The Fig, The Temple, The Lion, The Lamb (Morning)
Download MP3If you have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Mark chapter 11 as we are continuing our study through the gospel of Mark. Perhaps some of you have, seen people recently wearing, the shirt that says lions not sheep. I don't know if any of you have seen that or not. I'm not even entirely sure what it means. Hope it's not political and I'm gonna get like a 1,000 emails after this but, but I've seen those around these shirts lions not sheep.
Joel Brooks:Although I'm not sure exactly what it means, I'm sure it has something to do with the characteristics of those two animals. You've got the lion, of course. You want to be the lion, the king of the jungle, top of the food chain. Sheep, well, they're just fluffy food for lions. And so I I'm sure that the shirt is something about that, being the top of the food chain, king of your own destiny.
Joel Brooks:But seeing all of these shirts around it didn't make me wonder which one was Jesus. Was he a lion or was he a sheep? The Apostle John actually lets us know in Revelation chapter 5. It's a verse that I've read over just many times and I didn't catch this until recently, but these angels come to the Apostle John and they tell him to look at the Lion. They say behold the Lion, and we read that John looked and he saw the lamb.
Joel Brooks:He's told to look for a lion and we read that he sees the lamb. The lion actually was the lamb. And Jesus Christ, we have both there. And the story that we are about to read, we are going to see him as a lion. He's gonna be powerful.
Joel Brooks:He's gonna be threatening. He is roaring. He's gonna be throwing over tables, driving people out. He's gonna be the king of the jungle, and yet he's also going to be a lamb. We're gonna see him gentle, lowly, humble in heart, coming as a servant, and walking to the slaughter.
Joel Brooks:Both of these characteristics, which should be mutually exclusive, are found perfectly wed together in Jesus. And so Mark chapter 11, I doubt there's gonna be any way we get all the way through this, but we're gonna try. Mark 11 verse 1. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem to Bethage in Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent 2 of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
Joel Brooks:If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately. And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street. And they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing untying the colt?
Joel Brooks:And they said to them what Jesus had said. And they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and they threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest. And he entered Jerusalem, and he went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.
Joel Brooks:And seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem and he entered the temple and he began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple.
Joel Brooks:And he overturned the tables of money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
Joel Brooks:And when evening came, they went out of the city. As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to them, Rabbi, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered.
Jeffrey Heine:We'll end there. This is the word of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:If you would pray with me. Father, I pray that in this moment, we would just hear from you. It's the reason we are gathered. Most of the words that we hear are meaningless in life. Many of these words bring death, but your words your words bring life.
Joel Brooks:So would you breathe life into us? I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but, lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So after years of trying to fly under the radar, preaching in these remote towns and villages, healing people, and then saying, don't tell anyone about this.
Joel Brooks:Jesus finally comes out of hiding and he heads straight to the capital city of Jerusalem. It's his first time that we see in Mark. First time he has entered this city. And it's for the first time his enemies don't have to go looking for him. He goes right to where they are seated in power.
Joel Brooks:And he doesn't just go any week. He goes there the week of Passover when the city would have been absolutely packed full of people. And so what you get here is this sense that everything is culminating. Everything's finally coming to a head between Jesus and his enemies. The crowds of those who adore him and then the crowds of those who want to harm him.
Joel Brooks:Well Jesus, he enters the city and what we know is Palm Sunday. And the atmosphere could not have been any more electric. For the first time ever in the gospels, we see that Jesus didn't walk. He actually rode into the city. He rides in on a cult.
Joel Brooks:And not just any cult but Mark gives us this whole cloak and dagger story. It's it's just kind of a bizarre thing. He he spends so much time telling us about it, about how this wasn't just any cult, but we got this cult this way, and it's a cult in which nobody has ridden on. It's an important detail for Mark that we know this. It's a cult that no one's ridden on.
Joel Brooks:I once attended a health wealth prosperity church. I just went there one Sunday, and if you don't know what that is a health wealth prosperity church is basically a church that believes Jesus doesn't want you to suffer, he only wants you to prosper, to be healthy, and to be wealthy. And I went there because I just honestly wanted to hear what bad preaching sounded like. And, and I was not disappointed. And you guys are in luck because the pastor preached on this passage, and so I pretty much had my sermon written for me today.
Joel Brooks:But here was his takeaway from this. He said, when he talked about Jesus riding in on this colt that nobody's ridden, he said, Jesus rode a donkey that nobody has ridden, and you can have a Cadillac that nobody has driven. I mean, it's heretical, but it's catchy. I mean, it it was it was his refrain. He just kept saying it over and over.
