A WEEK TO REMEMBER PART 3: BETHANY TO TO WITHIN THE TEMPLE WALLS OF JERUSALEM

MONDAY NISAN 10-11

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

Matthew 21:18-19, Mark 11:12-14

 Early in the morning, the next day as they were leaving Bethany, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf by the road, he went to find out if it had any fruit. He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again! May no one ever eat fruit from you again” And his disciples heard him say it.

In the Lesson we did called, “Figs and Wasps and Foolish Genius”, we gave this quote from Song of Solomon:

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.

The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. 

Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me."  Song of Solomon 2:11-13.

We spend quite a while talking about the meaning of this fig tree. I don’t want to rehash the whole thing again here because that study is posted,  but a few points.

Solomon mentions early fruit. Solomon also speaks of it being Spring, as the season is here on this journey by Jesus. The early fruit of the fig tree was called taqsh (t-a-q-s-h) and when the leaves appear so do these. They are not full figs, just little green nut-like growths that natives around fig trees eat if hungry. It being spring and there being leaves on the tree, Jesus should expect to find some taqsh for his breakfast, but there was none. No taqsh when the leaves appear means this tree will not produce figs later either. What good is it? It is false advertising. It had an appearance of something it wasn’t. It was as fruitless and false as the then current religious teachers and leaders of Israel. Jesus will bring a withering to them as well.

The passage in Matthew 21 where the Lord encounters this fig tree ends by stating:

Immediately the tree withered.

The Apostles heard Jesus say it would never bear fruit again, but I don’t think at this time they noticed the fig tree withering. I’ll tell why I think they didn’t a bit later.

Jesus at the Temple

Matthew 21:12-16, Mark 11:15-18, Luke 19:45-48

We are about to have déjà vu all over again when Jesus gets into Jerusalem.

 On reaching Jerusalem, when Jesus entered the temple courts, he drove out all who were buying and selling there.

He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  And as he taught them, he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.’”

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When Jesus said, “It is written”, he is probably referring to Isaiah 56:6-7.

“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— 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.”

The Lord God,

    who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares,

“I will gather yet others to him

    besides those already gathered.”

The Chief Priests and the Teachers of the Law were outraged. They saw his actions and heard his words, but never understood the meaning of what he said. They declared he must be killed. Why, because the crowd was amazed by his teaching. Jesus was a threat to their status and their livelihood.

Think about it. Who benefited from this bazaar being held in the Temple, besides the merchants of livestock and the moneychangers?

Did God benefit?

The selling of animals may have started as a convenience since people needed to present these animals for sacrifice. However, the merchants began charging excess fees for the purchases. The people who came to the Temple and needed to buy a sheep or turtledoves or whatever were kind of a captive audience and at the mercy of these merchants. It was sort of like going to the movies and being charged several dollars for popcorn, because you can only buy it in the theater. The Temple Priests also got in on the action, taking bribes to allow a merchant to operate and then kickbacks on the purchases.

This was also true of the moneychangers. People coming to Temple were required to pay a Half-Shekel “donation”. This was to be in Temple coinage, so people coming had to exchange their local money for this Temple money. The moneychangers not only charged a fee for the service, but also cheated on the exchange rate so they pocketed more for themselves. This too was shared with the Priests.

Josephus writes about the corruption of Annas, the High Priest (on left) and his five brothers in such matters. It had been Annas, the high priest who saw the profit that could be gained for himself and his family in this. “The Marketplace of the family of Annas" as it was called behind his back, sums up this period when Jesus did his cleansing.

Even though Annas had been removed as high priest in 15 A.D. by the Roman Procurator Gratis, he remained the power behind the Temple. His son-in-law, Caiaphas, was named the official High Priest, but all continued to look to Annas. Caiaphas was little more than a puppet. When Jesus was arrested he was brought first to Annas for Judgment.

There are scholars who feel Annas was behind the scenes calling for both the death of Lazarus and Jesus, after the raising of Lazarus. Several also believe that Annas was the model for the rich man who went to torment in the the parable of the beggar Lazarus, noting the Rich Man was described as having five brothers. 

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.  The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried,  and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.  And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’  But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’  And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19-31)

Jesus had told his disciples this, "You cannot serve both God and money. (Luke 16:13)  The pharisees overhearing him say this were not pleased, because they loved money. They even sneered at Jesus.  Not long after this he told the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man.

