1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples

2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.

3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ”

4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.

5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”

6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.

7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.

8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.

9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “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!”

11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.

13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

17 And he was teaching them and saying 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 den of robbers.”

18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.

23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Jesus' Bizarre Behavior

In the passage before us, Jesus rode publicly into Jerusalem like a coming king, cursed a fig tree, and overturned tables. He did not normally behave this way.

When we consider his arrival in Jerusalem, we should note this was a change in policy for Jesus. He normally did what he could to quiet the multitudes' enthusiasm for him—all through Mark's gospel, Jesus has silenced people, but now he allows them to sing of and celebrate him openly.

When we consider the fig tree, we are perplexed. Jesus did not customarily use miraculous power in destructive ways but in ways that led to healing, feeding, deliverance, and resurrection. Jesus was about giving life, but here he destroys the fig tree with miraculous power.

And when we imagine tables and chairs clanging to the ground while travel and trading are stopped, we are also concerned. Jesus often rebuked the way of the religionists of his day, but not like this. This is a next-level, Nehemiah-like confrontation.

What are we to learn from these episodes in Jesus' life?

1. Jesus Arrived Like A King In Jerusalem: He Is The Hoped For Messiah

Colt

For his coming to Jerusalem, we should learn that Jesus is the hoped-for Messiah. The scene is fascinating. As they approach the city, he sent two of his disciples to collect a colt (2). The other gospels tell us it was the colt of a donkey and that they also took the colt's mother, likely as a way to calm the younger animal (Matthew 21:2).

The disciples had to obtain the donkey in an unconventional way. Jesus directed them to a specific place in Bethphage where they would find the colt tied up. Take it, Jesus said. And if anyone bothers you about it, say, "The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately" (2-4).

The disciples went in and found it exactly as Jesus had said. After receiving permission to take the colt, they delivered it to Jesus, putting their cloaks on it as a makeshift saddle.

But why did Jesus want to ride into Jerusalem on this young donkey? He'd gone to Jerusalem many times for various feasts. Ever since his childhood, Jesus had been a pilgrim bound for Jerusalem. And he had never ridden in on a young donkey. Why did Jesus choose such a different and dramatic entrance on this day?

Because it fulfilled a unique prophecy from the Old Testament. Zechariah had said:

Zechariah 9:9 (NLT) — 9 Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.

Mark doesn't make a note of that prophecy, but Matthew and John do.

Timing

The prophecy was important because it expressed a long-awaited hope of the people. God had told their ancient ancestor David that one day a descendant of his would sit on the throne forever (2 Samuel 7:1-17). The people on Palm Sunday alluded to that promise when they said, "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! (10). For long centuries, they awaited that day. But after periods of captivity and exile, after they returned to the holy land, and even after rebuilding the holy city and its temple, no king arose in Israel.

We just finished studying Nehemiah last week. It was the final act of Old Testament history. As well as Nehemiah did, he was not the coming king. And no king emerged during his campaign. All the way to the time of Jesus, the Son of David did not appear. So the people awaited this Davidic King.

But the people also awaited the coming of God's glory to the temple (Isaiah 52:7-8, Hosea 5:15, Zechariah 1:3, Malachi 3:7). Years earlier, before even the days of Nehemiah, Ezekiel the prophet watched God's glory depart and prophesied that it would return from the East.

So the people were awaiting the arrival of the Davidic King and the glory of God, and on that Sunday in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago, both occurred. Jesus, the express image of God, and the Son of David, the holy God and perfect man, arrived in God's city.

Now, speaking of Nehemiah, there are many who think Jesus' Palm Sunday entrance was connected to an event in Nehemiah's story. In Daniel 9, God predicted that his Messiah Prince would arrive and then be killed 483 years after the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25). And some have calculated that from the commission of King Artaxerxes to Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem to the arrival of Christ on this day was precisely 483 years (173, 880 days later, which is 483 360 day years). Not every scholar holds this view, but there are many who do, and I am prone to believe them.

All this to say, Jesus fulfilled prophecies when he arrived in Jerusalem that day. The Son of David had come. The glory of God had come. And he had come on the right day!

Other Prophecies

And this wasn't the only time Jesus did or said something that fulfilled a long-forgotten prophecy.

