FEBRUARY 24 READING…Mark 11
Our reading today begins Jesus’ passion week. It starts with Jesus’ entrance into the city. Jesus had been to Jerusalem many times…but this time is different. The Spirit of God is at work, and there are things happening according to God’s plan to prepare all creation for the ultimate sacrifice, and the ultimate victory over death and hell. Jesus was with His disciples the next day coming from Bethany, a small town outside of Jerusalem. He is hungry and sees a fig tree, and though it was out of season, He was hoping to find at least some remnant figs on it. It was bare, and Jesus cursed the tree…we are told later in our readings that the tree died. This is a picture of what was about to happen to Israel…sadly there was no spiritual life, and no spiritual fruit to be found…so it would die. Jesus used this to speak of faith to His disciples.
Jesus goes to the Temple and finds corrupt people exchanging money, and cheating people. He becomes angry and turns over the tables and chases the corrupt merchants away with a home-made whip. His righteous indignation was expressed by declaring that the Temple was to be a place of prayer, not a place where people were ripping people off who were coming to worship the Lord. Jesus tells the people to be willing to forgive one another…for if we refuse to forgive others, how can we expect God to forgive us. Finally, the religious leaders approached Jesus and asked Him by what authority did He do what He was doing. Jesus turned the question around by asking them about John the baptizer…where did his authority come from? Because they had rejected John and His message, which would have led them to Jesus, they refused to answer. Jesus then told them that neither would He tell them about His authority.
Please share your thoughts from today’s reading.
TOMORROW’S READING…Mark 12
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