The Town

Who is the most spiritual person you know? If you asked that question to a Jew in Jesus' day, they probably would have pointed to a scribe or a Pharisee. The most religious people memorized large chunks of the Bible, could pray for an hour out loud and sat in the front of the church. We do the same thing today; our religious hero can school any atheist in apologetics, give tons of money to orphans, wear a face microphone and carry a heavy study Bible. But our hero can perform all these tasks and still be spiritually dead. Jesus breaks down these misconceptions.

Jesus is a master at knowing how to respond to questions based on who he is talking to. He is a good listener. Sometimes, he chooses to not answer (11:33); elsewhere, he blatantly corrects (12:27). In this situation, he answers directly and encourages a teachable scribe. The question asked in this passage concerns the heart of the Laws of God. The answer is known as the Shema (meaning "listen" from Deuteronomy 6). It boils down to "love God with everything and love others."

Through his three year ministry, Jesus had made a lot of enemies. In this passage, yet another group is revealed to have quarrels with Jesus' teaching: the Sadducees. They rejected the teaching of resurrection and believed that the soul and body perish at death. However, Jesus has taught multiple times about the resurrection at the final day, and about his own resurrection following his brutal death. The Sadducees try to use the Tanakh (The Law, the prophets and Writings) to disprove the resurrection. Jesus' response is quite simple: "you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God" (v. 24). What a crazy claim! Jesus just told the guys that had memorized more scripture than most of our local congregations put together that they don't know the Bible!

Jesus' enemies are swarming around him just as he had predicted on three previous occasions. The shadow of the cross is looming large over his ministry. Over the next few sections of Mark, we see the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees, and the scribes all aligning together to oppose Jesus. These groups are not friends with one another, but they are embracing the saying that, "your enemy's enemy is your friend." They have a common interest in the death of Jesus. By killing him, they believe their institution, religion and way of doing things will be left alone. For his enemies, Jesus is simply a nuisance rather than the Son of God.

"The characteristic of Jesus that left the most lasting impression on his followers and caused the greatest offense to his opponents was his exousia, his sovereign freedom and magisterial authority." Jesus has walked into the religious institution of the day and challenged the leaders and people directly. He has disrupted hundreds of years of tradition and has claimed to do so by God's authority. The leader of the religious wants to know where Jesus gets off telling them what to do. They respond to his disruption quickly and eventually decisively -- at least for the time being.

Most of us think of teaching as verbally explaining truths. Sometimes that is the case, but Jesus takes two different tactics to convey truths to those around him. First, in this passage he uses the metaphor of the fig tree. The people of God are called to bear fruit; Jesus rebukes a tree for not bearing fruit and curses it. This is a metaphor for Israel and the temple-- it isn't bearing fruit as it is called, and therefore, Jesus rebukes it. This will culminate in the destruction of the temple and fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

It is finally here. Jesus has been traveling towards Jerusalem since chapter eight, and now he makes his entrance. The rest of the book (approximately 38% of it) will be dedicated to the final week of the mission. Mark wants us to know where the focus of Jesus' ministry lies. In this section, Jesus rides into town proclaiming his kingship. Riding on a humble donkey is fulfillment of prophecy concerning the coming king in Zechariah 9:9. "Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

In this passage, Jesus is in Jericho, which is about 15-20 miles from Jerusalem. This healing is the last one recorded in this gospel and the final event in Mark before Jesus enters the city; that means in just over a week, Jesus will change the world by his death and resurrection. Additionally, this timing means that that the Jewish holiday of Passover is right around the corner. You can imagine that the roads are probably packed with people making their way to Jerusalem to worship. In addition to the pilgrims, there is a man named Bartimaeus who will stop at nothing to be healed.

Repetition is a way of showing importance. Most likely, the things that you say over and over to your kids are the things you are most zealous about. For the third time, Jesus declares his purpose: to go to Jerusalem and be killed. And this time, he goes into further detail than before; he will be mocked, spit upon, flogged and killed. But he never forgets to leave out the fact that after three days, he will rise.

We all at some point ask what we must do to inherit eternal life. The big idea is this: we can't. It is only what Jesus has done that grants eternal life. Jesus calls us to place our faith in him and in him alone.

Children are gifts from our Father above and they are also pictures of how we approach him. Jesus loved children. We are likewise called to love children, and not just our own. At Stone's Throw, we value kids because Jesus values them.

Children are gifts from our Father above and they are also pictures of how we approach him. Jesus loved children. We are likewise called to love children, and not just our own. At Stone's Throw, we value kids because Jesus values them.

Our dreams, pursuits, goals, actions, objectives, thoughts, plans, indeed our whole lives, are spent centered on seeking happiness. Jesus tells us that unless we are willing to cut off all things that cause sin, we will not experience true happiness with him forever.

Our natural inclination in all things is to be the best, but the Kingdom of God has no room for those seeking their own glory. Those who would follow Jesus must come humbly, like a little child, because Jesus was the epitome of humility. He became last and was a servant to all. Likewise, we must take up our cross in a similar way and follow him.

"I believe; help my unbelief!" Have you ever felt this way? The answer should be "yes." Fortunately, we can place our weak faith in the one who loves the weak. Jesus' love isn't dependent on our current level of faith, and we err when we make faith itself the object of our faith. It's all about what Jesus has done for us.

Peter, James, and John experience the incredible transfiguration of Jesus, seeing him in a way they had not seen before. This presentation of Christ terrifies them and moves them deeply. What is our response? Without Jesus, God's glory would destroy us because of our sin. But Jesus stands in the gap for us. So this should lead us to worship him.

Jesus has now been recognized as the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior, by his disciples. From this point forward Jesus begins pronouncing the suffering he must endure on the cross. He also teaches that any who would call themselves his disciple will also suffer for the sake of the Gospel.

Jesus defines Jesus. The Pharisees tried to manipulate Jesus and we still do today. We attempt to shape who he was, what he came to do, why it mattered, etc. But we must be careful, because adding to or changing the Gospel will ruin our faith.

The Gospel of Jesus is for all men everywhere to hear and to respond. Works of the Law will merit us nothing; salvation is through the grace of God alone. This means that everyone is welcome at the King's table, regardless of their past and in spite of their efforts to earn God's favor.

The stain of our depravity cannot be removed by anything other than the blood of Jesus. When we come to Jesus he takes our sin-stained rags and gives us his righteous robes. This happens at the Cross. The Gospel cleanses.