He told this just before he went up to Bethany and raised his friend, Lazarus, from the tomb. (John 11:1-44) I do not think there was any mere coincidence in the name of the beggar and his friend, Mary and Martha's brother. The raising illustrated the last part of the parable. When Annas and the Pharisees became aware of the miricle in Bethany it did not drive them to repentance. It just drove them to further hatred of Jesus and plots to kill both him and Lazarus.

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he [Jesus] healed them.  But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

“‘From the lips of children and infants
you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?

This is probably referencing Psalm 8:1-2:

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

Every day he [Jesus] was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.

Once again we see the Chief Priest and Teachers plotting Christ’s death, fulfilling the prophecy of Psalm 31:13 –

 "For I hear many whispering,
    'Terror on every side!'
They conspire against me
    and plot to take my life"

Matthew 21:17, Mark 11:19 John 12:20-50

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”

The word translated Greeks in this verse was the Greek word Hellen. It can be specifically Greeks; however, the word can also mean Gentiles. In the broad sense, the word was used to designate anyone not a Jew. Still, there is a good argument that these were people from Greece. They approached Philip with their request. Philip is a Greek name meaning Lover of Horses. Tradition holds that after the Resurrection, Philip became a missionary to Greece.

Part of the Glorification of Christ is the idea he will draw all men to him, not just Jews. Isaiah 56:8 did state: “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

We see that Jesus' response to these Greeks mystified the people hearing him. He says the time has come for his glorification. That is the pinnacle, a rising above all of this world and obtaining the attention of all.

Be cautious, though. If Glorification is the pinnacle, then it not just the hanging of his body on the cross; it is his ascension after his resurrection.

Then he talks about how if a seed falls on the ground and dies, it produces many seeds. After this he speaks of losing one’s life if they love their life, but if one hates their worldly life they will gain eternal life. Finally stating whoever serves him must follow him.

 “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.  Father, glorify your name!”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”  He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.  Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

“Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

‘He has blinded their eyes

    and hardened their hearts,

so they can neither see with their eyes,

    nor understand with their hearts,

    nor turn—and I would heal them.;”

This is referencing Isaiah 6:10 –

Make the heart of this people dull,

    and their ears heavy,

    and blind their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

    and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

    and turn and be healed.”

 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.

 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.  The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.  I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.  For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.  I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

Take heed to Jesus words here. Do not love the praise of your fellow man above your love of God. There are so very many in the world choosing to remain in darkness and people do not recognize the signs that time is growing short. Jesus came into the world to save. He is about to go to the sacrifice for the sins of mankind that can save each soul if they accept his word, but there will come a time, fast approaching, when he will come to judge, and then it will be too late.

When evening came Jesus and his disciples left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

A WEEK TO REMEMBER, Part 2: PALM SUNDAY

SUNDAY MARCH 29, 33 AD -- NISAN 9-10 PALM SUNDAY

A day ago, on Saturday, Jesus and his Disciples were hiking up a Roman Road toward Jerusalem having left Perea and then Ephraim. In between leaving Old Jericho and entering New Jericho, he had been approached by Bartimaeus and another blind beggar, and he cured them, giving them eyesight.

It is not a coincidence that  he does this as he is proceeding to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”. If we  look all the way back in Luke 4, when Jesus first began his ministry, we find him going into a synagogue at Nazareth where he read from the scroll of Isaiah. It was a messianic text and said the Messiah was “anointed to proclaim good news to the poor, sent to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind” (Luke 4:8-19).

That was only the first part of Isaiah's prophesy he read before rolling up the scroll and sitting down. He did not read the next verse speaking of the year of the Lord's vengeance, which will be at his future second coming.

Now, here Jesus is toward the end of his first coming to earth and he pauses to recover the sight of these two blind men, harking back to what was proclaimed.

Actually, the wording is slightly different in various translations. In Isaiah 61:1-2, The Septuagint uses the terms, “The Blind”. The New International version (NIV) translates Isaiah this way:

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

  to proclaim freedom for the captives

    and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

I sort of like that “release from darkness for the prisoners…” That is part of the essence of the Lord's favor, to free us from that darkness, because we are in darkness as prisoners to our sin and until we can set our vision on Christ we remain blind to our fate.

