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INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF MARK

SYNOPTIC GOSPELS

The first three Gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — are known as the Synoptic Gospels. Word synoptic comes from two Greek words meaning see the general, that is, to look in parallel and see common places.

Undoubtedly, the most important of the gospels mentioned is the Gospel of Mark. You can even say that this is the most important book in the world, because almost everyone agrees that this Gospel was written before anyone else and, therefore, it is the first life story of Jesus that has come down to us. Probably, before that, they tried to write down the history of Jesus' life, but, without a doubt, the Gospel of Mark is the earliest surviving and extant biography of Jesus.

THE RISE OF THE GOSPELS

Thinking about the question of the origin of the Gospels, one must bear in mind that at that time there were no printed books in the world. The Gospels were written long before the invention of printing, in an era when every book, every copy had to be carefully and painstakingly handwritten. Obviously, as a result, only a very small number of copies of each book existed.

How can you know, or how can you infer that the Gospel of Mark was written earlier than others? Even when reading the synoptic Gospels in translation, there is a remarkable similarity between them. They contain the same events, often conveyed by the same words, and the information they contain about the teachings of Jesus Christ often almost completely coincide. If we compare the event of saturation of five thousand (Mar. 6, 30 - 44; Mat. 14, 13-21; Onion. nine, 10 - 17), it is striking that it is written in almost the same words and in the same manner. Another clear example is the story of the healing and forgiving of the paralytic (Mar. 2, 1-12; Mat. 9, 1-8; Onion. 5, 17 - 26). The stories are so similar that even the words "speaking to the paralytic" are given in all three Gospels in the same place. The correspondences and coincidences are so obvious that one of two conclusions arises: either all three authors took information from one source, or two out of three relied on a third.

A closer look can divide the Gospel of Mark into 105 episodes, of which 93 are found in the Gospel of Matthew and 81 in the Gospel of Luke, and only four episodes are not found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. But the following fact is even more convincing. In the Gospel of Mark there are 661 verses, in the Gospel of Matthew - 1068, in the Gospel of Luke - 1149 verses. Of the 661 verses in the Gospel of Mark, 606 verses are given in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew's expressions sometimes differ from Mark's, but nevertheless Matthew uses 51% words used by Mark. Of the same 661 verses in the Gospel of Mark, 320 verses are used in the Gospel of Luke. In addition, Luke uses 53% of the words that Mark actually used. Only 55 verses of the Gospel of Mark are not found in the Gospel of Matthew, but 31 of these 55 verses are found in Luke. Thus, only 24 verses from the Gospel of Mark are not found in either the Gospel of Matthew or Luke. All of this indicates that, apparently, both Matthew and Luke used the Gospel of Mark as the basis for the writing of their Gospels.

But the following fact convinces us of this even more. Both Matthew and Luke largely adhere to Mark's order of events.

Sometimes this order is violated by Matthew or Luke. But these changes in Matthew and Luke never do not match.

One of them always keeps the order of events accepted by Mark.

A close examination of these three Gospels reveals that Mark was written before Matthew and Luke, and they used Mark as a basis and added whatever additional information they wanted to include in it.

It takes your breath away when you think that while reading the Gospel of Mark, you are reading the first life story of Jesus, on which the authors of all his subsequent life stories relied.

MARK, AUTHOR OF THE GOSPEL

What do we know about Mark who wrote the Gospel? Quite a lot is said about him in the New Testament. He was the son of a wealthy Jerusalem woman named Mary, whose house served as a gathering and prayer place for the early Christian church. (Acts. 12, 12). Mark from childhood was brought up in the midst of the Christian brotherhood.

In addition, Mark was Barnabas's nephew, and when Paul and Barnabas went on their first missionary journey, they took Mark with them as secretary and assistant. (Acts 12.25). This trip turned out to be extremely unfortunate for Mark. Arriving with Barnabas and Mark in Perga, Paul proposed to go deep into Asia Minor to the central plateau and then, for some reason, Mark left Barnabas and Paul and returned home to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). Maybe he turned back because he wanted to avoid the dangers of the road, which was one of the most difficult and dangerous in the world, on which it was difficult to travel and on which there were many robbers. Maybe he returned, because the leadership of the expedition was more and more passed to Paul, and Mark did not like the fact that his uncle, Barnabas, was pushed into the background. Maybe he came back because he didn't approve of what Paul was doing. John Chrysostom - perhaps in a flash of insight - said that Mark went home because he wanted to live with his mother.

