.

-But there’s far more going on here than Jesus needing a ride. This act is done to fulfill a prophecy from Zech. 9:9

-Original context tells us: The king who comes is righteous, has salvation, and is humble. Jesus is fulfilling this prophecy of God’s deliverance from their enemies.

-But this isn’t the only ideas Jesus comes to fulfill from the OT: and to understand that picture, we need to know about a king named David.

-If you’ve ever heard of David, it’s most likely in relation to a giant named Goliath. David was the pinnacle of kings for Israel. He became the golden standard by which all future kings would be judged (like MJ in bball)

-As David comes to the end of his life, some of his deficiencies as a father start to reveal themselves. He had appointed his son Solomon to be the next king, but another one of his sons, Adonijah wants the throne, and plan to usurp that role. In secret, Adonijah brings his followers together and throws a private coronation party for himself. David hears about it from Bathsheba and decides to throw a realcoronation party for the true king: Solomon. And guess what David gives him to ride on? That’s right: a royal donkey! Solomon rides into Jerusalem to demonstrate that Adonijah and all his followers aren’t telling the truth, that the true king is coming to rule.

-Solomon’s reign ended very poorly. He allowed idol worship, he took too many wives, and started down the path toward being carried off into exile. But Jesus comes in purity to establish His rule that will never end, that will never be overthrown, and that will never be abolished. The prophecy to David that his descendants would sit on the throne forever is coming true!

-The Disciples obey Jesus’ command, and then use cloaks to create a saddle for Jesus. But the disciples aren’t the only ones who are getting excited about Jesus finally revealing Himself as the Messiah, as word travels about Jesus coming, the crowd joins in on the celebration. 

-Part of this is most likely due to Jesus raising one of his best friends: Lazarus. Remember Bethany is only a couple miles away? That’s where he lived with his sisters Mary and Martha. Not much a stretch to imagine that people in “the big city” had heard about this resurrection! 

-Because the crowd is excited about this coming king, they realize He can’t just walk on the plain old ground, so they use their cloaks, and if don’t have any cloaks they use branches, pulling out the red carpet for the arriving king! This would be typical of a kingly processional. There’s an account in 2 Kings 9, and the book of Maccabees where palm branches and cloaks are thrown on the ground for the king’s processional.

-Do you see what the crowd is reciting to Jesus? They’re quoting Psalm 118.

-This Psalm is one of the what is called “Psalms of Ascent” which were recited as the pilgrims would make their way to Jerusalem. Hosanna (Aramaic meaning save now) name of the Lord (Messianic title) Blessed be (thanking Yahweh for military victory) 

-There’s a big difference between Mark & Matthew’s account here, and I think it’s connected to the different intentions behind each author. Where Matthew was primarily writing to a Jewish audience, Mark is writing to a Gentile audience, so Matthew includes more details about how the city of Jerusalem responded.

-Mark jumps straight to Jesus alone with the 12. Just as quickly as the crowd had convened, they leave Jesus by Himself. He goes straight to the temple, looks around, and because it was getting late in the day, he goes back to Bethany.

• A Haughty Façade (12-25)

-Why are people tempted to put on a front? I remember hearing a pastor talk about this during college: we’re all tempted to compare our strengths to someone else’s weaknesses. He is a professor at a university, and was sitting in a meeting hearing someone share a new insight he hadn’t thought of and he thought “I bet you couldn’t guard me in basketball.” Then later that afternoon was playing pickup, got burned on the court and thought “I bet you haven’t read a book this week!” (so then I burned him in basketball and told him that I’d also read a book that week)

-We have a tendency to try to portray something we’re not instead of being content with who God has made us! And it’s true even in our faith, as we’ll see demonstrated in this section:

1. A Fig Tree (12-14)

-The first thing we see about Jesus in this section is His hunger. This is a normal human endeavor, IDK about you, generally after a night of sleeping (not eating) one is hungry when they wake up (another evidence that Jesus is truly a human). But another aspect to hunger is how one responds when they’re hungry.

