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| Chapter 11 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, He sent forth two of His disciples 2 and said unto them, "Go your way into the village opposite you, and as soon as ye have entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon man never sat. Loose him and bring him. 3 And if any man say unto you, ‘Why do ye this?’ say ye that the Lord hath need of him, and straightway he will send him hither." 4 And they went their way and found the colt tied outside by the door at a place where two ways met, and they loosed him. 5 And certain of those who stood there said unto them, "What do ye, loosing the colt?" 6 And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded, and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him, and He sat upon him. 8 And many spread their garments upon the way, and others cut down branches off the trees and strewed them upon the way. 9 And those who went before, and those who followed, cried, saying, "Hosanna! Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" 11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple. And when He had looked round about upon all things, as now the eventide had come, He went out unto Bethany with the twelve. 12 ¶ And on the morrow, when they had come from Bethany, He was hungry; 13 and seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He might find any thing thereon. But when He came to it He found nothing but leaves, for the time for figs was not yet. 14 And Jesus spoke and said unto it, "Let no man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever." And His disciples heard it. 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. 17 And He taught, saying unto them, "Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called for all nations the house of prayer’? But ye have made it a den of thieves." 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His doctrine. 19 And when evening had come, He went out of the city. 20 And in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, calling to remembrance, said unto Him, "Master, behold, the fig tree which Thou cursed is withered away." 22 And Jesus answering, said unto them, "Have faith in God. 23 For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, ‘Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea,’ and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. 24 Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 25 And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have aught against any, that your Father also who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your trespasses." 27 ¶ And they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, there came to Him the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, 28 and said unto Him, "By what authority doest thou these things? And who gave thee this authority to do these things?" 29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, "I will also ask of you one question; answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30 The baptism of John: was it from Heaven, or of men? Answer Me." 31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we shall say ‘From Heaven,’ he will say ‘Why then did ye not believe him?’ 32 But if we shall say ‘Of men’" --they feared the people, for all men counted John that he was a prophet indeed. 33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, "We cannot tell." And Jesus answering, said unto them, "Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things." |
The King is presented. Zechariah 9:9; Matt 21:1-9; Luke 19:29-38; John 12:12-19. We are now entering the final stages of the plan of God, Pentecost is approaching. A time of delight for the Jew, a time of great worry for the Romans as in the Holy city of Jerusalem the population increases by three times, many of the Jewish visitors are full of excitement and nationalistic, it would not take much to cause a riot. Disputes between the Jewish religious groups were also common. v1-11 Jesus and the disciples are approaching Jerusalem and about two miles away reach Bethany and Bethphage. These two villages are about 2600 feet above sea level and allow a wonderful view of the city of Jerusalem. Jesus sends two of the disciples into the village to look for a special donkey which has never carried a person. The donkey was considered just for carrying luggage, but today it was to carry the King as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9. This act of declaring Himself as King of Israel will also challenge the religious leaders, they may not have planned to arrest Jesus during the Pentecost but God had planned the sacrifice of the "Lamb of God" during this Pentecost. Jesus was well known in Bethany due to the raising of Lazarus John 11:1-45; John 12:9-18 and many must have joined in the procession. It was the normal practice for the people to spread their outer clothes on the road and then add the tree branches in front of a King 2 Kings 9:13. They shouted "Hosanna," meaning "Save now" Psalm 118:25-26. Jesus is openly confirming that He is the King and the Son of David. This event was the Lord’s "triumphant entry" as God’s anointed King and Saviour of the world. After the entry into the city Jesus visits the temple for a short time, Jesus leaves to spend the night in Bethany. v12-14 The Fig Tree. Matt 21:19-21. As Jesus leaves Bethany he is hungry and on passing a fig tree looks for some fruit to eat. It is normal for a fig tree to produce leaves in March or April and then fruit appears in June, with additional crops in August and possibly another in December. Therefore if the tree had leaves it should have had fruit, even though some may have been from the previous year. It is interesting to note that Jesus had to examine the tree physically, He did not seem to have any special powers to see that there was not fruit. Jesus could have healed the tree and make it produce fruit but this and the destruction of the pigs Mark 5:13 is the only record of Jesus destroying part of nature. Why did He do this? To give a lesson. The fig tree is often a symbol of the Nation of Israel. Israel had failed to carry out the task of spreading the true worship of God, they were unfruitful Jeremiah 8:13. The tree then died from the root v20, leaves still present for a while but the tree had lost the contact with the source of food, just as Israel had lost fellowship with God. The death of the fig tree was a symbol of the future of Israel. v15-21 The temple is cleaned Matt 21:12-16; Luke 19:45-47. Jesus had previously purified the temple on His first visit to the temple John 2:13-22 but they were obviously soon back allowing money changers and merchants to use the temple for their business. The priests often received their share of any profits, if the visitors sacrifice was rejected as blemished by the priest then the visitor had to go to these merchants to get a satisfactory offering. The whole behaviour of these people was opposite to the wish of God and how He wanted to be worshiped, they had made money their idol. Mark especially mentions those who sold the doves. These are the few sacrifices that the poor people could afford Lev 14:21; Luke 2:21-24 but were being cheated. Jesus was showing especial care for the poor. This so call "market for religion" was found in the Court of the Gentile, the place where the Gentiles were allowed to see how a Jew worshipped his God, where they should have been showing the True God to the world, all the visitors saw was business in the name of God not a place of prayer and worship. Jesus enters this area and drives out the various stands, those who changed foreign money to Jewish money, those who sold the animals for sacrifice. He reminds those there of two Old Testament Scriptures, Isaiah 56:7, "an house of prayer," and Jeremiah 7:11 Jesus saw the temple as a place of prayer, a place to talk with God. The Jews saw the temple as a place of sacrifice, with many rules and regulations which stopped men and God meeting. "A den of thieves." means that the priests and scribes were using the temple as the hiding place for thieves. Due to what Jesus had done and said to the people, from that day the scribes and chief priests were out to destroy Him. v19-26 They later departed Jerusalem and as they pass the fig tree Peter points out that it has died. Jesus responds with "Have faith in God," then goes on to explain that prayer and real faith can do the impossible, move a mountain or any personal problem. It must be pointed out that this does not mean that by prayer you can do what you want, no, prayer is to get God’s Will done on earth, not a persons desires in heaven. v27-33 The Sanhedrin were the official protectors of the Law, so they had the right to investigate anyone who claims to be from God, this included Jesus. But these men were only trying to find some way of destroying Jesus, not examining what He was saying about the Law. Jesus can read their minds so exposes their hypocrisy by asking them a question. "By whose authority do you do these things" is their question, Jesus goes back to the ministry of John the Baptist and asks them, "The baptism of John the Baptist, of God or man?" The Jewish leaders had not accepted any of what John had said to them, was it of divine or man nature. If it was of divine origin then as religious leaders then they should have been the first to accept his teaching, if they said it was of man then they were saying that John was a fake, an impostor and this was not what the people believed. v33 They could not, or would not say so Jesus refused to answer their question. |
Easy English Translation
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