Mark 11:1-25
And I-uh tell-a you-uh! That whoever-uh beleiveth and claimeth-a in my name-A, and does not doubt, will receive! So stretch out-a your hand-a and claim it in faith-a. Claim-a a that job, claim-a that promotion, claim-a all the greedy little things-a that your heart wants-a because then we will truly know-a that you are a selfish loathsome thing that deserveth HELLFIRE and DAMNATION. Because v23 and 24 are NOT a cure-all to make God do what we want.
Faith that moves mountains has nothing to do with OUR faith and everything to do with the OBJECT of our faith: Jesus.
We can no more will a mountain into the sea than we can fly, or kill someone with a look.
We believeth-a and we claimath-a only that which comes from the mouth of our Lord. He is the King. Check the procession. Praise God in the highest! He is the King, not us. And we are under the King’s authority. And he is not interested in stupid things like promotions and fancy cars.
Jesus is not riding to Jerusalem to climb Golgotha be crucified in agony – so that you-a can claim-a a BMW. It’s so stupid.
What he is interested in, what he is going to Jerusalem for, what people are shouting “Praise God!” for is eternal salvation. Oh, he may well throw in a promotion and a fancy car, this house, much more than we need, for he is a generous God. But those things are rubbish compared to what’s really going on here.
No, Jesus is the King, the Servant King, who has come to do the impossible. And so he will be praised.
1. Praise Jesus, our King
2. Our King Jesus must be obeyed
3. We praise Jesus because he does the impossible
Let’s go!
1. Praise Jesus, our King
7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it. 8 Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!” 11 So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple.
This is a great victory procession. The victorious King riding in to the capital city, praised by his people. Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the crowds rejoicing and celebrating, shouting 10 Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David!
And what did the blind man “see” in Jesus, in the previous chapter? What did he call him? “Son of David have mercy on me”.
Jesus is the son of David. Now this was a big deal. Because God had promised that one of David’s descendants would rule forever. In 2 Samuel 7, one of the BIG EVENTS in the Bible, God says to King David “2 Sa 7:12–17 I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he sins, I will correct and discipline him with the rod, like any father would do. 15 But my favour will not be taken from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from your sight. 16 Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.’ ”
It’s a massive Messianic promise. And now Jesus is riding into Jerusalem, people shouting “Here’s the son of David”.
Wow. In 1 Kings 1 we read about Solomon, David’s son. He came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Solomon’s reign was the high point of Israel’s history. Israel was at its biggest, strongest, wealthiest. But as great as Solomon was, he sinned against the Lord. His reign ended in a whimper.
But here! Here is the true son of David, of whom the great and mighty king Solomon was only a poor shadow.
Jesus is the true King. This is the King we are looking for, the one we’ve been waiting for. Praise Him with great praise!
But wait, there’s more! Because exactly what Jesus is doing now was foretold 520 years prior by the prophet Zechariah. We know that Jesus is who he says he is because God has already told us what he was going to do.
Zec 9:9 Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.
The context of the prophecy is God will rescue Israel from his enemies. Zec 9:16–17 On that day the LORD their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.
Here comes the King to rescue his people! Can you feel it? Can you feel the excitement, the joy! At last, here He is! The one we have been waiting for for 520 years! Or 1000 years since the promise to David. And at last he is here! Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!”
Praise Jesus, our King.
How much time do we spend in simple praise and adoration of God? How much time do we thank our Father for his love and care. How often do we just say “you are lovely, incredible”? Go take a walk around Tinnemyra and look a the beauty and complexity of his creation and say wow! Think about the gift of salvation and be blown away. Jesus, the King, did this. He came to rescue. And he rescued me. Not because of anything in me but because of His great love. Praise Him! Blessings on the now kingdom of David. Blessed be our King Jesus. Amen!
2. Our King must be obeyed
11 So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples. 12 The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. 14 Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard him say it. 15 When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices.
Remember how Mark’s Gospel opened?
1:2 Mk 1:2 just as the prophet Isaiah had written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way, - it’s a direct quote from Malachi 3:1. And the verse continues like this: And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his Temple….But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
Malachi promised a day when the Lord himself will come suddenly to his Temple, a sudden day when the sins of Israel will be exposed. Israel’s judgement or evaluation is at hand. The King has arrived. Jesus’ first words of his ministry were in Mark 1:15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”
Are you ready? The King is here. The only way to get ready is to repent of your sins. Recognising that what you are doing is wrong – turn away from that and turn to God. Because if not, he will suddenly appear, and you will be found wanting, like many in Israel.
The fig tree was green – it looked good from the outside – all the religious pomp and circumstance is there, all the rituals… but there’s no fruit, no reality, no love for the Lord God. It is a withered, dead tree.
The cursing of the fig tree, with the Temple pronouncement in between, is part of Mark’s “sandwich” structure. We know what the cursing of the tree (the “bread”) means because of the “meat” in the middle: clearing the Temple. The fig tree is Israel. The fig tree is the old religious order. The fig tree symbolizes both the hollow reality behind the imposing religious structure and the unrepentant, fruit-less nation of Israel itself.
The Temple is unfit for receiving the King. The Temple is unfit as a house of prayer for the nations – instead it is a den of robbers. 15 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, 16 and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace.