-For me, it’s a little bit like my morning coffee. If I don’t get my coffee I’m not a happy camper!

-Or maybe food is what you need in the morning, and if you don’t get your food you become hangry (that is someone who gets angry when they’re hungry) If that’s you, don’t worry you’re in good company, so does Jesus!

-Because Jesus is hungry, he becomes a man on a mission, and He sees a fig tree with leaves. Leaves are the marker for a fig tree having figs on it, or at least the starting of figs, but it’s supposed to mean you’ll be able to find food on it (despite it not being the season for figs).

-So how does Jesus respond? He curses the tree! I read a description this week that said Jesus’ final miracle is one of destruction and death! There’s even a philosopher who has used this passage to explain why he isn’t a Christian, accusing Jesus of “vindictive fury.” Which would make sense if that was all that was said about it! But we need to go on:

• A Temple (15-19)

-After riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and stirring up the town, Jesus turns His attention to the temple and comes to cleanse/purify the temple

-Drove out all who sold and bought: a necessary occupation. People would travel from all over the country to come to Jerusalem for the Passover, they needed some way of getting a sacrifice, it didn’t make sense to bring an animal, much less a spotless animal! 

-Money-changers: who were necessary too pay the temple tax in the correct currency (Torah said it had to be a half a shekel) But also had a wide assortment of moneys being used at the time, so essentially a currency converter.

-pigeons: particularly focused on the sacrifices of the poor.

-Text doesn’t say these people were stealing, could be implied by Jesus’ response, or else the mere fact that they were in the temple was missing the purpose.

-The temple was divided into different areas by level of holiness for where people were able to go, the closer you got to the Holy of Holies, the fewer people could go. Court of the Gentiles (we’ve talked about before), The Court of the Women, and then only purified Jewish men could go closer. These salesmen set up shop in the Court of the Gentiles, leaving them nowhere to worship the one true God. 

-Once these people are cleared out, what does Jesus do? He teaches, once again. And this time we have some of the contents of his sermon: Jesus quotes 2 different OT texts to make his point.

–Isa. 56:7 “house of prayer for all the nations” ethnic implications

–Jer. 7:11 – Jeremiah calling out Israel for indulging in sin, then treat the temple as a talisman to cover the sins. 

-Do you live this way? Only certain people are allowed to church, if they don’t look, think, and act like us we don’t have room for them! Or do you not connect your Sunday worship to your Saturday living? Walking into a church doesn’t save you, just like walking into a garage doesn’t make you a car! What we do here is meant to transform us from the inside out (thinking God’s thoughts after Him, dripping down into hearts, then living it out through our hands)

-(18) Now the higher ups are getting upset! They heard the teachings, and realized that Jesus was upsetting the apple cart! They want to destroy Jesus, the one who came to purify everything! Instead they see the people following Him and His teachings as a competition with what they had been teaching.

-They’re more worried with the external form of what they think worship is supposed to look like than they are worried about whether or not they’re actually pleasing the Lord they’re supposed to be worshipping. 

-They’re trying to force God to fit into their preconceived ideas and boxes instead of approaching Him as the sovereign ruler of the universe!

-Think of some of what we’ve been seeing throughout Mark’s Gospel about how Jesus subverts everyone’s expectations.

-His disciples eat on the Sabbath, He heals on the Sabbath pushing against the traditionalism of the Pharisees. He’s accused of being on cohoots with the devil. He continues teaching people about what it means to live in the kingdom of God, and what it means to actually be defiled (it doesn’t come by eating or drinking or certain thing, it comes by being transformed from the inside out)

-Think of all the times the disciples continue to miss what He’s telling them! We just wrapped up a section where He explicitly tells them 3 different times that He was going to Jerusalem to die, and they take that as an opportunity to fight about who’s the best. Everyone is expecting and wanting a political ruler, but what they got instead was the King of kings.

