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Welcome to Holy Week. Yesterday we celebrated Palm Sunday, the day Jesus entered Jerusalem for the Passover Feast week, riding a donkey as the Jewish people welcomed him as their King, expecting him to deliver them from the oppression of the Roman government. What they didn’t expect was the Kingdom of Heaven of which Jesus preached would not be freedom from earthly oppression but freedom from a spiritual one.
Let’s take a walk with Jesus and the disciples on Monday of that week, the day after Palm Sunday:
Mark 11:12-14 ESV
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he [Jesus] was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in 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. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
Why would Jesus curse a fig tree? He was teaching in a parable, and the fig tree represented Israel. They had leaves. They appeared busy with religious activity, but they produced no fruit.[1] Jesus also fulfilled the words in Jeremiah when he cursed Israel, the fig tree:
Jeremiah 8:13 ESV
When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
there are no grapes on the vine,
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.”
What happens next on that Monday? Let’s walk on with Jesus as He enters the temple:
Mark 11:15-18 ESV
15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 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.” 18 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.
Jesus is calling out the Israelites, and their leadership is criticized for hindering access to the temple for the gentiles. It is a symbolic act of judgment by Jesus upon the nation. God’s purpose was for all people to worship Him.[2] We see God’s heart in Isaiah:
Isaiah 56:6-7 ESV
“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
and holds fast my covenant—
7 these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
Yesterday Pastor Aaron reminded us this is God’s world. Our most noble pursuits are His will, His way, and His presence. And it is through Jesus that we all have access to worship Him and be in His presence.
Galatians 3:26-29 ESV
26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
The rules of the Jewish law don’t save us, although they can guide us. Our relationship with God through Jesus is what saves us. Amen!
As we enter this Holy Week, may we also shout,
“Hosanna! [Save us, I pray!] Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:9-10 ESV)