• The Bible had said the Messiah would be born of a woman (Genesis 3:15), from a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), and in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
• He had to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David (Genesis 17:19, Numbers 24:17, Genesis 49:10, 2 Samuel 7:12-13).
• He would spend some of his childhood in Egypt (Hosea 11:1).
• A massacre of children would happen at his birth town (Jeremiah 31:15).
• A messenger would cry out in the wilderness as a way to prepare people for his coming (Isaiah 40:3-5).
• He would be rejected by his own people (Psalm 69:8, Isaiah 53:3).
• He would be a Moses-like figure who would lead his people out of slavery (Deuteronomy 18:15).
• Elijah would come before he came (Malachi 4:5-6).
• He would be known as a Nazarene (Matthew 2:23).
• He would do much of his work in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-2).
• He would teach with parables (Psalm 78:2-4, Isaiah 6:9-10).
• He would serve the brokenhearted (Isaiah 61:1-2).
• Little children would praise him (Psalm 8:2).
• He would be betrayed by a friend (Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 11:12-13).
• The money spent to betray him would buy a field (Zechariah 11:12-13).
• He would be falsely accused but silent before his accusers (Psalm 35:11, Isaiah 53:7).
• He would be crucified with criminals (Isaiah 53:12).
• They would give him vinegar to drink while on the cross (Psalm 69:21).
• His hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:16).
• He would be mocked and ridiculed, and soldiers would gamble for his garments (Psalm 22:7-8, 18).
• His bones would not be broken while on the cross (Exodus 12:46, Psalm 34:20).
• They would pierce his side (Zechariah 12:10).
• They would bury him in a rich man's tomb (Isaiah 53:9).
• And he would rise from the dead (Psalm 16:10).

All thirty-two of those Old Testament prophecies sound like Jesus to me! The sure prophetic witness of Scripture points to Jesus. He is the hoped-for Messiah.

2. Jesus Cursed The Fig Tree: Be Connected To Him

The Fig Tree

For his rebuke of the fig tree, we should learn to be connected to Jesus. To understand this, consider what Jesus did after he entered Jerusalem; he headed straight for the temple. Mark told us what Jesus did there:

"And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve" (Mark 11:11).

This is the key to understanding the rest of this episode. Jesus came to Jerusalem as the Christ-King, Israel's promised Messiah, and went straight for the religious heart of Israel, the place Nehemiah was so concerned about over 400 years earlier. There, he observed. He "looked around at everything." What Jesus saw grated on him. He went back to Bethany, spent the night, and returned to the temple the next day in an act of premeditated and righteous anger. He was angry because of what he'd seen the day before.

• Instead of assisting the worshippers in their pursuit of God, the religious leaders oversaw an elaborate scheme designed for profit (15).

• Instead of helping foreign worshippers exchange their money for the accepted temple shekel, money changers gouged them with high surcharges.

• Instead of providing an easy way for the poor to worship God, the pigeon salesmen charged premium prices for preapproved sacrificial animals.

• And instead of prayer and worship, the people were using the court of the Gentiles as a shortcut through the city!

All this infuriated Jesus. Rightfully so, this was his house—and, after singlehandedly ending the abominable practices there, he quoted Old Testament scriptures that made it clear he thought it was his house.

From Isaiah 56:7, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."

And from Jeremiah 7:11, "But you have made it a den of robbers."

Jesus' anger was righteous and good. He should have been angry at what he saw. The God of Israel had arrived as the Son of Man. Their Messiah-Christ had come. And they were less than prepared. Their worship was broken, and, rather than help the nations come to God, they had hindered them.

A Living Parable

With this temple complex episode in mind, we can now understand the episode with the fig tree. Jesus approached the fig tree with all its leaves, looking for fruit. Though it wasn't the season for figs, it had the look of fruitfulness. But, when Jesus discovered it had no fruit, he rebuked the fig tree. The next day, Peter noticed it had withered from the roots (21).

It is here we can understand the fig tree as a living parable. Israel had all the outward manifestations of fruit to God. Like the fig tree, they looked fruitful. They had a temple. They had worship. They had the Passover. But the nations had not heard, and the house of God was not one of prayer. They had not been fruitful. Jesus looked around that temple complex, just like he looked around that fig tree, and found no fruit. For both, his rebuke was stern.

Disconnection From God Leads To Lifelessness

When Jesus and his disciples returned to Jerusalem the next day, Peter spied out the fig tree, withered from the roots. Shocked, he pointed it out to Jesus.

Jesus didn't explain the cursing of the fig tree. But Jesus did take an opportunity to teach his men. He said, "Have faith in God" (22).

The tree was an example. It had no fruit. Now it is withered from the root (21). Israel had no fruit. And that's because their root had withered. They had disconnected themselves from God. They were far from him, and disconnection from God leads to lifelessness.

Healthy Root = Abundant Fruit

A strong connection to God for a human is like a healthy root system for a fruit tree. A healthy root (connection to God) leads to abundant fruit (spiritual life and character).