-Honestly, when you think about it: has anything changed in the past 2,000 years? How many people continue looking to politics as the ultimate solution to the world’s problems? (if you don’t vote for this person, the world will be over!) Dear church, don’t miss that second word: we are the church! At the end of the day your savior isn’t going to come riding in on an elephant or a donkey (at least the second time), He’s coming in a white horse: meaning He’s coming to win! Which is exactly what gets demonstrated in the last verses of this chapter:

• The Meaning of It All (20-25)

-Took a whole day for the fig tree to whither. Who notices it?

-One of the pieces of evidences that leads people to believe that Mark wrote down Peter’s story, and then compiled it together to give us this Gospel.

-Peter brings attention to Jesus’ cursing coming true. This is an intentional act. Remember: all the miracles are meant to be living parables, living examples of a bigger point Jesus is making.

-In this case, the way Mark has structured this story is supposed to tell us something about the cleansing of the temple. It’s the classic Markan sandwich! The fig tree is meant to serve as an illustration of what’s going to happen to the temple: destroyed down to its’ roots. Just like the fig tree, the busyness (and business) that was taking place was just a façade that didn’t give rise to lasting fruit. How do we know this? The connection is prayer. 

-See, just as the temple was mean to serve as a “house of prayer for the nations” so God’s people are supposed to be marked by a life of prayer and faith.

-Faith is the first step: demonstrating trust, hope, and confidence in God. But then the ongoing steps are prayer. Think of Paul’s command to “pray without ceasing.” 

-Need to again warn against prosperity theology! This isn’t name it and claim it (I prayed for a Rolls Royce and got it), it’s praying according to God’s will.

-I was meeting with someone this week who asked about this idea and I pointed them to Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” If you are truly following the first part of that verse, your desires will slowly over time will become more and more of what God would want for you.

-But there’s a third part to this that we see: so faith, prayer and forgive.

-Think of what we prayed in the Lord’s prayer last week: “forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE THOSE who trespass against us.” God’s forgiveness toward us is directly correlated to our forgiveness of others. Are you a forgiving person, or do you tend to hold grudges against others? 

-If we live these truths out, God will answer prayers and move mountains in our lives. Think of the fact that you’re saved! God literally had to bring you back from the dead (spiritually speaking) in order to do that! Do you know how miraculous that is? 

-So what: what does your life look like? Are you bearing fruit, or just giving off the appearance of fruit? 

–Matt. 3:8 J the B “bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” It’s easy (at first) to give off the appearance of fruit, but over time it will start to wear on you. If you have faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will work in you to actually make it possible to bear fruit, because apart from that fruit we’re dead! Vs. 10 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 

-How often is that true in our lives too? We do our best to act all “put together” when we come to church (despite yelling at our kids on the way out the door, cussing out the person who cut you off) then as soon as we walk in the doors we put on a smile and act like everything’s ok. It’s no wonder people give up on church when they see that kind of hypocrisy! Instead, we need to ensure that we’re ACTUALLY bearing fruit in our lives, not just the illusion of it.

-That is what is means to be a true disciple of Jesus. It’s not pursuing worldly aim, it’s not building yourself up, it’s submitting yourself to the Lordship of Jesus through faith, demonstrated by your prayers, and filled out in the way you forgive others.

-Don’t remember many Sunday School classes growing up, but 1 has stood with me (probably because of the family story)

-Trying to communicate to 5 year olds the importance of serving. Each person was given a turn wearing an apron and “serving” the rest of the class donuts. Apparently I refused to give up my serving role (which was obviously relayed to my parents after about how much of a servant I was, and much I cared about getting donuts for everyone else)

-I liked wearing the apron! And then at the end I got to take a whole box of donuts home!

