Today in God's Word—May 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
May 21, Mark 11
It must have been an incredible week. Thousands of travelers poured into Jerusalem for Passover. The disciples started the week by doing something under orders from Jesus that made them look like horse thieves. They “borrowed” a colt, and just as Jesus told them to expect, they were questioned about it. They answered just as he had told them, saying, “The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.” It worked, just like he said it would. Zechariah’s prophecy about Messiah arriving sitting on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey, was coming true before their eyes—even if at first they did not understand all that was happening. Some of the pilgrims on the way into Jerusalem recognized him and started blessing Jesus and shouting “Hosanna!” about the coming kingdom of David. There would be no more delay. The time for the confrontation had come.
The following morning Jesus disturbed the money-making machine the Jewish leaders had established at the temple. The pilgrims could not bring their sacrifices on the long journey from home, so sacrificial animals were available for sale (probably at exorbitant prices). The pilgrims’ money was no good inside the complex—they had to change their foreign currency into the temple currency at an outrageous exchange rate. If the parade the previous day had somehow escaped the leaders’ attention (we know from Matthew that it did not), I suspect the disruption of the cash flow was the catalyst that shifted the plans of the chief priests and scribes into high gear to destroy Jesus.
When the leaders confronted Jesus in public the following day with questions about his authority, Jesus used the classic tactic of responding with a question of his own, knowing that the hypocritical leaders wouldn’t answer. To admit that John was a heaven-sent messenger would equal admitting their wickedness in rejecting him; to claim he was just a man was a politically incorrect position they didn’t wish to take. Never out of control of the situation, never responding from desperation, Jesus in essence said, “We understand one another perfectly.”
More questions and public showdowns lay ahead. By the end of the week, in the grossest display of injustice in the history of the world, Jesus would go to the cross. But as we journey toward that day, it’s wise to remember these dark events didn’t “just happen” to Jesus. There was never a step along the way when he was trapped or outwitted. The public confrontations were necessary. The chief priests and their henchmen didn’t “win.” Jesus went to Jerusalem and followed the plan, knowing he would be killed and buried by the end of the week. The plan had been in place since the beginning of the world. He was willing to know hunger, rejection, pain and death for you and me, because he loved us so much.
From The Abiding Companion: A Friendly Guide for Your Journey Through the New Testament, Copyright © 2010 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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