Mark 11:27-33
Tempting Tuesday
It appears that Tuesday started at \\#Mark 11:20\\ and will continue
through \\#Mark 13:37\\. More details are given of Tuesday than any
other day except the day on which Jesus was crucified. most of Jesus’
activities can be divided into two categories on Tuesday.
1. Part of it was Tempting Tuesday, with the religious leaders
doing their best to find some fault with Jesus.
2. The remainder is Teaching Tuesday, with Jesus teaching both
His tempters and His disciples some important truths.
Let’s divide today’s study into two thoughts:
I. \\#Mark 11:27-33\\ The Unanswered Question
Mark 11:27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and
as he was walking in the temple, there come to
him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the
elders,
28 And say unto him, By what authority doest
thou these things? and who gave thee this
authority to do these things?
A. \\#28\\ is a perhaps the most important Unanswered question in
the Bible.
B. It is a definitely an important question.
1. Why?
2. Because it deals with authority and authority is very
important.
C. If you have it, what may be wrong for some may not be wrong
for you.
1. Either on Sunday or Monday—-Matthew seems to indicate it
happened on Sunday and Mark seems to indicate it happened
Monday—-but on one of those two days, Jesus went into the
temple, flipped over tables and ran out the money
changers—for the second time.
a. It would appear that Jesus was the First to drain a
swamp.
b. Such behavior certainly looked wrong, and it would be
for you and me; but if Jesus had the authority, it
would not have been wrong for Him.
2. On Sunday, Jesus had come into the city with a parade of
praise.
a. People were asking Him for deliverance, acknowledging
that He was the true Son of David, and praising Him
as the One sent from God.
b. To accept such praise and adoration would certainly be
wrong for you and me, but if Jesus had the authority,
it would not have been wrong for Him.
3. As early as \\#Mark 1:21-28\\, Jesus cast out demons and
healed the sick on the Sabbath Day.
a. Such things were not allowed by the Jewish religious
authorities of that day.
b. For you and me, it would have been wrong; but if Jesus
had the authority, it would not have been wrong for
Him.
4. Having the authority changes everything, at least it could
have changed everything.
5. If not for the whole nation then for some.
D. It is interesting that by \\#Mark 1:27\\, people were already
wondering about this crucial question.
1. "Who is this Man?"
2. "How can He do such things?"
3. "Where does He do get the authority to do these things?"
4. That answer to those questions would have told the people
whether Jesus was genuine or fake, whether He should be
followed or flogged, whether He was the Messiah or some
poor, diluted Soul.
5. It is a shame that instead of wondering, someone did not
come right out and ask Jesus about it THEN.
(a) This is the Tuesday before Jesus was crucified on
Thursday morning.
(b) At the most, there are 48 or so hours until Jesus
will be hanging on the cross, and they are just now
asking this most important question?!
E. And yet, it will be an Unanswered question.
1. Jesus knew their purpose.
a. They were not asking to gain knowledge or
understanding.
b. They were asking to entrap Jesus.
c. So instead of answer their question, Jesus asked them
a question in return.
Mark 11:29 And Jesus answered and said unto
them, I will also ask of you one question, and
answer me, and I will tell you by what authority
I do these things.
30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or
of men? answer me.
31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If
we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then
did ye not believe him?
32 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the
people: for all men counted John, that he was a
prophet indeed.
33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We
cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them,
Neither do I tell you by what authority I do
these things.
2. The question Jesus asked the religious leaders was
virtually the same question, with the same two possible
answers, and the same two consequences.
a. It was virtually the same question.
(1) Both were about authority and where it came from.
(2) The one asked OF Jesus was about His authority
and where He got it.
(3) The one asked BY Jesus was about John’s authority
and where He got it.
b. They had the same two possible answers.
(1) In both cases, there were only two answers.
(2) The answers were the authority came from men or
it came from God.
c. And in both cases, the consequences were that no
matter which answer you gave, someone was going to be
in a bind.
(1) If Jesus had said:
(a) Men gave Him His authority, He would have
been saying He was NOT sent by God.