Joel Brooks:That's not why Jesus did this. Kings though, kings rode on colts that no one has ridden on. Jesus is intentionally riding into Jerusalem as her king. And here we get to see the lion roar. However, it's different from other kings.
Joel Brooks:Other kings would have ridden in on their war horses, but Jesus instead he chose to ride in on a donkey. That word colt there can be used to describe a young horse or a mule or a donkey, and the other gospels let us know that it was a donkey that Jesus rode on. And so this might be the first time that Jesus rode into the city, but he came in a Toyota Camry. He he didn't come in the Humvee or the limo. He came in as a very humble king.
Joel Brooks:And so here we see he's not just the lion, he's the Lamb. And this is a fulfillment of Zechariah's prophecy about the Messiah in Zechariah 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king is coming to you.
Joel Brooks:He is coming in righteousness and salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey. The people lining the streets seem to be aware of that prophecy and they were giving him this king's greeting. They're throwing their cloaks and palm branches on the road. That is a step up from rolling out the red carpet. I mean, it's not just rolling out red carpet.
Joel Brooks:They're they're getting their own clothing and laying it down in the dirty streets for Jesus to to go over with his donkey. And they're shouting, Hosanna Hosanna, which is a cry for help. Hosanna simply means, save us now. Save us now. Save us now.
Joel Brooks:And then they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord. That is praise, that is only for the greatest deliverer. I know we hear that phrase, come in the name of the Lord, and it sounds familiar to us. We might even think it's a common phrase, but that is likely because we hear that phrase every Palm Sunday. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:Also some good cheesy praise music from the eighties nineties had that as one of their songs. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. You know, hosanna hosanna. Alright. You guys, you you remember.
Joel Brooks:You know it. But it's actually a really it's an unusual phrase. It's only used twice in the Bible. To come in the name of the Lord. The first time we ever hear those words is when David fought Goliath.
Joel Brooks:And as the 2 of them drew close for battle, Goliath shouted at David, said, come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds and to the beasts of the field. And David replied, you come to me with sword and javelin and spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord. It's the first time we have that phrase, David. David saying he comes in the name of the Lord. It's also the first time we have in the bible this idea of a champion that somebody could go and fight our battles for us.
Joel Brooks:And if he wins, we all win. If he loses, we all lose. But David fights Goliath in the name of the Lord. So that's the first time we hear this. The second time we hear that expression to come in the name of the Lord is in Psalm 18, which is the passage of scripture we opened our service with.
Joel Brooks:Save us we pray, oh Lord. That's hosanna. Save us. Hosanna. Hosanna, we pray, oh Lord.
Joel Brooks:Oh Lord, we pray give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So the people are lining the streets and they're shouting out to Jesus. Hosanna, save us. Her deliverer.
Joel Brooks:Like David. Just like David came and conquered Goliath, will you come and take on our enemies? Save us now. But of course, they're just wanting Jesus to come and to overthrow Rome, but Jesus is actually coming to take on a greater enemy. He's not gonna use a sling.
Joel Brooks:He's gonna use a cross to take on the greatest enemies of all, sin and death. But he is our champion. And if Jesus is victorious, we are all victorious. But to take on sin and death, well, you gotta be more than just the king of the jungle. You've gotta also come as the Passover lamb, and you have to be willing to lay down your life for the sins of the people.
Joel Brooks:After Jesus makes this grand entrance here, and this entire city is buzzing. It is just in a frenzy at this point. We read that Jesus, he walked straight into the temple. He looks around, and he leaves. It is so anti climatic.
Joel Brooks:I mean, you're reading this, and you were just expecting after all of that cries, all of the shouting, the lining, the red carpet, him riding in, he'd do something, but he comes in, he looks around, and he just walks right out. What's going on here? Well, we see that Jesus, he has a plan, and he's going to explain it all to us by using a fig tree. He's going to loudly curse a fig tree to where all of his disciples hear it, Then he's gonna go back into that temple, begin flipping over tables, and driving people out. And then he's gonna go right back to that fig tree, and we're gonna find that it has withered, and it has died.
Joel Brooks:This is another one of those Markian sandwiches. Remember we talked about earlier that Mark begins telling us one story, leaves it to tell another story, then he goes back to that original story. And what he is saying is those bookends, they shed light on what's actually happening in the middle. What Jesus does to the fig tree is what he does to the temple. Well, here let's see exactly what Jesus teaches us through the fig tree.
