Temple Teaching
Tuesday of Holy Week
Read it: Mark 11:19-13:37 (Matt. 21:19b-25:46)
On the way into Jerusalem Tuesday morning, the disciples see that the cursed fig tree has died, from the roots! It couldn't have been a killer frost, bug, or blight. They are amazed, but Jesus tells them that faith in Him enables followers to see huge problems or barriers (which is what mountains often symbolized) moved aside--and of course, the biggest barrier we all face is that separates us from our Holy God.
Arriving in the Temple courts, Jesus spends his entire day facing tricky questions and teaching difficult truths. His enemies try to trap Him in His words, but He not only escapes, but ties them up in theological knots. He points out their ambivalence toward John the Baptist, shows the difference between saying we will obey and actually doing it--an attitude his opponents clearly manifested toward God's powerful Word through Jesus. He exposes the faulty theology of both the Pharisees and Sadducees, summarizes the whole Law in the two great commandments, and raises a thorny theological question: the Bible says that David's Lord was also David's son—how is this possible?
He pronounces woes on scribes and Pharisees, laments over Jerusalem (quoting Ps. 118:26 as needing to happen before the city sees Him for who He is), and takes time to praise a poor widow's generous heart. Finally, He spends a great deal of time with the disciples teaching on events surrounding the destruction of the Temple, the signs of His coming at the end of the age, and what the kingdom's coming will be like. As Jesus left the Temple and the city, He was not only teaching about its future destruction, He was leaving it for the last time of his own accord. His next departure would be on Good Friday, carrying a cross.
Jesus' teaching in one day encompasses a full course of theological study! I wish I could have been there taking copious notes, but then all I would have is what the Bible gives me. I'd want to ask questions!!! There is so much still for me to learn.
That may be why this one day has chapters dedicated to it--and I hope that you might take the time to read them, or at least one of the sets of text listed above. Jesus had much to say that we needed to hear. We still do. Today, as we reflect on all that Jesus said for our benefit, let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to drive us to see our need of the Word of God to instruct us, and to cause in us a craving for the pure milk we find in that precious Word.