READ/PRAY (pg. 494)

1. Comes Through His Death (32-34)

-Continuing their journey to Jerusalem. This is the middle section of Mark’s Gospel (began with the recognition from Peter in 8, ends at the end of this section when they get to Jerusalem in 11)

-This middle section could be considered Jesus on the way to Jerusalem (remember I mentioned that in Luke hinges on 9:51 “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”) The other emphasis in the middle section is the way it can be broken down into 3 predictions of Jesus’ death (look at the title given in your Bible, mine says: “Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time”)

-All follow the same pattern: Jesus tells what’s coming, launches into a talk about discipleship, then the disciples miss the point and revert back to the world’s ways of organizing and living.

-As I said, this section is marked by Jesus 3 times predicting his betrayal, death, and resurrection. Look at how Jesus repeatedly describes it!

-Let’s think through everything we’ve seen in the midst of these 3 predictions:

-After the first one, Peter rebukes Jesus, who in turn is rebuked by Jesus, then Jesus explains the cost of discipleship (take up your cross and follow)

-Then Peter, James, and John see Jesus transfigured before them and hanging with Moses and Elijah, then coming down from the mountain the disciples are shown to not yet be able to everything Jesus can with the boy suffering from (what sounds similar to) epilepsy. This leads Jesus to remind the disciples to live a life of prayer (like surrendered to a dependent on Him)

-Jesus then offers his second prediction in 9:31, and the disciples go on to argue about which one of them is the greatest. Jesus uses this as a teaching opportunity to say that if you want to follow Him, you need to look for the poor and marginalized (as demonstrated by a child). You can’t follow the world’s ways and expect to also live in Jesus’ kingdom. It also involves mortification (subduing bodily/sinful desires). Jesus says to cut off your: hand, leg, eyes if they cause you to sin. Yet again, not the way the world operates! This includes how Jesus’ followers live in marriage (not divorce), how they welcome children in (care for them! Our kids ministry should never struggle to find volunteers!), and how they view their earthly possessions (if you give them up you’ll get more in return).

-Then we land at today’s passage, where Jesus will once again move from a passion prediction to the cost of discipleship, and then conduct a living parable by healing blind Bartimaeus.

-We’ve spent a lot of time on the second half of this section, but there’s a couple things to note about the introduction to this section. Up until this point, Jesus had been walking with them, suddenly now He’s by Himself. People following are describes as amazed and afraid. The leader they’d been following was moving in some new ways, and they weren’t wanting to be quite as close to Him.

-Why were people amazed and afraid?

-Jerusalem is where the insurrection would happen. It’s time for war! Jesus had been building His following, teaching them what it means to follow Him, now it’s time to bring about His kingdom. But how did the people think it would happen?

-By force. Throughout this whole section, how had Jesus been describing the way of entering His kingdom? Childlike, aka needy and with nothing. Literally the opposite of force! Yet power and persuasion is exactly the way we as humans view the world.

-Lots of conversation today about power, about victimhood, and about privilege. The heartbreaking thing is Jesus repeatedly commands His followers to not focus on those things, yet throughout history we can see God’s people repeatedly coming back to those very issues.

-Dear friends, it’s not a coincidence that Jesus came as an infant. It’s not weakness that Paul describes the gospel message as not coming by human power or persuasion, but by God’s power.

-No, power isn’t the issue! It’s what those in power do that can become an issue. But the only way the world can operate is through power dynamics, we’ll get to some more of this in the next section, as Jesus explicitly talks about the differences between authority in the world and authority in the church.

-So far, we’ve seen that what’s necessary for Jesus is His death. His followers think that means through a political uprising and overthrowing of the Romans, but Jesus knows and keeps trying to tell them that’s not the way! But 2 disciples want to make sure Jesus knows how valuable they are (using the world’s ideas)

-We see following Jesus:

• Is Demonstrated By Serving (35-45)

-Just as the first time comes about by Peter trying to put himself first, this time it’s the rest of the “inner 3” who approach Jesus. (Jesus had crowds of people following Him, from those He spent more focused time on the 12, from that 12 He spent more focused time with 3: Peter, James, and John)

-Begin innocently enough, but Jesus doesn’t commit to anything. I’m sure they’ve been working on trying to find the best time to bring this request to Jesus! Think of the way kids work at trying to figure out which parent will give them what they want. Recently, Cara confronted Calvin about why he asked me if he could watch DP in the morning instead of her “because I knew daddy would say yes!”