After completing their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas were about to set off on their second. Barnabas wanted to take Mark with him again. But Paul refused to have anything with the man who "lagged behind them in Pamphylia" (Acts. 15, 37-40). The differences between Paul and Barnabas were so great that they parted and, as far as we know, never worked together again.

For several years, Mark disappeared from our field of vision. According to legend, he went to Egypt and founded a church in Alexandria. We, however, do not know the truth, but we do know that he reappeared in the strangest way. To our surprise, we learn that Mark was with Paul in prison in Rome when Paul wrote his Epistle to the Colossians. (No. 4, 10). In another Epistle to Philemon, written in prison (v. 23), Paul names Mark among his co-workers. And in anticipation of his death and already very close to his end, Paul writes to Timothy, who was his right hand: "Take Mark and bring him with you, for I need him for my ministry" (2 Tim. 4, 11). What has changed since Paul branded Mark as a man of no endurance. Whatever happened, Mark corrected his mistake. Paul needed him when his end was near.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

The value of what is written depends on the sources from which the information is taken. Where did Mark get information about the life and deeds of Jesus? We have already seen that his house was from the very beginning the center of Christians in Jerusalem. He must have often listened to people who knew Jesus personally. It is also possible that he had other sources of information.

Somewhere in the late second century, there was a man named Papias, bishop of the church in the city of Hierapolis, who loved to gather information about the early days of the Church. He said that the Gospel of Mark is nothing more than a record of the sermons of the Apostle Peter. Without a doubt, Mark stood so close to Peter and was so close to his heart that he could call him "Mark my son" (1 Pet. 5, 13). Papia says:

"Mark, who was the interpreter of Peter, wrote down with accuracy, but not in order, everything that he recalled from the words and deeds of Jesus Christ, because he did not hear the Lord himself and was not His disciple; he later became, as I said, a disciple of Peter ; Peter, on the other hand, linked his instruction with practical needs, without even trying to convey the word of the Lord in a sequential order. So Mark did the right thing, writing from memory, because he only cared about how not to miss or distort anything from what he heard. " ...

Therefore, for two reasons, we consider the Gospel of Mark to be an extremely important book. First, it is the very first gospel, and if it was written shortly after the death of the Apostle Peter, it refers to the 65th year. Secondly, it contains the sermons of the Apostle Peter: what he taught and what he preached about Jesus Christ. In other words, the Gospel of Mark is the closest eyewitness testimony we have about the life of Jesus to the truth.

LOST END

Let's note an important point about the Gospel of Mark. In its original form, it ends in Mar 16, 8. We know this for two reasons. First, the following verses (Mar. 16, 9 - 20) are absent from all important early manuscripts; they are contained only in later and less significant manuscripts. Second, the style of the Greek language is so different from the rest of the manuscript that the latter verses could not have been written by the same person.

But intentions stop at Mar 16, 8 the author could not have. What happened then? Perhaps Mark died, and maybe even the death of a martyr, not having time to complete the Gospel. But it is likely that at one time there was only one copy of the Gospel, and, moreover, its ending could also have been lost. Once upon a time, the Church made little use of the Gospel of Mark, preferring the Gospel of Matthew and Luke to it. Perhaps the Gospel of Mark was consigned to oblivion precisely because all copies were lost except for the one with the missing ending. If so, then we were on the verge of losing the gospel, which in many ways is the most important of all.

FEATURES OF THE GOSPEL MARK

Let's pay attention to the features of the Gospel of Mark and analyze them.

1) It more than others comes close to the eyewitness account of the life of Jesus Christ. Mark was tasked with portraying Jesus as He was. Wescott called Mark's Gospel "a copy from life." A. B. Bruce said that it was written "as a living love memory", that its most important feature in his realism.

