Lesson 8: Coming Of The King (Mark 11.1-12.12)

From the very first verse of his account of Jesus’ life, Mark emphasized Jesus’ status as the promised king. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” is not merely an introductory sentence, but a declaration that Jesus is the fulfillment of Psalm 2.7-8: “I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession’.” The Kingship of Jesus takes center stage in this lesson as Jesus first enters Jerusalem and then demonstrates His authority.

Notes from the text:

• 11.1:
• 11.2:
  • See Zechariah 9.9.
  • Jesus purposefully adopts the manor of a king, even impressing the animal into His service with the only explanation being “The Lord has need of it” (vs. 3). However, the choice of a donkey’s colt rather than a war horse would also show that this King was not what most would expect.
• 11.8: a similar act was taken when Jehu was proclaimed king (see 2Kings 9.13).
• 11.9: a literal translation of “Hosanna” would be “save, please!” Thus, the peoples’ cries were based on Psalm 118.25-26.
• 11.10: what blind Bartimaeus declared in Mark 10.47-48 is now publicly proclaimed by the multitude. The multitude believed that Jesus is the promised King!
• 11.12-14
  • As we will see, the cursing of the fig tree is an enacted parable showing the punishment that awaited Jerusalem. Significant in this is that Jesus uses His power not to bless, but to curse. Jesus, as King, has both the ability to bless AND to punish.
  • “At this time of year, edible figs were still about six weeks away, but the bland fruit had recently appeared on the tree in late March; they would become ripe by late May. These were the early figs that preceded the main crop of late figs, which were ripe for harvest from mid-August into October. If only leaves appeared, without the early figs, that tree would bear no figs that year—early or late.” (IVP Bible Background Commentary)
• 11.15-16
  • Note Malachi 3.1-3.
  • “For the convenience of pilgrims, the cattlemen and the moneychangers had set up businesses in the Court of the Gentiles. The animals were sold for sacrifices. It was far easier for a pilgrim in Jerusalem to purchase one that was guaranteed kosher than to have to bring an animal with him and have it inspected for meeting the kosher requirements. The Roman money the pilgrims brought to Jerusalem had to be changed into the Tyrian currency (the closest thing to the old Hebrew shekel), since the annual temple tax had to be paid in that currency.” (Expositors Bible Commentary)
  • 
• 11.17: quotation from Isaiah 56.7. The Temple was to be where the nations could worship the Lord, but by selling animals and exchanging money in the court of the Gentiles the Temple leadership had robbed the nations of the opportunity to worship.
• 11.23: “Some Jewish texts speak of ‘removing mountains’ as an infinitely long or virtually impossible task, accomplished only by the most pious (the rabbis applied it to mastering studies that appeared humanly impossible to master). Thus Jesus is saying that nothing will be too hard for the person of faith.” (IVP Bible Background Commentary)
• 11.28: The question of authority is significant. Jesus may have been heralded as king by the multitude (vss. 8-10) but the Jewish leadership did not recognize His authority, even though it had been clearly demonstrated (see Mark 1.22,27).
• 11.30: Jesus’ question is a significant one for all to consider. Authority must either come from God or man… and we must consider the source of authority for our beliefs and practices.
• 11.33: “The root of the trouble lay not in their intellect, but in their stubborn wills: they stood self-condemned. The question of Jesus to them was not a trap; it was yet another opportunity for them to realize and confess their blindness, and to ask for sight. Theirs was the unforgivable sin, that constant wilful opposition and blindness that is the sin against the Holy Spirit (3:29).” (Tyndale Commentary)
• 12.1: see Isaiah 5.1-2.
• 12.2: the Lord’s prophets were termed His servants in the Old Testament (see Jeremiah 7.25; Amos 3.7; Zechariah 1.6).
• 12.6: “beloved” may be better translated as “only”.
• 12.10-11: the quotation is from Psalm 118.22-23, the same Psalm the crowd used in praising Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem (Mark 11.9; see Psalm 118.25-26).

Using the text in evangelism:

1. It’s not enough to proclaim Jesus as King (Mark 11.9-10). The crowds excitedly heralded the arrival of Jesus to Jerusalem, but in one week’s time those same crowds would call for His crucifixion (see Mark 15.8-14). What happened? They rejected God’s cornerstone (Mark 12.10-11); they rejected Jesus because He did not meet their expectations. Rather than deliver them from the Romans, He pointed out their sinful practices (Mark 11.15-16) and foretold judgment because they had not given God the fruit He deserved (Mark 12.9; see 11.12-14). The point for us is that if we are going to proclaim Jesus as King, then we must accept Him for the King that He is. He became King to redeem us from our sins and protect us from the evil one; He did not become King so that we can live however we wish or follow our own futile thinking. If we are going to proclaim Him as King, we need to respect His authority.
2. The importance of authority (Mark 11.28-30). The fact that the Jewish leadership questioned Jesus about His source of authority was not necessarily wrong. Their mistake was not recognizing that Jesus clearly had authority as the Son of God (Mark 1.1). The fact is, authority is derived either from heaven or from man. The chief priests and elders may have refused to acknowledge that John’s authority came from God, but we must recognize that 1) Jesus has been given all authority and 2) we need to abide by His authority (cf. Matthew 28.18-20).
3. The power of faith (Mark 11.23-24). Jesus’ statement about faith has been misconstrued by some to mean that God will give us anything we want, if we just believe. Our requests must still be made according to His will (1John 5.14). However, we must not miss Jesus’ point in this passage: faith in God will have amazing results. Recall that Jesus had earlier pointed out that the disciples’ failure to cast out a demon was due to their lack of faith (Mark 9.19,29) and that Jesus’ statement on this occasion was preceded by Peter’s amazement that the fig tree had withered (Mark 11.20-21). Of course the fig tree had withered; did they not believe it would? Throughout His ministry Jesus was encouraging the disciples to have greater faith because faith is the key to receiving God’s promises… including the promise of salvation (Mark 16.16).