Jesus VS The Temple
Palm Sunday (2012)
Mark 11:1-11
Chronological Bible 10/23 pg. 1410
Mark 11:1–3 (NLT)
Jesus’ Triumphant Entry
As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’ ”
It amazes me how God uses our small things for big purposes. I wonder how this man felt when we saw Jesus riding his donkey in His Messianic Procession into Jerusalem with all the people praising God? One thing is for sure—this man was not selfish. His story of selfless giving in the Bible is told right along side Rehab’s rope, Paul’s bucket, David’s sling, Samson’s jawbone, Moses’ staff, Bethlehem’s manger, a Roman cross, and a rich man’s empty tomb (before and after Jesus entered it).
Sometimes I get the impression that God wants me to give Him something and sometimes I don’t give it because I don’t know for sure, and then I feel bad because I’ve missed my chance. Other times I know he wants something but I don’t give it because I’m too selfish. And other times, too few times, I hear him and I obey him and feel honored that a gift of mine would be used to carry Jesus into another place. And still other times I wonder if my little deeds today will make a difference in the long haul. But when we get right down to it…the donkey belongs to Jesus.
The most important gift we give others is the gift of Jesus.
A nineteenth-century Sunday school teacher who led a Boston shoe clerk to Christ never could have realized how far reaching his gift would be. The teacher’s name is one very few have heard of: Kimball. The name of the shoe clerk he converted you have: Dwight Moody. Moody became an evangelist and had a major influence on a young preacher named Frederick B. Meyer. Meyer began to preach on college campuses and while doing so, he converted J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman became involved in the YMCA and arranged for a former baseball player named Billy Sunday to come to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a revival. A group of Charlotte community leaders were so enthusiastic afterward that they planned another campaign and brought Mordecai Hamm to town to preach. In that revival a young man named Billy Graham yielded his life to Christ.
Did the Boston school teacher have any idea what would become of his conversation with the shoe salesman? No, he, like the owner of the donkey, had a chance to help Jesus journey into another heart, so he did. (And the Angels were Silent; Lucado. Pg. 56)
Two processions, or parades were coming from two different directions into the city of Jerusalem on this spring day in 30 A.D. When I say two different directions, I’m speaking of two different directions literally, figuratively, and spiritually. These two processions polarize each other in just about every aspect.
One is the imperial procession of Rome demonstrating its power, authority, and sovereignty—with Rome’s representative Pontius Pilate at the head of a column of a military cavalry of soldiers. Here Pontius Pilate is flexing the military, and political muscles of Rome. The other is the humble procession of the Kingdom of God demonstrating its presence in a world dominated by force, and its message of peace and meekness.
The presence of Pilate in Jerusalem during the Passover Feast was common knowledge for the First Century Jews. Pilate had to be in Jerusalem with such a swell of highly religious, and highly emotionally charged Jews in and near Jerusalem for the Passover Week. We must realize that the Passover festival celebrated the Jewish people’s liberation from an earlier empire.
Jesus came in from the east, down the Mount of Olives traveling from Galilee, which was about a hundred miles to the north. Pilate came into Jerusalem from the west as he traveled from Caesarea Maritima, “Caesarea of the Sea,” which was sixty miles to the west of Jerusalem.
“The Last Week” (Borg; Crossan) Imagine the imperial procession’s arrival in the city. A visual panoply of imperial power: cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, banners, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. Sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, and beating of drums. The swirling of dust. The eyes of the silent onlookers, some curious, some awed, some resentful.
Pilate’s procession displayed not only imperial power, but also Roman imperial theology. According to this theology, the emperor was not simply the ruler of Rome, but the Son of God. It began with the greatest of the emperors, Augustus, who ruled Rome from 31 B.C. To 14 AD. His father was the god Apollo, who conceived him in his mother, Atia. Inscriptions refer to him as “son of God,” “lord” and “savior,” one who had brought “peace on earth.” After his death, he was seen ascending into heaven to take his permanent place among the gods. His successors continued to bear divine titles, including Tiberius, emperor from 14 to 37 AD and thus emperor during the time of Jesus’ public activity. For Rome’s Jewish subjects, Pilate’s procession embodied not only a rival social order, but also a rival theology.
Zechariah 9:9–13 (NLT)
Zion’s Coming King
9 Rejoice, O people of Zion!*
Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious,*
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.
10 I will remove the battle chariots from Israel*
and the warhorses from Jerusalem.
I will destroy all the weapons used in battle,
and your king will bring peace to the nations.
His realm will stretch from sea to sea
and from the Euphrates River* to the ends of the earth.*
11 Because of the covenant I made with you,
sealed with blood,
I will free your prisoners
from death in a waterless dungeon.
12 Come back to the place of safety,
all you prisoners who still have hope!
I promise this very day
that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles.
13 Judah is my bow,
and Israel is my arrow.
Jerusalem* is my sword,
and like a warrior, I will brandish it against the Greeks.*
When looking at this prophecy from Zechariah it’s clear that from a Jewish approach Jesus is in direct opposition to Cesar.