The King has arrived and he is angry! Who can stand against him. Whoever said “Gentle Jesus meek and mild” was a fool. He is utterly righteous, utterly good, and so he will not be mild, cannot be mild. He wages war against our sin! And so Jesus charges in to the Temple, flipping tables, chasing people out! Must’ve been quite a scene. 17 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
And, we might add, a den of murderers – look at v18 When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him.
The old religious order is being exposed. It is death, not life. 20 The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. 21 Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”
Only Jesus can bring life. Disobey him, and you will, in the end, be cursed. Withered, from the roots up, by your own sin and the sins of others.
The King must be obeyed. Otherwise you will face his anger.
How are you going with obeying him? Are you a Christian? Or are you trying “religion”. Be good, go to church, that kind of thing. He’ll flip your tables! Or are you willing to follow Jesus whatever the cost. Is he your King?
And if you call him King – are you obeying Him? In those secret places where no-one can see – are you obeying Him? Because he can see. The Lord will come suddenly. Are you ready? Am I?
If not, we must repent and turn to Him while there is still time. We’re going to have Communion after this. Use it as a time to get right with the Lord. Confess your sin. Repent. Before it is too late.
Our King Jesus must be obeyed.
3. We praise Jesus, because he does the impossible
22 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. 23 I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
Now we see how important CONTEXT is for understanding verses. If someone just quotes this verse to us, what do we think? Well, we think like the disciples did last week – self-glory, when they asked Jesus to sit at his left and right. They ignored his prophecy about his suffering and death. Bah, who cares. We want glory! And we ignore the next verse talking about forgiving people and difficult things like that. And ignore who is saying it. The King. The mighty promised Warrior God coming to his people in power.
And we use these verses to demand things from God. This is a favourite verse of those white-suited salesmen you see on so-called “Christian” television. Peddlers of false religion who sell modern-day indulgences to gullible people. Gullible because they don’t know their Bible, they don’t know the God they profess to love in all his power and might and awesomeness. Who in their right mind would believe that the God of the Bible would do whatever you ask him? Seriously? You? You with all your sin and failings, your rebellion, your shame, your darkness and evil? Ordering God about like he’s your servant, there to bow to the whim of the great <insert your name here>.
What’s the first rule of Bible study? Context.
And the second rule? Context.
And the third? Yes, context!
Because a text without a context is a pretext for a con. And, boy, do these guys con people. They run multi-million dollar enterprises on these cons.
Now maybe you will say “I was blessed by that man (or woman)” “they really helped me to understand this or that about God” or “my aunt was saved after listening to x”. God used a donkey once to bless his people. Doesn’t mean donkeys are holy. God can speak through the mouths of evil men, and he achieves his purposes through his enemies. Doesn’t make them righteous. Donæt be fooled by the braying of donkeys “hee-haw, name it and claim it”.
These verses do not mean “whatever pathetic worldly desire I have right now, I can ask for it and God will do it.” No, you cannot muster up enough “faith” to get a Ferrari, no matter how hard you try.
These verses are talking about something much greater than that. The mountain that Jesus is talking about is the impossibility of men to be saved – particularly here the people of Israel. And if Israel can’t be saved, God’s chosen people, what hope have the rest of us?!
None at all.
But as Jesus stated in the text we looked at two weeks ago “what is impossible with man is possible with God” (10:27). Have faith in God brothers, because the mountain of sin and rebellion against God is about to be dealt with – by Jesus on the cross. Jesus will cast that into the sea, the mountains made low and the valleys raised up for the Lord, a highway in the desert, a highway to the city of our God (Is 40 quoted in Mark 1:3).
So does this mean if we pray a pious prayer, asking God for good things like salvation for our loved ones, that he will answer – must answer? Again, no, because who is God and who isn’t? We know already from Mark that prayer is a declaration of dependence on God, not a list of things for him to do. This has to do with two things: 1. The offer of salvation for everyone. Jesus has made a way for everyone to be saved, he has removed the mountain, but who is saved is not for us to decide. 2. You, me, individually – if we pray for forgiveness, and believe in Jesus, we will be forgiven. 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
How do we know that he’s talking about salvation here, and not big houses and fast cars and pretty women? The very next verse, which even begins with the word “But”, clearly a continuation of the same thought - is talking about what? 25 But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.
Forgiveness. Being forgiven by the Father. Being accepted. This is the real big deal. Ferraris are rubbish, utter nonsense compared to this. Knowing the Creator – as FATHER. Being forgiven, completely. Accepted. Free. No guilt, no shame. Utter contentment in life no matter your circumstances. Happiness whether you own a Ferrari or a pair of battered shoes with holes in the soles! This is where it’s at. And as we have been treated, we cannot do any less than treat others the same way. We have been forgiven so we can forgive.
This is where it’s at. Let us stand in awe of Jesus as he does the impossible. Lift up your eyes – lift them up and see your saviour king. Lift up your voice and shout Hallelujah (God saves), Hosanna (save now) in the highest! Praise God! For here comes the saviour, the humble Warrior King, the Son of David going to war for his people, a battle that will cost his very life.
Jesus can do the impossible, casting the mountain into the sea, because Jesus is the King. The Servant King.
Jesus is the King. The King who must be obeyed. The King who is not impressed with empty religion. But the King who can move mountains with a tiny bit of faith expressed in this prayer “help me, Jesus, for I am a helpless sinner”. There is power in that verse. Name it and claim it is laughable rubbish compared to this.
See mountains move. Pray that prayer. Help me, Jesus. And watch the power of the King in action.
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