2) Mark never forgot the divine qualities in Jesus. Mark begins his Gospel by outlining his creed of faith. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God." He leaves us in no doubt as to who he believed Jesus was. Mark speaks again and again about the impression Jesus made on the minds and hearts of those who heard Him. Mark remembers all the time about the awe and wonder that He caused. "And they were astonished at His teaching" (1, 22); "And everyone was horrified" (1, 27) - such phrases are found in Mark over and over again. This surprise struck not only the minds of the people in the crowd listening to Him; even greater surprise reigned in the minds of His closest disciples. "And they were afraid with great fear, and said among themselves: Who is this, that both the wind and the sea obey Him?" (4, 41). "And they were exceedingly amazed at themselves and marveled" (6, 51). "The disciples were horrified at His words" (10, 24). "They were extremely amazed" (10, 26).

For Mark, Jesus was not just a man among men; He was God among people, constantly astonishing and horrifying people with His words and deeds.

3) And, at the same time, no other Gospel shows the humanity of Jesus so clearly. Sometimes His image is so close to the image of a person that other authors change it a little, because they are almost afraid to repeat what Mark says. In Mark, Jesus is "just a carpenter" (6, 3). Matthew later changes this and says "the carpenter's son" (Mat 13:55), as if to call Jesus a village artisan is a great audacity. Talking about the temptations of Jesus, Mark writes: "Immediately thereafter the Spirit leads Him (in the original: drives) into the wilderness "(1, 12). Matthew and Luke do not want to use this word to drive in relation to Jesus, so they soften him and say, "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." (Mat. 4, 1). "Jesus ... led by the Spirit into the wilderness" (Onion. 4, 1). No one told us as much about Jesus' feelings as Mark. Jesus took a deep breath (7, 34; 8, 12). Jesus took pity (6, 34). He marveled at their unbelief (6, 6). He looked at them with anger (3, 5; 10, 14). Only Mark told us that Jesus, looking at a young man with a large estate, fell in love with him (10:21). Jesus could feel hunger (11,12). He could feel tired and need to rest (6, 31).

It was in the Gospel of Mark that the image of Jesus came down to us with the same feelings as ours. The pure humanity of Jesus in Mark's portrayal makes Him closer to us.

4) One of the important features of Mark's writing style is that he again and again weaves into the text vivid pictures and details typical of the eyewitness story. Both Matthew and Mark talk about how Jesus called a child and put him in the center. Matthew describes this event as follows: "Jesus called a child and set him in the midst of them." Mark adds something that throws a bright light on the whole picture (9.36): "And taking the child, he set him in the midst of them, and embracing him, he said to them ...". And to the beautiful picture of Jesus and the children, when Jesus rebukes the disciples for not allowing children to come to Him, only Mark adds the following line: "and embracing them, laid his hands on them and blessed them." (Mar. 10, 13 - 16; Wed Mat. 19, 13 - 15; Onion. 18, 15 - 17). These little living strokes convey all the tenderness of Jesus. In the story of feeding five thousand, only Mark indicates that they sat in rows one hundred and fifty, like the beds in the garden (6, 40) and the whole picture rises vividly before our eyes. Describing the last journey of Jesus and His disciples to Jerusalem, only Mark tells us that "Jesus walked ahead of them" (10, 32; Wed Mat. 20, 17 and Bow. 18:32), and with this short phrase emphasizes the loneliness of Jesus. And in the story of how Jesus calmed the storm, Mark has a short phrase that the other authors of the Gospels do not have. "And He was sleeping aft at the head "(4, 38). And this little touch brings the picture to life before our eyes. There is no doubt that these small details are explained by the fact that Peter was a living witness of these events and now saw them again in his mind's eye.

5) The realism and simplicity of Mark's presentation are also evident in the style of his Greek writing.

a) His style is not marked by meticulous workmanship and brilliance. Mark tells like a child. To one fact, he adds another fact, linking them only by the union "and". In the Greek original of the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark, he gives successively one after another 34 main and subordinate clauses, starting with their conjunction "and", with one semantic verb. This is exactly what a diligent child tells.

b) Mark is very fond of the words "immediately" and "immediately". They are found in the Gospel about 30 times. Sometimes they say "flows" about a story. Mark's story, on the other hand, does not flow, but rushes rapidly, without catching his breath; and the reader sees the described events as vividly as if he himself was present at them.