David was a model for a future messiah because he united the Kingdom of Israel and delivered them from all their enemies. Then in about 586 BC Israel was overthrown by Babylon and taken captive, then after about 50 years they were allowed to return to Jerusalem. They rebuilt the temple but because of the impoverished state of the community it was a very modest structure. For several centuries foreign empires ruled Judea with its capital in Jerusalem until 164 BC in which the Jews gained their independence through the Maccabeean revolt against the Hellenistic empire of Antiochus Epiphanies. The Jews ruled their homeland for about a hundred years until it fell under the control of Rome in 63 BC.
Interestingly enough Rome would allow its occupied nations to continue with business as usual as far as religious and government policy was concerned, just as long as it didn’t conflict with the sovereignty of Rome and the collection of taxes. Rome essentially was concerned with social order, peace, and collecting taxes from its occupied territories.
However Rome did appoint a King of the Jews a man named Herod. Herod reigned until 4 BC but he’s important to 30 AD because he rebuilt the temple and brought back it’s splendor to the days of Solomon. He began by constructing a 40 acre platform on which to build the temple. Find a picture of Herod’s Temple to show.
Money Flowed from every direction into Jerusalem
With Roman occupation all the large land owners in Israel were forced to surrender their land to Rome and thus they became much like our day laborers today. These wealthy Hebrew landowners went from wealthy aristocrats to peasants all in one day—thanks to Rome. But still the wealth from these large landowners (either Hebrew or Greek) flowed into Jerusalem in the form of commerce and taxes. The temple was the center of both a local and an imperial tax system. The local taxes, commonly called “tithes,” were based on agricultural production. Most tithes were paid to the Temple and priesthood, and the rest were to be spent in Jerusalem. The tithes amounted to over 20 percent of production. There was also an annual “temple tax” paid by Jewish men over a 20 years of age, which included millions of Jews living in the Diaspora, Jewish communities in other lands.
In 30 AD Jerusalem probably had around forty thousand inhabitants, which during Passover swelled to 200,000 people.
So here the religious leaders of Jerusalem had to perform a delicate balancing act to collaborate enough with Rome to keep Rome at peace, but not too much to upset the Jews. This is proved by the fact that they went through 18 High Priest in 60 years, that comes to an average of 3.33 years per priest. Caiaphas, the high priest during Jesus’ ministry must have been a political genius because he held office for eighteen years.
Much of the revolutionary movements of this time were directed towards the Temple because of its collaboration with Rome.
The common people were attracted to John the Baptist and Jesus because they lead the revolutionary movement against the Temple.
The central conflict of the Passion Week is not Jesus verses the Jewish Religious Leaders, nor Jesus verses Rome—it’s actually Jesus verses The Temple.
From a 30 AD Hebraic worldview both John the Baptist and Jesus’ ministry took on an anti-temple approach. With John—he was baptizing for the “forgiveness of sins.” But forgiveness was a function that temple theology claimed for itself, mediated by sacrifice in the temple.
Matthew 3:1–2 (NLT)
In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
Mark 2:5–7 (NLT)
5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
Yes, Jesus does prove here that He is God—but this also destroys temple theology, because it proves that God has provided a way to be forgiven without the temple. Jerusalem and the temple did not survive the first century. In the year 70 AD, Roman legions shattered the great revolt by re-conquering the city. The destruction of the temple changed Judaism forever. Sacrifice ceased, the role of the priesthood was eclipsed, and the central institutions of Judaism became scripture and synagogue.
Mark’s main focus in his gospel is the Kingdom of God and the way.
Hebraic worldview in 30 AD of Repent and Believe
Mark 1:14–15 (NLT) 14 Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. 15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”
In 30 AD “kingdom” was a political term. Jesus could have spoken of the family of God, the community of God, or the people of God, but He spoke of the kingdom of God. A kingdom has a ruler, territory, authority, and subjects.
king•dom \ˈkiŋ-dəm\ noun
before 12th century
1 archaic : KINGSHIP
2 : a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen
a : the eternal kingship of God
b : the realm in which God’s will is fulfilled
3 a : a realm or region in which something is dominant
b : an area or sphere in which one holds a preeminent position
Jesus as King of the Kingdom of Heaven is making a bold proclamation under Roman rule, when he makes the public announcement (equivalent to radio, TV, and internet today) in Matthew 4:17 (NLT)
17 From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.*” (or has come, or is coming)
In ancient times news from a King, and or, Kingdom traveled by a herald to the outermost regions of the kingdom. The herald spoke authoritatively to the subjects of the Kingdom as he presented news from the King that directly affected the kingdom subjects. This would have stirred up interest on all levels in Roman occupied Israel around 30 AD.
Jesus presented the Kingdom of God by healing people and attending parties.
Simply Jesus; (Wright. Pg. 105) When Jesus healed people, when he celebrated parties with the least, the last, and the lost, when he offered forgiveness freely to people as if he were replacing the Temple itself with his own work—in all these ways it was clear, and he intended it to be clear, that this wasn’t just a foretaste of a future reality. This was reality itself. This was what it looked like when God was in charge. God’s kingdom was coming, as he taught his followers to pray, “on earth as in heaven.”