Although the two blind beggars regained their sight, it remains obvious that those witnessing this miracle are still as blind as those in Nazareth who tried to kill Jesus. They do not understand this Messiah has come to die and still look for the warrior king coming in conquest of Rome, not the sacrificial one who comes to set the prisoners of sin free.

Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11: 1-11, Luke 19:29-44, John 12:12-19

The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany  on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two
of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her, which no one has ever ridden. Untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them back here shortly right away.”

 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

 “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The prophet quoted is Zechariah and this can be found in Zechariah 9, verse 9:

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

    Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

    righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey,

    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

The disciples who were sent ahead went and found a colt outside in the street, just as he had told them, tied at a doorway; and did as Jesus had instructed them. As they untied it, some people, its owners, standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, “The Lord needs it.” and the people let them go.

         We are not given more information about the owners of this donkey and colt. Obviously, God had prearranged this somehow with them. His disciples were not just stealing it.

When they brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus, and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on, he sat on it. 

As he went along a very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut

branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

 In ancient Rome the Palm was a symbol of triumph, and these people were looking toward the triumph of the expected Messiah over those Romans, this is the what they thought was “the coming kingdom of our father David.” 

It was also a tradition in the ancient Near East to show respect to someone considered of the highest honor by covering their path with plants and clothing. This as a means of celebrating goes back long in Jewish history. In Leviticus 23, where God lays out the festival of Passover, he tells the Jews to celebrate on the first and eighth days by taking the branches of the luxuriant trees – palms, willows and other leafy trees – and rejoice.

We today commemorate these events as Palm Sunday. What weekday this fell on would depend upon what year this particular Passover was. It may have been Sunday, but I am not convinced the scritures tell us that.

In John 12:1, the Gospel says on the previous day Jesus arrived in Bethany and that was six days before Passover. If people considered that Christ died on Friday, then counted back six days they would have calculated this day as Sunday, but perhaps not.

Although the crowds were “selecting” Jesus as the warrior king on what we call Palm Sunday, there is a good chance per some scholars that the date on the Jewish calendar was Nisan 10.  If so, what else fell on Nisan 10?

It would have been the day the Jews selected the lamb for the Passover Seder on Nisan 14. Our Palm Sunday may be recognizing Jesus being selected as the perfect lamb for sacrifice.

If the crowd familiarized themselves with the prophesy found in Daniel 9:25-26, they could have calculated this was a moment for their celebration, but they also didn’t understand that Daniel had predicted the death of Christ at this exact time.

 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.  After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing [This phrase, "put to death and will have nothing" was a common euphemism for a person executed as a criminal].

 The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” [ This last verse may have a double meaning. In 70 AD, Rome under the Emperor Vespanion, sacked Jerusalem and tore down the Temple. Jesus told his Disciples that the Temple would suffer such a fate and not one stone would be left upon another. This has not completely come to past. The so-called Wailing Wall, the Western Wall of the Temple, considered by Jews as one of the most Holy Sites in existence still stands. It would not be surprising if in the Last Days to see this wall also fall; although at some point a new temple will be built."

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

At this point the Apostles were as blind as anyone, as hard as that is to believe. But consider what happened just prior to Jesus heading them back to Jerusalem. 

Luke 18:31-34, Matthew 20:17-19, Mark 10:32-34.

Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again ,on the way, Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He, the Son of Man, will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. to be mocked and flogged and crucified. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again to life!”.”

 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them.

They were still blind, seemingly still clinging to the warrior king concept. Although they apparently began to notice things weren't going quite as expected. When jesus announced they were going to Judea because his friend Lazarus was "ill", the Apostles resisted him until "Doubting" Thomas spoke out saying, "Let's also go, and die with him." 

Later as they traveled, right after Jesus explained about his approaching death, James and John, like two nervous little boys, asked their mother, Salome, wife of Zebedee, to intercede for them with Jesus, sending her to ask that they rule with him, one on his right and one on his left. He questioned their ability to do what he was going to, because he knew they didn’t know what they were really asking for. Besides, if you were doing a job interview and the applicant’s mother came to the interview instead, would you hire that applicant?

The other Apostles were angry at James and John for their audacity, but don’t think this was righteous anger. Those Apostles just wanted to be in the forefront as well.

We’ll learn in the weeks to come that none of the Apostles had the mettle for the job yet. They weren’t even able to stay awake on simple requests.

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

 “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” 

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.  They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.