c) Mark is very fond of using the historical present tense of the verb, talking about the past event, he talks about it in the present tense. "Hearing this, Jesus is talking them: not the healthy need a doctor, but the sick "(2, 17)." When they approached Jerusalem, Bethphage and Bethany, the Mount of Olives, Jesus sends two of his disciples and is talking them: enter the village, which is right in front of you ... "(11, 1.2)." And immediately, when He was still speaking, comes Judas, one of the twelve "(14, 49). This real historical, characteristic of both Greek and Russian, but inappropriate, for example, in English, shows us how the events are alive in Mark's mind, as if everything happened before his eyes ...

d) Very often he quotes the very Aramaic words that Jesus spoke. To the daughters of Jairus Jesus says: "talifa-ku oii! "(5:41). To the deaf, tongue-tied, He says: "effafa"(7, 34). A gift to God is "korvan"(7, 11); in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says: "Abba, Father "(14, 36); on the cross he shouts: "Eloy, Eloy, lamma sawa-hfani!"(15, 34). Sometimes the voice of Jesus sounded in Peter's ears again and he could not refrain from passing on to Mark with the same words that Jesus spoke.

THE MOST IMPORTANT GOSPEL

It won't be unfair if we name the Gospel of Mark the most important gospel. We will do well if we lovingly and diligently study the earliest Gospel at our disposal, in which we hear the Apostle Peter again.

THE KING'S COMING (Mark 11: 1-6)

And now we come to the last stage. Jesus went to the region of Caesarea Philippi, then to Galilee, visited Judea and the regions beyond Jordan, and then there was a road through Jericho. And now Jerusalem is ahead. It is necessary to immediately note some points, without which the whole episode will be very difficult to understand. When you read the first three Gospels, you might get the impression that Jesus visited Jerusalem for the first time. The authors place great emphasis on the work Jesus did in Galilee. It must be remembered that the Gospel is a small volume of works, into which the story of a three-year work is squeezed, and the authors were forced to carefully select the most interesting and well-known episodes. When we read the fourth Gospel, we often see Jesus in Jerusalem. (John. 2, 13; 5, 1; 7, 10). It is clear that Jesus regularly visited Jerusalem on the great feasts. And in this, in fact, there is no contradiction. The authors of the first three Gospels are especially interested in the preaching of Jesus in Galilee, the author of the fourth - His preaching in Judea. Moreover, in the first three Gospels there are indirect indications that Jesus often visited

Jerusalem: for example, close friendship with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, which suggests that Jesus repeatedly visited them; secret friendship with Joseph of Arimathea. And above all, Jesus' utterance in Mat. 23, 37 that He many times wanted to gather the children of Jerusalem, like a bird gathers her chicks under her wings, but they did not want to. Jesus would not have said this if he had not repeatedly addressed the people of Jerusalem, meeting only a cold misunderstanding. This explains the case of the donkey. Jesus did not give up hope until the last moment. He knew what he was going for, and had already negotiated everything with friends in advance: He sent His disciples with a password: "The Lord needs him." No, Jesus did not recklessly make this decision. His whole life was built on this. Bethphage and Bethany are villages near Jerusalem.

It may very well be that Bethphage means the house of figs, and Bethany means the house of dates. They must have been very close, because we know from the Jewish law that Bethphage lay within the Sabbath route from Jerusalem, that is, about one kilometer, and Bethany was one of the recognized places for pilgrims to spend the night during Passover, when Jerusalem was overcrowded. ... The prophets of Israel had an expressive way of communicating their messages to the people: when people refused to listen to them, they took some dramatic step, as if declaring: "If you do not want to listen, you must make you see" (see in particular 3 Tsar. 11, 30-32). We would call these dramatic actions a dramatized warning or a dramatized teaching. And this is the manner Jesus resorts to here. His words and actions, asserting his rights, a declaration that He is the Messiah. But it is necessary to carefully and correctly mark His actions. There are sayings of the prophet Zechariah (Zach. 9, 9): "Rejoice with joy, daughter of Zion, triumph, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes to You, righteous and saving, meek, sitting on a donkey and on a young donkey." The emphasis was on the fact that The king is coming to the world. In Palestine, the donkey did not enjoy such contempt; on the contrary, it was considered a noble animal. The king went to war on horseback, in peacetime he rode on a donkey.