Joel Brooks:Verse 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree and leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
Joel Brooks:And his disciples heard it. So after taking a brief look around at the temple, he then leaves and goes on the other side of the valley. And there he sees a fig tree, and this fig tree looks healthy, it's green. So he goes to it hoping to find fruit. Now even though it's too early in the season, and Mark tells us this, it's too early in the season to actually find fruit.
Joel Brooks:Jesus is looking for fruit nonetheless. Some people think that he's looking for something called spring figs, which is just at least the the the early little juicy buds that were edible before the the figs really developed later in the summer. But whatever Jesus is is thinking about, he is going to this tree hoping to find something to eat. But instead of finding fruit, he finds nothing. And so he curses the tree.
Joel Brooks:And we see later this tree withers up. It dies. And here is the only harmful miracle that Jesus ever does. I mean, there's apocryphal stories out there written way after the gospels of when Jesus was a boy. He's kinda like Harry Potter, and he's cursing people all the time.
Joel Brooks:He actually kills 2 people as a child. And there's all legends that are out there, but but that's not the Bible. In the Bible, Jesus never harms anyone. His his miracles are always bringing healing or feeding people. They're they're very positive, except for here.
Joel Brooks:It's the only time. He curses and kills a tree. And he does this in order to make a clear and a powerful point. And it's this. If if Jesus goes to something expecting to find fruit and does not find it, well, he will curse and destroy it.
Joel Brooks:After Jesus does that, he then goes to the temple. You can see where we're going now. He's going to the temple where he's hoping to find fruit. I mean, the temple, after all, is should be the most fruitful place on earth. Even its architecture and its artwork were designed to resemble the Garden of Eden.
Joel Brooks:I mean, Israel was supposed to be the fruit tree for the whole world to enjoy. I mean, they're supposed to be, you know, fulfill the the blessing to Abraham in which they were supposed to be a blessing to the whole world. So that's what Jesus is hoping for. That's what he's expecting when he goes into the temple. And sure enough, as a distance at a distance when Jesus is approaching the temple, it certainly looks green with leaves.
Joel Brooks:I mean, it was beautiful. It was a marvel to look at. It stood a 168 feet tall. It shined like a jewel with its polished stone there. It was bustling with activity.
Joel Brooks:Thousands upon thousands of people would have been making their way into its gates. You could not have had a place any more packed. During Passover week, more than 250,000 people came to make sacrifices. So by any kind of matrix that you're looking at, it seems to be alive, seems to be blessed by God. In order to accommodate so many people, the temple actually had some pretty recent renovations done to it.
Joel Brooks:They had a brand new court of the gentiles. It was just put in about a decade earlier, and it was massive. Five football fields wide, over 35 acres, took up pretty much the entire mountain top where Jerusalem sat. I mean it was a thing of wonder, but even at that size because of so many people it would have been crowded. People probably had to park at the library or over at the park, and and had to walk in.
Joel Brooks:People probably had to, you know, pull out, you know, the little folding chairs and find little corners in the room to sit. Older people probably were saying to one another, it's just so good to see so many young people coming to worship. It just looks alive, but will Jesus find fruit? That's the question. I know it looks it is a lot it's alive in so many ways.
Joel Brooks:It's green, it's leafy, but will Jesus find fruit? Hear me church, there is no denying that the leaves of redeemer are green. I mean, when I look around this place, it's green leaves were packed to the gills in here. We've got great music. We have dozens of Bible studies, dozens of ministries going on.
Joel Brooks:We have like a zillion home groups happening every single week. But do you know what Jesus is actually looking for? It's not how you look, it's not all the activities you're going to, it's whether or not there's actually any real fruit in your life. When Jesus enters the temple this time, he actually knew exactly what he would find because he checked it all out the night before. And so he came in with a plan.
Joel Brooks:He walks straight in, and he begins to make a scene. He begins overthrowing tables. Anyone ever seen somebody overthrow a table? Man, it's disturbing. I I I've seen it with just one time I was in the room with, with a guy who's really really angry at me.
Joel Brooks:It was in the kitchen at his house, and he literally just threw over the table. That is a violent act. Jesus is throwing over tables, he's knocking over, seats, He's he's driving people out. In John's gospel we read that he actually made a whip and he began driving the people and all the animals out. These are violent acts.
Joel Brooks:I mean he's making a whip. Throwing over tables full of coins, money just rolling everywhere, pigeons, doves flying all around, scared lambs running all around. This is not gentle Jesus meek and mile. This is Jesus the lion. He's roaring.
