The True Temple
Mark 11:1-25
Main Idea: Jesus’ messianic arrival invites us to exchange empty religious practice for faith and fruitfulness in him.
I. Parades and Palms (11:1-11)
The divine royalty of Jesus:
His sovereign authority to acquire a colt
The reception and praise of the people
The humility of Jesus:
The humility of a colt
The anti-climax of his arrival
Zechariah 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.
“They believe that salvation means the Messiah will come and destroy the people oppressing them. They will be saved or liberated, and the oppressors will be destroyed. They expect Jesus to judge the nations and save them. They never would have expected that he would judge them and save the nations. What is missing in the story is a repentant people who realize that the true problem is not the Romans but themselves.”
~ Jason Meyer, Mark For You
II. Trees and Temples (11:12-21)
Jeremiah 7:3-11: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’ “For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 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? 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.
“In the temple you had all the leaves, you had all the externals of worship, but there was no true prayer, no belief in the great Lamb of God’s Passover, no truth, no righteousness, no love of men, no care for the glory of God; and so the temple, which had been a house of prayer, had become a den of thieves. You do not marvel that the temple was destroyed. You and I may become just like that temple. We may go on with all the externals of religions, nobody may miss us out of our seat at Tabernacle, nay, we may never miss our Christian engagements; we may be in all external matters more precise than we used to be, and yet for all that, we may have become in our hearts a den of thieves; the heart may be given to the world while external ceremonies are still kept up and maintained. Let us beware of this, for such a place cannot be long without a curse.”
~ Charles Spurgeon, Nothing But Leaves
III. Faith and Fruit (11:22-25)
John 15:5-7: I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