(b) God gave Him His authority, the religious
leaders would have said, "He is making
Himself out to be a god."
i. That would have led to an immediate
arrest and started the crucifixion
process.
ii. While Jesus came to die and would die
that very week, He did not come to
die on the Tuesday before the
Passover.
(2) By the same token, had the religious leaders
answered that John’s baptism was:
(a) Of men, the people might have stoned them
for the people believed John was of God.
(b) Of God, Jesus would have asked, "Why
don’t you believe what he said then, for
he said I was the Promised One?"
d. So Both questions asked had the same two possible
answers and both questions asked had the same two
possible consequences:
(1) A dishonest answer would have discredit the one
answer the question.
(2) A truthful answer would have gotten the one who
answered it into a bind.
3. In the end, neither Jesus nor the religious leaders
answered the questions asked; and that most important
question went unanswered!
F. The only thing worse than never asking a most important
question is not being willing to accept the answer.
1. The scribes and Pharisees knew what Jesus’ answer would
most likely be for they knew Who John had proclaimed
Jesus to be, Who His miracles and wisdom declared He was,
and Who the people thought He was.
2. But they had made up their minds by:
a. \\#Mark 3:2\\, when they asked questions to get
answers to accuse Him with.
b. \\#Mark 3:6\\, when they decided to "destroy Him."
they were not going to let the evidence get in their way.
3. It is hard for me to be too hard on them because we have
all made up our minds that something are so, and we will
not be persuaded otherwise.
4. Hopefully we listened to the evidence BEFORE we made up
our minds so that we are not being stubborn but
steadfast.
II. \\#Mark 12:1-12\\ The Prophetic Parable
A. Knowing what the scribes and Pharisees were determined to do,
Jesus gave a parable that prophesied what would happen both
to them and the nation that they influenced so strongly.
1. There is nothing too difficult to understand in this
parable.
2. In fact, it was immediately understood.
Mark 11:12 And they sought to lay hold on him,
but feared the people: for they knew that he had
spoken the parable against them: and they left
him, and went their way.
B. In the parable:
1. Israel is the vineyard.
2. God is the Owner. (If the religious leaders understood
the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen—and they did—
then Jesus actually answered their question about Who
sent Him in it. God, the Owner of the vineyard, sent
Jesus!)
3. They are the wicked husbandmen who will not render to
God the things that are God’s.
4. The prophets are those that God had sent but which had
been abused and killed.
5. And Jesus is the Owner’s Son.
C. Those elements were meant to be easily understood for the
message of the parable was not in what was going to happen
to Jesus.
1. Jesus had known and been telling His disciples throughout
the journey to Jerusalem.
2. The religious leaders had already decided what they were
going to do, they were just waiting for the right time to
do it.
D. The message of the parable was in what was going to happen
after they killed the Son.
Mark 11:9 What shall therefore the lord of the
vineyard do? he will come and destroy the
husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto
others.
1. God would destroy the wicked husbandmen.
a. Matthew recorded the answer with more flavor.
Matt 21:41 They say unto him, He will miserably
destroy those wicked men, and will let out his
vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall
render him the fruits in their seasons.
(1) Their deaths would come in part at the hands of
Rome when the nation rebelled, when the temple
was destroyed, and when Israel was cast out of
their land.
(2) But the miserable part of their destruction was
that they would be cast into hell forever.
b. Matthew actually tells us that it was the people who
first answered the question.
c. So there is a contradiction in the Bible?
(1) No.
(2) After someone answered the question, Jesus did
what I do, He repeated and expounded upon the
answer that was given.
(3) No contradiction. The answer was given by both
the people AND Jesus.
2. Notice that the care of the vineyard (Israel) was to be
given to others.
a. Who would that be?
b. For the last 2,000 years, it has been the church.
c. The spiritual well-being of the whole world has been
placed into the hands of the church during this age.
d. May the Lord help us to be better keepers of the God’s
Word and better sharers of His grace than the Jewish
religious leaders were.
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