Joel Brooks:Everybody's running in fear here. Perhaps as a child, he heard that Jesus did this because he was just so angry at the corruption. You know, those merchants that were there and they were ripping people off, overcharging for the sacrifices. But I want you to notice that Jesus did not just drive out the sellers. Mark says, he drove out the buyers.
Joel Brooks:Something more is happening here. Once Jesus got everyone's attention and trust me, he had in this moment everyone's attention. He then says, is it not written that my house my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you, you've turned it into a den of robbers. I bet you could have heard a pin drop.
Joel Brooks:Jesus is quoting both Isaiah and Jeremiah here. He's he first quotes Isaiah 56 when he says, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. Jesus looked around the temple and he could hear a lot of things. He could hear the the cooing of doves, the sound of pigeons, and and sheep. He could hear the sound of money being dropped in the offering or money being exchanged.
Joel Brooks:He could hear just the the conversations and the the commotion of of so many activities happening at once, but the one thing he could not hear was the sound of people praying. Everyone's just going through their motions of all this religious activity. They're getting up on Sundays. They're they're putting on their Sunday best. They're gonna go sing a few hymns, go see a few familiar faces, put a little bit of money in the offering, maybe sing a few songs, but never are their hearts stirred in affection to God.
Joel Brooks:The leaves are green, but they had no fruit. Do you remember last week when we looked at Bartimaeus? How Bartimaeus, he just just crying for mercy. I mean, he's poor. He's undignified.
Joel Brooks:He rubbed all the people around him the wrong way, telling him to shut up. Yet he did not care how other people saw him just as long as Jesus saw him. It's the only thing that mattered to him is is not how other people saw him. It's just whether or not Jesus saw him. And his cry out to Jesus, it was this desperate heart filled full of faith cry.
Joel Brooks:Lord, have mercy. Jesus is looking around at all of this religious activity there and he's wondering, where is that? Where is it? I mean, where's the desperation? Where's the the humble prayers for mercy?
Joel Brooks:That's what I'm looking for. This is supposed to be a house of prayer. You know, a few months ago, I had this crazy idea. I shared it with, our staff at one of the staff meetings. And I just said, hey what if, just hear me out, what if we got rid of all of our programming at the church?
Joel Brooks:I mean we got rid of everything, and instead we replaced it with one thing, prayer. We just had Wednesday night prayer. That was it. You wanna know how to get involved at Redeemer? Be like, hey, come Wednesday night, we're gonna pray.
Joel Brooks:You're like, hey, I'm really struggling with what I should do with my life and how to discern God's will. It's like, you know what you should do? You should go Wednesday night, we're gonna pray. Hey, I don't know how to meet other men at the church, and I need some friends. What should I do?
Joel Brooks:Hey, I know what you should do. Come to Wednesday night and pray. What if that was like our bucket? That's where we just directed every single person for every need. Come, and we are just going to pray.
Joel Brooks:It's a crazy idea. Just threw it out there. I'm not saying the activities we do are wrong. Not at all. The activities they were doing in the temple were not wrong.
Joel Brooks:But apart from prayer, they will never have fruit ever. And what is Jesus looking for? Activities or fruit? He's looking for fruit. Not only were these people not praying, all this activity was actually happening in that brand new court of the Gentiles, which meant that they were actually keeping the Gentiles from having a place to pray.
Joel Brooks:I mean, this court was supposed to serve as essentially this large welcome mat to the nations. That's what the court of the gentiles was. Here's our giant welcome mat. Come experience the lord. Come and worship and pray to him, and instead, it had become a marketplace.
Joel Brooks:What we see here is Israel has forgotten its mission. They're not trying to bless the world. They're not trying to reach the world. They're trying to run a business. The leaves are green, but there is no fruit.
Joel Brooks:Then, Jesus, he quotes from Jeremiah 7. And when he says, you have made this into a den of robbers. A den of robbers is a place where thieves, they would go and they would hide out in order to escape judgment. You know, you're hiding out in the cave. You're hold up in there.
Joel Brooks:And Jesus, that's what he says they're doing to the temple. He says, you didn't come in here to seek the Lord. You came in here to hide from him. That's what you're doing. All this religiosity is nothing more than an attempt for me to hide from God, to try to blend in, to put on a disguise, wear the camouflage, and maybe God won't actually notice you and your sin.
Joel Brooks:I think as long as you you just like play the part, fit in with everybody, do what they're doing, you think you're safe. You're not safe. The people in Jeremiah's day, they thought we've got the temple of the Lord. We're safe. I mean, Babylon's knocking on the door about to destroy him, and they're like, Babylon's not gonna destroy us.
