Our Sovereign Lord
TRANSLATION
(12) And Jesus entered the temple (precincts) and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those who sold doves, (13) and he told them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer’ but you are making it a den of thieves.” (14) And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. (15) But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he was doing and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the son of David,” they were indignant. “Do you hear what they are shouting?” they asked him. And Jesus said to them, “Yes, and have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babes have you perfected praise?’” (17) And leaving them, he went outside the city to Bethany and remained there.
(18) In the morning as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. (19) And seeing a fig tree by the roadside, he approached it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again.” And immediately the fig tree withered away. (20) And when the disciples saw it, they were amazed. They asked, “How did the fig so quickly wither away?” (21) And Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you that if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree but even if you should say to this mountain, ‘Be picked up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. (21) And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith.”
(23) And when he came to the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him as he was teaching and asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (24) Jesus responded by saying to them, “I, too, will ask you a question, and if you tell me the answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. (25) The baptism of John – where did it come from? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves reasoning, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ (26) But if we say, ‘From men.’ we fear the crowd, for everyone considers John to be a prophet.” (27) And they responded to Jesus, “We do not know.” He then said to them, “Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.”
OBSERVATIONS
In these three paragraphs, repetitions lead us to an understanding of the central issue of the entire segment, namely, Jesus’ sovereignty over all that was taking place. In the first paragraph, “temple,” repeated three times (vss. 12, 14, & 15) and “house” (twice in vs. 13), figured prominently. “Sold” is also found twice (vs. 12). In the second paragraph, “fig tree” was repeated four times (in vss. 19, 20, & 21). In the final paragraph, the phrase, “by what authority,” occurred three times (vss. 23, 24, & 27) while “John” is found twice (vss. 25 & 26). The name, “Jesus,” occurred four times in all three paragraphs (vss. 16, 21, 24, & 27) as well as the messianic title, “Son of David” (vs. 15). Twice Jesus quoted passages from the Old Testament to defend himself, the first from Isaiah 56:7 concerning the temple as a house of prayer and then from Psalm 8:2 regarding the praise of infants and nursing babes.
OUTLINE
I. Jesus first cleansed Israel’s temple of all commercial traffic. (12-17)
II. Upon returning to the city, Jesus cursed the unfruitful fig tree. (18-22)
III. Challenged by Israel’s leaders regarding his authority, Jesus confounded them with a question they dared not answer. (23-27)
IDEA STATEMENT
Jesus demonstrated his authority over Israel’s worship by cleansing the temple, over nature by cursing the fig tree, and over human power structures by confounding Israel’s leaders.
APPLICATION
Jesus’ divine sovereignty was on display in the three decisive actions he took as recorded in this segment. First, by cleansing the temple for a second time, he demonstrated his authority over Israel’s worship center. By cursing the fruitless fig tree which almost immediately withered, he again showed his astonished disciples that he was sovereign over the natural world. Finally, in confounding Israel’s leaders with a question they dared not answer, he showed himself superior to the best minds of his day. All this occurred at the beginning of his last week on earth when he would be arrested, tried, convicted, and crucified. While he did not resist those who were plotting his death, he clearly demonstrated that what was about to happen to him was not something he was helpless to prevent but rather the determined will of a gracious God whose justice required a perfect sacrifice for the atonement of humanity’s sins.
We can rest assured that Jesus is likewise sovereign over all circumstances in our lives even when everything seems to be spinning out of control. We constantly need to remind ourselves of the promises he has given to assure us that he will never leave us nor forsake us, that he will work all things together for the good for those who love God, and that in him we can experience perfect peace no matter what happens. We must take to heart the last words Jesus gave his disciples in the Upper Room Discourse: “I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33).