Mark 11 – Neighborhood Bible Study (Monday, July 12, 2021)

Gospel of Mark, verses 27-33

Synopsis

Jesus is back at Jerusalem and in the temple which is the focal point of Jerusalem. If you went to Jerusalem, you were expected to go to the temple. Jerusalem is synonymous with the temple, where God’s presence is in ark of the covenant, which at this point of Israel’s history, was no longer there. When Israel went into captivity to Babylon, and Jerusalem with the temple was razed by fire, there is no more mention of the Ark of the Covenant with God’s abiding presence between the cherubim. How grievous Israel’s sin! The very tangible presence of God abode with them and they still sinned to the point of being cast out of the promised land.

Anyway, here Jesus, the very image and radiance of God (as the writer of Hebrews would write) was standing in their midst, and the chief priests, scribes and elders of Israel missed the embodiment of God before their very faces! In fact, they had the audacity to ask Him, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you the authority to do these things?” 

Jesus as usual, refuses to answer them. He refuses to give them a direct answer. Why?

Let’s stop awhile and think through Jesus’ standard responses to the chief priests, scribes, and elders of the Jews, all this while, from chapter 1 of Mark, right up to now in chapter 11.

He NEVER responds to them on their terms, or their presuppositions, or prior beliefs contained in their questions.

Why?

1. When someone asks of someone else something, especially something which is quite important, quite crucial, it becomes very necessary to find out where they are coming from. Meaning, what’s their intention behind such an important question. What kind of thinking are they bringing with their important question. What are their prior beliefs regarding that question. And, whether that question defines the matter or the issue. 

When we consider these things, then we understand why Jesus never responds to those who are against Him through their own mindset, or prior belief, or assumptions. Whether it is a question they ask, or a statement they make.

2. Secondly, Jesus had given them ample evidence of His source of authority; that is, Who is His source of authority, and yet after 10 chapters of miracles, and signs and wonders Jesus had been doing, these chief priests, scribes and elders of Israel, still did not get it. So He refers to someone they know and have seen in action, John the Baptist. And Jesus asks them about John’s authority to baptize. From heaven, which is an often used aphorism for God, or from men?

3. The chief priests, scribes and elders are stumped, and don’t have an answer to Jesus’ questions. They realize that instead of them testing Jesus, Jesus was testing them. And they now have failed that test. They dare not say that John’s authority is from men, because they know that the people are convinced that John was from God. But they couldn’t say John was from God because they knew that Jesus in turn would ask them why they didn’t listen to John then. So they stalled. They professed agnosticism. The famous response when someone knows they are caught, when they know they are in a “gotcha” moment, their response is “We do not know”. Which was very shameful because these were the religious elite; the chief priests, scribes and elders who were supposed to know the Scriptures and be able to tell the difference between godly and ungodly sources of authority.

What lessons is the Holy Spirit teaching us through this passage?

1. Many times, the questions we have for God, unspoken in our hearts, are actually quite obvious if we are sincere about knowing God and what He says in His word.

2. Personal testimony

• I was going to church for over 34 years before I finally understood the Gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ
• A key reason why I was constantly confused was because I was taught in church that I had to make certain decisions, and that God would only respond AFTER I had made those decisions.
• One of that decisions was that I should “accept Christ”, and from then onwards, constantly “dedicate or renew that decision” by constantly making decisions for God.
• I had to serve God, do things for God, for God to bless me.
• I hadn’t understood God’s grace in Christ Jesus because honestly, for over 34 years, the pastors and preachers I was hearing, were not preaching the genuine gospel of God’s grace in Jesus Christ
• Then, in late 2011, early 2012, I was led by God’s mercy and providence to listen to the Rev Dr Timothy Keller, from Manhattan Presbyterian Church, New York. And after listening to so many of his free mp3 messages, my inner spiritual eyes were opened to the glory of God’s grace in Christ.
• The gospel of Jesus Christ finally made sense by an inward revelation of the Holy Spirit, as I listened to passage after passage of Scripture pointing me to the glorious truth that my sins were imputed to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness were imputed to me, and all the benefits of His imputed righteousness
• Truly amazing grace!

How people need to hear and know that God has come to them in a real and personal way. He did that through Jesus Christ who came bringing mercy and grace from God to people lost without meaning and hope in life. Especially during these times of trials through the pandemic and its fallout. It does mean that we need to recognize our impotence before God. That we have utterly failed to see His goodness. That we are in constant opposition to Him in spite of His constant goodness to us. That finally, the root of the matter, the heart of the matter is our hearts that refuses to see His mercy and goodness. 

Will we come to the place, by His mercy and grace, to acknowledge our bankruptcy of self-saving thinking and acts, and see that Jesus Christ, the fully human and fully God-man, substituted Himself in our place, took our sins upon His perfect self, becoming the perfect sin-bearer before God, and in His resurrection, and ascension to God’s right hand, totally and completely defeated satan and sin, and their hold upon our past, present and future.

May God grant you grace to see His light in the face of Jesus Christ.