-As we saw in the last section, they think Jesus is going to Jerusalem to begin His reign, so they’re hoping that once the insurrection is complete, they have the highest positions. They’re 2 of the inner 3, who’s left out? Peter! This would make sense, right, you’ve got 2 hands there’s no room for a 3^rd person in there. 

-On the one hand, their request makes sense! Someone needs to sit by Jesus and help Him reign (at least in their minds, doesn’t enter that Jesus may be sitting to someone else’s right hand) 

-Jesus begins with a gentle rebuke and a reminder that they don’t know what’s happening. 

-Drink refers to suffering/persecution that was coming. Throughout the OT there’s repeated references to a cup being poured out as wrath upon sinful people. Even on Jesus’ last night with His disciples, He prays that the Lord would remove this cup of suffering from Him (Mark 14:36)

-Baptism similarly refers to intense tribulation that would be brought upon them, and Paul even picks up this idea in Rom. 6 that baptism serves as a reminder that we have died with Jesus, so Jesus is telling these brothers that both suffering and death are on His horizon. Do they think they can handle all that?

-They (once again) miss it! “Of course we can!” They’re not called the sons of thunder for nothing! 

-Once again, their minds are most likely going to the political war that is coming up. They could even be interpreting Jesus’ comments as referring to that event, so Jesus is going to be a martyr for the cause, and if He can do that, so can they!

-Not dissimilar from what Peter will pledge just a few chapters later: “Even though they all fall away, I will not. If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” (14:29, 31). 

-Jesus promises them suffering and persecution, but he can’t promise anything else. Jesus, in everything, submits to the will of His Father. Someone will sit there, but it won’t those that try to get it, it will be those that the world wouldn’t recognize.

-Think of all the children Jesus had been interacting with recently. Think of all the marginalized people who had been ostracized that He’s healed (bleeding woman, demon possessed). Those who are the greatest in God’s kingdom are described in Heb. 11 as people “of whom the world was not worthy.” But even the lowest in God’s kingdom is greater than the person Jesus describes as the most significant human to ever live (Matt. 11:11)

-This is done by obeying Jesus, not by building yourself up.

-How do you think everyone else would have felt once they heard about it? Definitely would have led to a fight! But here’s the thing: the reason they were fighting is because the rest didn’t think about it first! They were upset that James and John beat them to the punch!

-Think of what we saw Peter do during the transfiguration: he offered to build houses for Moses and Elijah on the mountain so they could rule with them. They’re continually fighting about who gets the positions of power and recognition (remember, just recently we read about them arguing about who was the greatest) You could read this section as just a continuation of that previous conversation! Jesus’ repeated refrain that they need to serve has fallen on deaf ears.

-And this continues to happen today in the church! How big is your church? How many books have you published? How many conferences have you spoken at? Does your church have the “right” ministry? We’re always comparing, but we’re comparing to the wrong standard! See, if we continually compare ourselves to others we’ll always find ways we’re superior. What Jesus is commanding us to do is compare ourselves Him, who is the perfect standard. In that case, we’ll always be falling short, which is the point of the gospel message. 

-Picture the group of disciples having a heated debate about this very topic, until Jesus gets in the middle of them and changes the direction of the conversation

-Once again becomes a teaching moment! Jesus’ way of leadership is the opposite of the world. Look at how he describes the world’s ways: “lord it over” and “exercise authority.” That’s not the Jesus way! Jesus says “It shall not be so!” 

