Mark 11:1-19
Q.1. From where did the two disciples get a colt? What did Jesus use it for? How did the crowds respond? Where did Jesus go? – (Mk.11:1-11)
It is likely that Jesus had made arrangements with the owner of colt, for His disciples to use the animal. When the two disciples went to collect it and told the owner – The Lord has need of it … he consented (Mk.11:3 c.f. Mk.11:1-6). Jesus knew that it was not ‘broken in’ but this presented no problems to its Maker when He sat on it (Mk.11:7 c.f. Mk.11:2). His disciples put their coats on it and – many spread their coats on the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the field (Mk.11:7-8). There was great excitement as they acclaimed their Messiah shouting – 9 … “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!” (Mk.11:9-10 c.f. Isa.62:11; Zech.9:9). The crowds recognized Jesus as the promised Messiah. However, they identified Him as the coming Reigning Ruler. They were oblivious to the Scriptures that predicted that this Messiah would first be the Suffering Saviour. Mark, in his account of the cleansing of the temple by Jesus, showed that this incident was not an angry reaction but a considered response, when he recorded that Jesus – … came into; and after looking around the temple and looked around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve … (Mk.11:11). The cleansing happened the next day.
Q.2. Why did Jesus curse the Figtree? Why did Jesus remove the traders from the Temple? How did the religious leaders react? – (Mk.11:11-19)
The cursing of the fig tree by Jesus was a symbolic act. Though the writers reported that Jesus became hungry, this was their understanding (Mk.11:12). They had only just left Bethany and it is an inconceivable explanation, for One Who refused to turn a stone into bread after fasting for forty days (c.f. Mt.4:3-4). They also recorded that when Jesus went to look for fruit on the bush – He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, May no one ever eat fruit from you again (Mk.11:13-14). The disciples were listening. The unusual circumstances of the cursing of an out-of-season fig tree and the Saviour’s strange response to the fruitless tree, were hard for them to digest. Luke. in his Gospel, did not include this incident, but gave a parable of a fruitless fig tree where the owner – came looking for fruit on it and did not find any (Lk.13:6 c.f. Lk.13:6-9; Jer.24:1-10). The words are strikingly similar and clearly allude to Israel. Jesus had been at Bethany each night and His cleansing of the Temple was a controlled response to the misuse of His house – 15 … And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; 16 and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. 17 And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” (Mk.11:15-17 c.f. Isa.56:7; Jer.7:11). This was the last straw for the religious leaders – The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching (Mk.11:18).