April 22 - Authority

April 22 - Authority - Mark 11:1-33

Bethany is the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus and is where Jesus would spend the night in Mark 11:19 (also Mathew 21:17, Luke says that he spent the nights at the Mount of Olives (Luke 21:37).

Laying cloaks and palm branches in front of a conquering ruler was a common practice. The chant beginning was "Hosanna" was an antiphonal chant that would be happening up and down the highway as the procession moved towards Jerusalem. It's an A, B, B, A chant ... the one we know well is "God is Good. All the Time. All the Time. God is Good." Back and forth this was being called out along the route.

Jesus was coming to them from God, He was entering Jerusalem with expectations of the Messiah returning to restore the Davidic kingdom. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he went to the temple, but not actually the sanctuary ... just the grounds. Mark is setting the story up for the next day. (Mark 11:1-11)

Monday morning - Holy Week. Jesus was hungry and went to the fig tree. While Mark makes it clear that this is not the season for figs, these trees produced small buds before the figs actually came to fruit about a month later. The buds were also common food items. This tree was not even producing the buds.

What we may not see is that Jesus is also denouncing Israel ... it produced the leaves of legalism, but no fruit of righteousness.

When He got to Jerusalem, He went immediately to the temple area where He had been the night before. There were three types of money in Jerusalem. Imperial money (Roman), provincial money (Greek) and local money (Jewish). The money changers gave Jewish currency to those with the other currencies which were considered idolatrous and couldn't be used to purchase sacrificial items. Jesus got the attention of everyone with His actions. (Mark 11:12-19)

Tuesday morning - Holy Week. Fig tree - dead. Jesus' response to Peter's astonishment at His power was a command to "Have faith." There is nothing that is impossible when a person has faith in God. Prayer supported by faith taps into God's power that is above anything humanly possible. Forgiveness is so important ... we can never forget that.

Upon arriving in Jerusalem, they were accosted by the chief priests, the teachers of the law AND the elders. "Where do you get your authority?"

After these last three years, when Jesus has spent an inordinate amount of time asking people to refrain from making a big deal about the activities that occur in His presence, it is time for Him to announce His intent. But ... He doesn't. He deflects their question with another. Goodness, I wish I could learn to do this!

This counter-question technique was a common rabbinic debating technique. They were used to it, but Jesus managed to always pose questions for which they couldn't find a good answer. While Jesus wasn't required to give them an answer, His question implied the answer. His authority came from the same place as John's ... from God.