Jesus launched the Kingdom campaign like a rebel leader not a politician.
Simply Jesus; (Wright. Pg. 85) The campaign, you see, isn’t about someone running for office as happens in our modern democracies. Jesus isn’t going around trying to drum up support like today’s politicians. He is much more like a rebel leader within a modern tyranny, setting up an alternative government, establishing his rule, making things happen in a new way. He chooses twelve of his closest followers and seems to set them apart as special associates. For anyone with eyes to see, this says clearly that he is reconstructing God’s people, Israel, around himself. Israel hadn’t had twelve tribes since the eighth century BC, when the Assyrians came and captured the northern kingdom, leaving only Benjamin and Judah (the Jews”) in the south, plus any Levites who remained with them.
Repent in 30 AD for the Hebrews had two meanings, both quite different from the later Christian meaning of contrition of sin. From the Hebrew Bible, it has the meaning of “to return,” especially “ to return from exile,” an image also associated with “way,” “path,” and “journey.”
The roots of the Greek word for “repent” mean, “to go beyond the mind that you have.” To repent is to embark upon a way that goes beyond the mind that you have.
In the Hebrew mindset of 30 AD to believe was understood to be about trust and commitment. “To believe in the good news,” meant to trust in the news that the kingdom of God is near and to commit to that kingdom.
Jesus directed His message of the Kingdom of God, and the “way”—to the growing peasant society in Israel—the least, the last, and the lost.
The crowds were drawn to Jesus message that was opposed to the dominating powers of their day.
Imperial theology, and Temple theology had combined to bring a crushing pressure of political and religious power that was too heavy of a burden for the common Jewish people to carry. And it made both religion and government repulsive to the people. The separation of church and state is not to protect the government form Christianity it was implemented to protect Christianity from the government.
John 14:6 (NLT)
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
The Jews refereed to the Torah as “the way”. In many cases the meaning is almost that of “journey,” “course,” “trip,” for which there are many instances. The Hebraic worldview of “way” is primarily speaking of God’s way, or the way of God, can be thought of as God’s path for your life. The way and the Kingdom of God are synonymous with each other.
As Jesus develops what it means to walk in the “way”, He makes it clear that “way” is full of hardships.
First proclamation of the Passion Week
Mark 8:31–32 (NLT)
Jesus Predicts His Death
31 Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man* must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. 32 As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.*
Mark 8:34 (NLT)
34 Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.
Second proclamation of the Passion Week
Mark 9:31 (NLT)
31 for he wanted to spend more time with his disciples and teach them. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.”
Third proclamation of the Passion Week
Mark 10:33–34 (NLT)
33 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man* will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans.* 34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again.”
To be a disciple of Jesus you must be aware that this way leads to death—but it doesn’t end with death, this death brings about resurrection.
Let’s take a step back right before the Triumphal Entry of Jesus and see how the Word of God frames this event.
Mark 10:46–52 (NLT)
Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus
46 Then they reached Jericho, and as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd followed him. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 “Be quiet!” many of the people yelled at him.
But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and said, “Tell him to come here.”
So they called the blind man. “Cheer up,” they said. “Come on, he’s calling you!” 50 Bartimaeus threw aside his coat, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked.
“My rabbi,*” the blind man said, “I want to see!”
52 And Jesus said to him, “Go, for your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road.* (in the way)
The framework gives us a powerful visual illustration of what it means to follow Jesus. To follow Jesus we must first have our eyes opened by Jesus. To have our eyes opened by Jesus means we will see His Kingdom “way”. To see and follow His kingdom “way” means we must follow Him to Jerusalem—where crucifixion, and resurrection await.
On one side of Jerusalem we have the Imperial powers of this world marching into town demonstrating all their power and prestige under the delusion of all that is temporary and fading. But Imperial powers can be seen as good things. Imperial powers provide structure, security, preservation, convenience, and efficiency. These are things we not only take for granted in our society but we place a high level of value in. We get frustrated when we run into traffic jams, our phone connection drops, or our internet connection slows down.
Self-preservation is one of the key elements the devil uses to pull us away from God. Matter of fact pretty much anything that begins with “self” is dangerous to us walking in the “way”. To sum up the two worldviews that marched into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in one word each could be, “self”, and “way”. Whenever we begin to operate according to self, we begin to separate, and isolate ourselves from the Kingdom of God and the family of God.
Walking in the way of the Kingdom of God involves following Jesus and walking with the family of God. A support system of people who are also following God and facing the struggles and pains of this world; a family who weeps with you when you weep, and rejoices with you when you rejoice. A family who is there to help you up when you fall down, there to support you when you’re weak and tired, and provides and facilitates opportunities for God to work through your life.
On the other side of Jerusalem we have the Kingdom of God marching into town demonstrating meekness, peace, and humility—projecting the reality of truth and salvation found only in the death and resurrection of the King of Kings!
Which procession are you in?