Chesterton has a poem that says on behalf of a talking donkey:

When the fish flew and the forests walked,

And the figs grew on the thorns,

The moment the moon was blood

Then I was born.

With a monstrous head and a hideous cry

And with ears like wings that have grown out of place,

A wandering parody of the devil

Of all the four-legged.

A ragged outcast of the earth

Possessing a perverse will;

Starve me, whip me, I'm dumb

I still keep my secret.

Fools! After all, I also had my finest hour,

Terribly fierce and sweet

There was a scream in my ears

And under my feet were palm branches.

This is an amazing poem. Nowadays, everyone only despises donkeys, but in the time of Jesus it was a royal animal. But we still have to pay attention what royal title Jesus claimed. He came meek and humble, He came in peace and for the sake of peace. The people greeted Him as the Son of David, but they did not understand anything. It was at that time that Jewish poems were written Psalms of Solomon. In it, the image of the Son of David is given the way his people then imagined and what they expected. Here is its description.

"Behold, O Lord, raise up for them their king, the son of David,

When, Lord, You will see that he can reign over Israel, Your slave.

And clothe him with power, that he might shake unrighteous rulers,

And so that he could cleanse Jerusalem of the peoples who trample on her with destruction.

May he wisely and justly deprive sinners of their inheritance,

He will crush the pride of sinners like an earthen vessel,

He will smash them with an iron rod.

He will destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth.

At his words the peoples will flee from him,

And he will reproach sinners for the thoughts of their hearts ...

All nations will fear him

For he will destroy the earth forever with the word of his mouth "

(Psalms of Solomon 17, 21-25. 39).

These are the ideas that people fed their hearts. They were waiting for a king who would crush and break. Jesus knew this, but He appeared to all humble and submissive, riding a donkey.

Having rode into Jerusalem that day on horseback, Jesus claimed his right to be the King of the world. His actions were contrary to everything that people hoped for and what they expected.

HERE HE COMING (Mark 11: 7-10)

No one has ever ridden this young donkey, and it had to be so, because an animal that had ever been used for other purposes could not be used for sacred rites. So it was with the red heifer (Num. 19, 2; Deut. 21, 3). The whole picture shows us that the people misunderstood the meaning of what was happening. Before us are the masses who understood the Kingdom of God as a victory over the pagans, of which they had dreamed for so long. All this is strangely reminiscent of the entry of Simon Maccabee in one hundred and fifty years into Jerusalem after the defeat of Israel's enemies. "And he entered into it on the twenty-third day of the second month of the one hundred and seventy-first year with hymns, palm branches, harp, cymbals and harps, with psalms and songs, for the great enemy of Israel is crushed" (2 Mack. 13, 51). They wanted to meet Jesus as a conqueror, but they never understood what kind of victory He wanted. The very screams that the crowd raised to Jesus show their way of thinking. They spread their garments before Him on the ground, as the crowd did when Jehu was anointed to reign. (4 Tsar. 9, 13): "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" This is a quote from Ps. 117, 26. In connection with these cries, three points should be noted.

1. With this greeting, pilgrims were usually greeted when they reached the temple, gathering for a big feast.

2. "Coming One" is another title for the Messiah. When speaking of the Messiah, the Jews always spoke of The coming.

3. But the main meaning of these words becomes clear only in connection with the history of the origin of the said Psalm. In 167 B.C. the Syrian throne was taken by a king named Antiochus. He considered it his duty to become a Hellenistic missionary and to introduce everywhere the Greek way of life, Greek spiritual culture and Greek religion, even if this required the use of force. He tried to do the same in Palestine.

For a while, he conquered Palestine. It has become a crime to have a copy of the law at home or to circumcise a son; this was punishable by death. Antiochus desecrated the doors of the temple, introduced divine services to Zeus where previously Jehovah's services had been performed, openly insulted the Jews by making sacrifices on the large altar of burnt offerings. In the premises around the temple, he set up brothels. He literally did everything to destroy the Jewish faith. It was then that Judas Maccabee appeared, who expelled in 163 BC. after a series of brilliant victories, Antiochus of Palestine. He cleansed and rededicated the temple, an event still celebrated today as the Feast of Renewal, or Hanukkah. And, in all likelihood, Ps... 117 was written to perpetuate the memory of the great day of purification (renewal) and the victory won by Judas Maccabee. This is a conqueror's psalm.

