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+--- Thread: NT Doctrine -- Matthew 21:12-27; Mark 11:11-24; Luke 19:41-20:8 (/thread-1105.html)
NT Doctrine -- Matthew 21:12-27; Mark 11:11-24; Luke 19:41-20:8 - Ed Hurst - 06-11-2022
It requires that we reference all three sources of that first day to get the full picture.
The event we call the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem was late in the day. Bethany was below the crest of the Olivet ridge, on the slope running off toward the east. Bethphage, out on the northwestern side of Bethany, was right near the top. Beyond that, at the actual crest, the road swung sharply to the right, mostly northward as it dropped down the side facing Jerusalem on the west.
Somewhere along this path, when the ancient capital came into full view, Jesus stopped and cried out in sadness over the city that held the source of resistance to His mission.
This should have been a day of celebration, when the Jewish leadership could have been out in front of the crowd, welcoming Him as the Messiah. Indeed, had it not been for the crowd of ordinary people raising a ruckus, the rocks and stones of the city would have been singing and crying out. The leadership didn't comprehend the nature of shalom, peace with God. They were blind.
Because of this blindness, they would not have what little peace they did understand. Instead, the city was doomed to face a siege that would see the inhabitants slaughtered without mercy, and the glorious Herod's Temple would be rubble scattered around the plaza, no stone atop another. The rulers had rejected God's truth, and had no clue that He was coming to visit, nor would have noticed if He had. Those leaders confronted Jesus repeatedly during His visit, demanding to know who had given Him the authority to act as He did, because it was clearly not man's authority, the only authority they understood.
The noise from the crowd was picking up in volume as they approached the gate. At some point, once He was inside the city proper, the whole thing began to break up. It was almost sundown now. Jesus looked around a bit, then led His disciples back the way they had come. They stayed the night in Bethany, most likely at the home of Lazarus.
The next day they came back for another visit. It was for sure people spotted them and raised a little noise, but it wasn't like the day before.
At the point where the road crossed a viaduct for the Kidron Wadi, Jesus reached out to a fig tree. He was hungry and couldn't find any fruit. Of course, the natural explanation is that, this being late March, fig trees had not produced any fruit yet. Still, it was a symbolic act based on the prophecy He had just pronounced yesterday over the city. The Lord of the Harvest came to see if the Fig Tree, one of the ancient symbols for the Nation of Israel, was bearing the expected fruit of God's revelation.
No, there were only the tender leaves of spring. Still, it was clear to anyone with a prophetic grasp that there was no excuse. The tree of Israel had not been fruitful for a very long time. So He spoke a curse: No one would ever eat fruit from this tree again, whatever fruit that could have been. His disciples were probably the only ones close enough to overhear this, and were perplexed, completely missing the whole point of this exercise.
Jesus made His way to the Temple Plaza. As usual, the Bazaars of the Sons of Annas were packed into the Court of Gentiles. Jesus grabbed a bundle of cords and fashioned a whip by knotting it tightly. In that culture, the snake-like leather lash common in America was unknown. More likely, it resembled the cat-o-nine-tails, with knots tied along the length of each cord.
With this, Jesus lashed out at the vendors who were ripping off the visitors from out of town. This notorious racket was very unpopular, forcing the people to exchange their various home currencies for the Temple shekel at a steep loss. They had to make this exchange in order to purchase pre-approved animals for sacrifice and for the Passover meal, also at a higher than normal prices. It was about the only way to get an animal through the priestly inspection process.
What Jesus did was therefore quite popular with the crowd. And as a bonus, He yelled loudly, quoting Isaiah and Jeremiah, how the Temple was a house of prayer for all nations -- referring to the Court of Gentiles that had no room for Gentiles -- and how the Jewish leadership had turned it into a den of robbery. The presence of the approving crowd prevented the Temple Guard from arresting Jesus.
The next day, they made the same trip again. Again, they passed the low spot over the Kidron and noted that the fig tree had completely withered all the way down to the roots. The disciples exclaimed at what a mighty miracle this was. Jesus turned it into a lesson faith. If you know God's purpose and are determined to serve Him, then He would naturally grant such authority. You could even demand that a mountain that hinders your mission to move itself into the sea, it would fly straight there.
Upon entering the Temple Plaza to teach and heal, the officials came at Him again, demanding to know on whose authority He did all these things. He was ready for them. Assuming a very serious tone, He answered with a question of His own. Was the prophecy and ritual washing done by John down in the Jordan River from God, or was it from some human authority?
They were trapped. They realized that if they had said John came on God's authority, then why did they reject his message? But if they said he came on human authority, the crowd would be furious enough to attack them where they stood. So they waffled and suggested they weren't sure either way.
Jesus responded with razor clarity: If they were unable to recognize the difference between divine and human authority, they had no business asking Him whence His authority came. It was the same authority that drove His cousin, John the Baptist. They might have some vestigial legal authority, but no moral authority to claim they enforced the Word of God.
Plainly, they were all about human authority, and completely blind to the divine.