This analogy helps us remember that we are spiritual beings. And when we are properly aligned to and with God, good fruit inevitably flows from our lives. We don't have to produce fruit. It simply grows out from us because we've maintained our connection to and with God.

And this true connection with God rejects showy forms of Christianity. It is one thing to act as if you are in the faith and another entirely to have faith in God. But, so often, it is easier to pursue a leafy life without the fruit of faith. We can slip into the outward show of religiosity without the inner life of prayer, a walk of faith. So don't settle for outward religion—showy forms of Christianity—but turn instead to a vibrant and authentic connection to God.

Root Care

As you do, take care of your spiritual roots. Proper alignment with God will lead to fruit. But, often, it is the pursuit of God that most easily falls by the wayside. Schedules are full. Screens call us. Entertainment abounds. I don't even think it's possible to get bored anymore. But all this distraction can be a weapon in our enemy's hands. He wants to keep us from prayer, from the word, from service, and from fellowship. He will do anything he can to fill up your life with decent things as long as he can keep you from the best things, the things that cultivate your spiritual roots, make you strong, and lead to fruit.

So don't give in. I encourage you to develop a practice of root care. The spiritual disciplines—church engagement, Bible study, prayer, fasting, fellowship, solitude—are all important for developing your inner person. The Spirit of Christ takes those actions and works powerfully within. Take care of your spiritual roots.

When you do, Jesus said you'll have access to the most dynamic prayer life ever. It moves mountains. It has whatever it asks. It believes it has received from God. It forgives because it's forgiven. It is an amazing life of prayer.

Many have misunderstood Jesus' words. One false conclusion is to think that if we just believe enough and mentally envision something we want enough, it will be ours. Another false conclusion is to think of Jesus' words as a blank check, a way to get whatever we want, a way to pursue our dreams.

The reason neither of these views is correct is that it misses who Jesus is talking to—disciples who he's just told to have faith in God. Their entire lives are about to be entirely focused in the direction of his kingdom. And people with that kingdom priority can pray with absolute power. These men never understood Jesus' words as a means toward wealth, power, status, or ease. They understood Jesus' words as a way to have the power of God join them on the mission of God.

So when we read of Jesus' description, we are merely reading his description of the fruitful disciple, someone who has tended to their roots and is deeply connected to God. I pray we would all grow to become more like this fruitful disciple, protecting and maintaining our connection to the Lord.

3. Jesus Cleansed The Temple Precincts: Let's Rearrange Our Lives Around Him

The Temple Precincts

And with Jesus' clearing of the temple precincts, we should find encouragement to rearrange our lives around him. When Jesus came to Jerusalem's temple, he was angered that they were centered on things like profit, power, and hypocrisy, so he rebuked them.

And since we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, we can learn much by seeing what Jesus wanted there (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20). Jesus was looking for signs of life and fruitfulness when he visited the temple that day, he looks for fruit in us today.

Leaves vs. Fruit

When Jesus came to the fig tree, he wanted fruit, but he found leaves. When he came to the temple, he wanted honest prayer but found religious activity that had nothing to do with God. There was no heart devotion or worship. They were busy with all sorts of things, none of them having anything to do with God, and most of them were in contradiction with God's kingdom.

Jesus is looking for true devotion, not spiritual busyness.

Take vs. Give

When Jesus came to the temple, he wanted to find people giving to God and their fellow man. He wanted worshippers to pour out their hearts and sacrifices to God. And he wanted the poor, the traveler, and all nations to find a warm welcome and help in their worship. Instead, Jesus found takers. Rather than give, they took from God and their fellow man.

Jesus is looking for us to live as givers, not takers.

Self vs. Others

When Jesus came to the temple, he wanted to find God's people doing all they could to become a house of prayer for all nations. He wanted them to reach out to the highways and byways, welcoming every nationality and ethnicity into his holy house. Instead, Jesus found an ethnocentric nationalism, a wall of hostility between the Jew and the Gentile. Rather than welcome the nations, they had ostracized them. Jesus is not looking for us to behave with prejudicial exclusivity but with gospel-saturated inclusivity.

He wants us to focus on others, not the self.

Hustle vs. Prayer

When Jesus came to the temple, he wanted to see a space dedicated to solemn worship and joyous praise. Instead, he found the court filled with the hustle and bustle of business and trade. He had wanted them to dedicate their temple for worship, but they ran around at a frenetic pace. Jesus is not looking for us to hustle our way through life but pray our way through life.

He wants us to have rhythm and pacing, worship and prayer built into the fabric of who we are.

So, this Palm Sunday, let us be a people who rearrange our lives around Jesus, take care of our rootedness in Jesus, and rejoice that King Jesus has come!