This episode shows that Jesus repeatedly declared His right to be the Messiah, and at the same time tried to show people that they had the wrong impression of the Messiah. But people didn't see it. Their greetings were not intended for the King of love, but for the conqueror who would defeat Israel's enemies.

In Art. 9 and 10 the word is used Hosanna. This word is always misunderstood. It is quoted and used as if it meant praise, but this is just transliteration - an introduction to the Russian language - save the Jewish! This word occurs in the same form in 2 Tsar. 14, 4 and 4 Tsar. 6, 26, where it is used by people seeking help and protection from the king. Screaming Hosanna people did not praise Jesus, as it often sounds when he is quoted; it was a call to God to intervene in the course of history and save His people, now that the Messiah has come. Nowhere else is Jesus' boldness more evident than in this episode. One might expect that under the current circumstances Jesus would try to secretly enter Jerusalem and hide there from the authorities who intended to kill Him, but instead He entered Jerusalem in such a way that everyone's attention was riveted to Him. It is rather risky to approach people with the words that their long-standing ideas are wrong. A person who tries to uproot the national dream of an entire people is in danger. But this is precisely what Jesus deliberately does here. We see Jesus for the last time addressing the Jews in love with a boldness bordering on heroism.

QUIET BEFORE THE STORM (Mark 11.11)

This simple verse reveals two characteristics of Jesus.

1. We see Jesus purposefully summarize what he had done. Throughout these last days, Jesus has acted with extraordinary purpose. No, He did not rush recklessly into uncharted danger. He did everything with a good awareness of the situation. Looking around, He, like a commander, assessed the strength of the enemy and His strength, preparing for a decisive battle.

2. We see here where Jesus drew His strength from: He returned to the quiet village of Bethany. Before entering the battle with people, He sought intimacy with God. And only because he met God every day, He could boldly look people in the face.

From this passage we learn something about the twelve: they were with Him; they must have already quite clearly realized that Jesus was going to certain destruction, as it must have seemed to them - seeking death. Sometimes we criticize His disciples for not being faithful enough to Him in the last days. But the fact that they were with Him at that moment speaks in their favor; although they understood very little of what was happening, they were close to Him.

FRUITLESS FLUID TANK (Mark 11.12-14.20.21)

Although Mark's story of the fig tree is split in two, we take the whole story. One part of the story took place on the morning of one day, and the second - on the morning of the next day, and chronologically, between these two episodes, the cleansing of the temple took place. But in order to understand the meaning of history, it must be considered in its entirety.

Without a doubt, this is the most difficult story in the entire Gospel. Literal understanding of it causes almost insurmountable difficulties.

The story is difficult to understand.

One gets the impression that this whole story has nothing to do with Jesus. What can we say about this? If this story is understood as something that really took place, then we must consider it as dramatized criticism, as one of those prophetic symbolic and dramatic acts - in which case it can be considered that two things are condemned in it.

1. Condemned promises not followed by fulfillment. The leaves on the trees might be mistaken for promises of fruit, but there was no fruit on the tree. And first of all, this is the condemnation of the people of Israel, whose whole history was a preparation for the coming of the Chosen One of God. Throughout history, Israel has promised that when the Chosen One comes, they will be glad to receive Him. But when He came, that promise remained unfulfilled. There are many stories in literature about people whose life consists of three parts. In their youth, they say about them: "He has good inclinations, he will definitely achieve Something." When he grows up and does nothing, they say about him: "If he wanted, he would have achieved something." And about old people they say: "If he wanted, he could achieve something." The whole life of such a person is a story about a promise that was never fulfilled. If we consider the case presented here as a dramatized criticism, then it should be seen in it a condemnation of unfulfilled promises.

2. This is condemnation a religion not backed up by action. All this can be understood to mean that the tree with its branches claims to be what it is not. Throughout the entire New Testament, a common thread runs the thought that a person can be recognized only by the fruits of his life. "You will know them by their fruits" (Mat. 7, 16). "Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance" (Onion. 3, 8). "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Mat. 7, 21). If religion didn’t make a person better and more useful, didn’t make his house happier, and didn’t make those people who communicate with him more pleasant and simpler, then he is not at all religious. A person cannot declare that he is a follower of Jesus Christ, and at the same time not at all resemble the Teacher, Whom he supposedly loves. If history is taken literally and interpreted as a dramatized parable, then its meaning should be as follows. But as pertinent as we might think these lessons are, they are still quite difficult to deduce from history itself, because it would be completely unreasonable to expect figs on a fig tree if there were still a good six weeks before they ripen.

