2026-04-20 - B-Side - Mark 11:12-25

B-Side: Mark 11:12-25 (covering through verse 22 today)

Matthew, Mark and Luke all draw on Malachi. Malachi 3:1-2... Malachi predicts what Jesus does, refining and purifying the temple. In Mark 11:11, he inspected the temple and left; then, as Malachi prophesied, he returned to cleanse and refine it!

v12-13: Jesus was hungry. The fig tree story is intended as a parable, but some literal details: fig trees in the offseason would still sprout little buds that were edible. This tree had not even that! It once had fruit, but not now, similar to the state of the temple. Jerusalem and its temple were once a place of great fruit, but no longer.

v14: the vineyard most likely speaks of the temple, not all of Jerusalem, because Jesus condemns it to never again bear fruit. If a third temple is built in Jerusalem, it will not be a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit of God as it once was, as the Holy Spirit now lives in the new temple, God's people!

v15: Jesus isn't mad at people for buying animals; he's angry at those taking advantage of those who didn't have the means to own their own livestock. Jesus is refining the temple, and bringing about the end of the sacrificial system. 

It's not a sin to be angry; it's a sin if what you do with your anger is sinful. 

v16: How could Jesus stop the entire flow of traffic in the temple? It was massive. But he was the most influential rabbi in that moment, had just raised someone from the dead. He had the voice to halt the crowds.

v17: He calls the temple a den of robbers...

Jeremiah 7:1-3... the Jewish people were focused on Jesus overthrowing Rome. Jeremiah 7 says God will let them dwell in the temple. Why can't they now? If they had truly accepted Jesus, Jerusalem still would be theirs! Also, Jeremiah and Jesus have some things in common: not accepted by Israel's spiritual leadership, both know of the faithlessness of the people and that God's ready to tear it all down.

Jeremiah 7:4... don't trust the deception of people saying this is the temple of the Lord. They've replaced the God of the temple with the temple itself! It's only special if God dwells there. 

Back in Mark 11, the people must have been impressed with the temple, with all the activity, all the traffic! But Jesus stops it all. The building is irrelevant if God's not there.

People still replace God with things today... the church... the liturgy... man-made systems... only genuine faith in God can save us!

Jeremiah 7:11... compares the temple to a den of robbers-- just like Jesus does (and says he's seen it himself even back in Jeremiah!) Jesus is calling himself God, likely angering the religious leaders!

Jeremiah 7:12-15... the temple will come down, and the people will be cast out of God's sight.

God would rather have the temple destroyed than to have himself misrepresented!

In the structure of Leviticus 14... the first time the priest comes, he inspects the mold and leaves. The second time, he has everything it touched ripped out and thrown away. The third time, if the mold has returned, the house has to come down. This is Jesus' second time visiting the temple, and he's in the ripping out stage! 

Jesus objects to the fact that the people misunderstand the central theme of the atonement. And the priests themselves (who are supposed to make peace with God, atoning for sins) are not at peace with God, living in sin! And they are misrepresenting God himself!

v18: though the priests of the temple feared when they heard Jesus, the disciples marveled!

v19: the temple was supposed to be where to meet God, but Jesus leaves it. In the New Jerusalem, Jesus is the light, and he never leaves!

v20: withered fig tree. As the tree has withered to its foundation, so will the temple, for its fruitlessness!

The central event of this section of Mark is Jesus ending the temple system, halting the sacrifice. His solution is the Atonement he offers on the cross!