-Do you want to lead? Serve! Example of music team asking people to run slides for 6 months before they get on the stage. What are you willing to do to serve those who are sitting nearby you? Music is a great opportunity for that, and I think one of the best ways to model this service! 

-“If the gathering is about building up and encouraging the church, then a song I don’t like presents an opportunity to love and encourage others whose tastes differ from mine.” (Mike Cosper, Rhythms of Grace, 88)

-Jesus isn’t calling for anything He isn’t willing to do. He’s demonstrated to them in multiple ways what it means to serve, not be served.

– “The brothers hope to honor Jesus while honoring themselves. How easily worship and discipleship are blended with self-interest; or worse, self-interest is masked as worship and discipleship.” (James Edwards)

-How often do you equate God’s way with your way? Or you take your desires and assume they’re the way God wants you to live? What’s even worse is when you take those desires and then force others to live that same way! That’s called legalism, and there’s a whole host of issues with that!

-Text I got when we had to shut our doors during COVID (this was an incredibly hard season! No one knew exactly what to do, it’s easy to look back now and see the mistakes, but not in the middle of it): “I was going to use this as an opportunity to demonstrate my faith in God!” I wanted to text back “If you’ve been waiting for a global pandemic to demonstrate your faith, then you don’t have those faith muscles built up to start practicing them now.” Jesus here is saying you need to start practicing service in the small things so that as you grow in ability and responsibility you can continue being faithful. The problem is when people are elevated beyond their character. We’ve seen that repeatedly in the church the past couple years, and it comes about because people forget that Jesus called us to serve, not be served. As soon as you get to the point that you think it’s time for others to start serving or accommodating your needs, preferences, and desires, you need to step back for a season!

-So far: following Jesus comes through His death, is demonstrated by whether or not we serve others, and it:

• Requires Faith In Him (46-52)

-20 miles away from Jerusalem, slightly off the main road, 1 way to get in and out. Those who had been following were continuing toward Jerusalem, ready for the revolt!

-Only named person healed in this Gospel: Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus (name means: “Son of Honor”) Let’s compare Bartimaeus to the 2 brothers who asked for the positions of honor: they were most likely wealthy (Father had a fishing business), Barty had to beg to eat. They were getting recognition and fame from following Jesus (such that they knew to ask for even more fame) Barty was (apart from being in here) forgotten and marginalized.

-No social welfare, begging was the only way to survive. 

-Jesus of Nazareth to delineate this Jesus from all the others (like the name “John” or “Michael” thanks a lot mom & dad)

-Instead of asking for power and prestige, what does Barty ask for? Mercy. He wouldn’t even care if his name was mentioned in this text: he just wants a full life.

-What’s the response of the crowd? Barty doesn’t deserve the see Jesus! Jesus is too busy and on a different social standing. How does he respond? Cries all the more! He’s desperate! Which is something we (and the disciples) could learn! (parable of the persistent widow Luke 18:1-8 “because this widow keeps bothering me”)

-Jesus stopped. Has a whole crowd around Him and he stops for 1 blind beggar.

-Invites Barty near. 3 verbs: take heart, get up, calling you.

-Throws off all his worldly possessions (his cloak, both protection from heat and pillow at night), jumps up as quick as possible and runs to Jesus.

-Jesus asks the same question he’d asked James and John: “Whereas the Sons of Thunder asked for extraordinary glory, Bartimaeus asks only for ordinary health.” (James Edwards)

-Refers to Jesus as a higher form of Rabbi (used primarily of God). Those on the inside continue to remain blind, while those on the outside see who God is. He has 1 request: let me see!

-Why is this man healed? Faith. How strong did his faith need to be? As strong as a mustard seed, but in the right person.

-Example of ice from Keller.

-Became a follower of Jesus. Tradition says he’s named because he became a prominent leader in the early church.

-What are you willing to give up to get Jesus? Are you truly following Him, or is Jesus a convenient excuse to try to force your way, agenda, ideas onto others? Do you come to serve or to BE served?