Joel Brooks:You know why? We have the temple. And as long as we go to the temple, we're safe. Jeremiah says this, will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to bail, 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 and keep doing all those abominations? Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?
Joel Brooks:And when I hear those words, man, it it makes me wanna look in the mirror, Do a little heart check. Just ask why did I get up early to come here? Why why am I doing all of these religious things? Am I am I just going through the motions, or am I truly seeking the Lord through these things? Am I growing fruit?
Joel Brooks:Because Jesus doesn't care about green leaves. He only cares about fruit. After he overthrows tables, he makes a scene. He he he then leaves, and he takes his disciples back to that fig tree he had cursed. And then they all noticed, Hey, it's withered away all the way to its roots.
Joel Brooks:This tree is dead. She said, that's right. Jesus cursed the tree, and it withered and died just like he had cursed the temple. Don't make the mistake of thinking Jesus went to the temple to to reform it or to cleanse it. Sometimes even your Bible says Jesus cleanses the temple.
Joel Brooks:He's not going to reform it or cleanse it. He is going to shut it down. He's going to end it. That's why he went there. He's putting an end to the temple and to the entire sacrificial system.
Joel Brooks:When Jesus is flipping over tables and he's making whips, he's not just making a scene, he's shutting down all of the activity that could happen in the temple. Mark actually tells us that he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple, which means no one can carry their sacrifices. John tells us that Jesus used the whip to drive out all the sacrifices, all of the cattle, all of the sheep. Don't miss what Jesus is doing in this moment when he drives out all of the sheep. He's driving out all of the sacrifices except one.
Joel Brooks:And here he stands the lion roaring now becoming the lamb. He's saying, I'm putting an end to all the sacrifices because I am actually coming as the final sacrifice here. I mean, yes, it's true that when Jesus, he looked around, he could he could see the failure of the temple. He could see the failure of all the people coming to make sacrifices. But the truth is this, even if those people came with with hearts full of faith, the temple and the sacrifices never really dealt with sin.
Joel Brooks:They were always to point forward to the one who could. They they were the symbols that you would look at, but your hope was always in a future savior, a future Messiah, a greater temple, a greater sacrifice, and Jesus comes in roaring and then he lays down like the lamb. All of those things pointed to Jesus. He's making the temple obsolete because you wanna know where heaven and earth meet? In him.
Joel Brooks:Heaven and earth meet in him. He ends the sacrificial system because he is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And hear me, church. This is good, good news for us. Because Jesus does for us what we could never do for ourselves even with all of our religious activity.
Joel Brooks:He provides us with the rescuing we really need to be saved from sin and death. That's what we're about to come and celebrate this morning as we come to this table. When we see Jesus as both the lion, and we see him as the lamb coming to rescue us. Just a few days later after this, it will be the night that Jesus is betrayed. And on that night, Jesus took time to to have a very special meal, the the Passover meal with his disciples.
Joel Brooks:And there he took the bread and said this bread is my body, and it is given for you. In the same way, he took this cup, and he said, this cup is my blood poured out for the forgiveness of sin. The apostle Paul, he would later say when teaching about this, as often as we eat of this bread and we drink of this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again, and he will come again. This is how we're gonna take communion here at the church. This table is for all baptized believers.
Joel Brooks:It's not for perfect people. It's for those who know they're sinners, and their only hope is in Jesus. If that's you, if your cry has been Hosanna, save me, save me, Jesus, now. If that's your cry, this table's for you. And what we wanna do, we're gonna have 2 aisles down here.
Joel Brooks:If you would just come down, make your way down these center aisles, break off a piece of bread, just dip it in the wine, or if you would prefer juice, it's there. When you do that, you'll hear the words, this is the body of Christ given to you. This is his blood shed for you. After you you take of that, you're welcome to come up here if you wanna pray, or if you'd rather return to your seats, use the outer aisles to return back to your seats. Just so we do things in an orderly way here, what we're gonna do is we're gonna start with the balcony.
Joel Brooks:Those who are in the balcony, if y'all would come. After those in the balcony, we'll go to those in the overflow rooms, and then we'll begin working our way forward. If you would, pray with me, and then if the servers would come forward. Jesus, thank you for your your body and for your blood so freely given to us. You have took taken on our enemies not through a sling, but through the cross.
Joel Brooks:And you have dealt with sin and death forever. And that is our hope and that is our joy, and we have come in this place to remember and to celebrate that. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
