INTRODUCTION TO APRIL LESSONS: Reading the Gospel of Mark is like preparing for the arrival of company. The fast-moving Messiah of Mark’s Gospel was getting his house (kingdom) ready for a wide assortment of guests. Jesus wanted everyone in his kingdom—the ordinary, the nations, sinners, the hurting, and even you. Students will want to give Jesus their RSVP.
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Unit: Gospel of Mark
Theme: Everyone’s Invited
Lesson text: Mark 11:1-19
Supplemental texts: Isaiah 56:4-8; Micah 4:1-2; Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1–9; Luke 19:29–38
Aim: Praise and pray to Jesus even if you feel “ordinary.”
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Download a PDF of this week’s lesson material (the study by Mark Scott, the Application by David Faust, and Discovery Questions by Michael C. Mack): LOOKOUT_April2_2023.
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By Mark Scott
Tony Campolo wrote a book entitled The Kingdom of God Is a Party. The triumphal entry, celebrated on this Palm Sunday, is one scene of that party. The closest thing to a New York City ticker tape parade that Jesus ever had was the triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of “Holy Week.” The religious elite and the priestly aristocracy were unwilling to embrace Jesus. But ordinary men, women, and children shouted their praise of Jesus’ identity. Nothing about Jesus’ ministry needed to be kept secret anymore. It was time for a metaphorical “showdown.” It was as if Jesus were saying, “Let the games begin.”
Mark devoted one-third of his Gospel to the Passion experience of Jesus, and the first event in that experience was the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus had come from Jericho where he dined with Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10) and healed Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52). He ascended more than 3,000 feet in 17.5 miles and rested at Bethany in the home of friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.
Preparing
Mark 11:1-6
Bethphage and Bethany are two small villages on the southeast side of the Mount of Olives. Jesus would have followed the ridge of that mountain to the top of Olivet to see the city of Jerusalem. It is a beautiful sight to this day. In fulfillment of the prophecy, Jesus would need to prepare to ride a beast of burden into the city (Zechariah 9:9). Jesus sent two of his disciples to prepare for his ride.
Jesus may have made advance preparations, or this perhaps was a miracle of the human heart and occasion; whatever the case, the disciples went and secured the donkey just as Jesus had predicted. The text says this was a donkey on which no one had ever ridden. Riding such a beast would be a risk for most people, but not for the Creator of the universe who came to tame creation and was the pure Son of God (cf. John 19:41 for a similar statement about his tomb). The people who watched the two disciples untie the donkey essentially asked, “What gives?” The answer Jesus gave them was sufficient: “The Lord needs it.” With the donkey secured, everything was prepared.
Celebrating
Mark 11:7-11
Two crowds were involved in the triumphal entry—one coming out from Jerusalem to greet Jesus and one that was following Jesus; that second crowd was entering the city to celebrate Passover (verse 9 and John 12:13, 17). These “ordinary people” celebrated Jesus in three ways: they put their cloaks on the donkey and on the road for the donkey to tread upon, they cut branches from trees and waved them, and they shouted their praise of Jesus’ identity.
The shout was significant. Not only is it a chiasm (a rhetorical pattern; e.g., Hosanna, Blessed, Blessed, and Hosanna again), but it also echoed the language of Psalm 118:24-25. “Hosanna” means “God, save us.” The ordinary people might have been making the connection between God’s plan for salvation and Jesus. They surely were recognizing that Jesus was inaugurating the coming kingdom of his father David.
Instead of becoming enamored with the celebration, this “unsettling Messiah” (as authors David Fleer and Dave Bland call Jesus in their book, Preaching Mark’s Unsettling Messiah) entered the city, entered the temple courts, looked around, and then just left. He allowed the crowds to celebrate him, but he played inspector.
Cleansing
Mark 11:12-19
Jesus probably stayed with his dear friends in Bethany following the events of Palm Sunday. On Monday morning he returned to the temple to teach. He may have left early in the morning since he was hungry. Breakfast back then was more like brunch. He saw a fig tree in leaf but not bearing fruit yet (since it was not the season for figs). Jesus was not angry with the tree but decided to use the leafy tree’s “false advertising” to teach the disciples a lesson. He cursed the fig tree and it withered (Matthew 21:19 said it withered “at once,” but Mark 11:20 said the disciples noticed its condition the next day). The fig tree was a symbol of the nation of Israel. It too was falsely advertising.
The cursing of the fig tree went hand in hand with the cleansing of the temple. Jesus was confronting official Judaism for their rejection of him, their hypocrisy, and their lack of inclusiveness of all peoples. Jesus witnessed what Nehemiah had said about God’s house being profaned and neglected (Nehemiah 13:15-22). It angered him, so he overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. This could be the second time that Jesus did this (John 2:13-22). This time he used the language of Isaiah 56:7 about his house being a house of prayer for all nations. He wanted the temple to be accessible for ordinary people. The religious elite were mad, the people were amazed, and the disciples tried to internalize it.
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