But then what to say? In the Gospel of Luke, this incident is not given at all, but there is a parable about the barren fig tree. (Onion. 13, 6 - 9). And this parable ends very vaguely: the owner of the vineyard wanted to uproot the tree, and the gardener begged him to wait a little longer and give the tree one more opportunity. We settled on the following: if there are fruits on the fig tree, they will leave it, and if not, they will uproot it. Is it not possible that the case described in the passage we are considering is a continuation of the parable given by the Evangelist Luke? The people of Israel were given the opportunity, but there was no fruit, and now the time has come to uproot it. It has been suggested - and it is likely that there was a lonely stricken fig tree on the way from Bethany to Jerusalem. Apparently Jesus told His disciples: "Remember the parable of the barren fig tree that I told you? Israel is still barren and it will wither, like this tree." It may well be that people began to associate this lonely tree with Jesus' statements about the fate of sterility, and so the whole story arose.

Let each reader understand this story as he wants, but it seems to us that a literal understanding of it would cause insurmountable difficulties. It also seems to us that this story has something to do with the parable of the barren tree. But in any case, a lesson can be learned from it: uselessness entails death.

THE WRATH OF JESUS ​​(Mark 11,15-19)

We can better imagine all this if we have a good idea of ​​the location of the temple and its courtyards. There are two closely related words used in the New Testament: chieron, What means holy place, sanctuary and neos, which means the actual temple. Holy place spread over the entire territory of the temple. The territory of the temple covered the entire summit of Mount Zion and was approximately twelve hectares. It was surrounded by a high wall, from 300 to 400 m long, with different heights on each side. In front of the temple there was a large the courtyard of the pagans, into which everyone could enter, be they Jew or Gentile. A low wall ran along the inner edge of the courtyard of the pagans, into which tablets were embedded, warning that the death penalty threatened the pagan for the crime of this trait. The next courtyard was called the women's courtyard. It was called so because only a woman who wanted to make a sacrifice could go further. Next came courtyard of the Israelites. The whole church community gathered in it on great holidays, and from here people handed over to the priests the animals brought and brought for sacrifice. In the very center was the courtyard of the priests. The temple itself, naos, stood in the courtyard of the priests. And the whole territory with all the courtyards was a holy place or a sanctuary, chieron, and the building itself in the courtyard of the priests is a temple naos.

The episode described took place in the courtyard of the pagans. Little by little, the pagan court acquired an almost exclusively secular character. It was conceived as a place of prayer and preparation, but during the time of Jesus it was dominated by a buying and selling atmosphere that made prayer and meditation impossible. But even worse was the fact that this trade was a pure collection of pilgrims. Every Jew had to pay a temple tax a year of half a shekel, about two days' wages of a day laborer. And this tax had to be paid in a special coin. For everyday purposes, Greek, Roman, Syrian, Egyptian, Phoenician and Tyrian coins were used, and this tax had to be paid with the temple shekel during the Passover period. At Easter, Jews came to Jerusalem from all over the world of that time with all kinds of coins. When exchanging their money for the temple floor of a shekel, they had to pay a commission to the money changer in the amount of 1/12 of a shekel, and if their coin exceeded the amount of tax and they were entitled to change, they had to pay an additional 1/12 of a shekel. So most of the pilgrims paid that 1/6 of a shekel in addition to the tax of 1/12 of a shekel, that is, another half of the day's wages, which meant a lot to most. As for the pigeon sellers, the pigeons were part of the sacrifice system. (A lion. 12, 8; 14, 22; 15, 14). The animal for the sacrifice had to be without blemishes. Pigeons could be bought quite cheaply in the city, but the temple overseers would have found defects in them, and therefore the worshipers were recommended to buy them in the shops in the temple, although the price was about 20 times higher than their cost in the city. Everything looked like pure deception, but, to make matters even worse, all this buying and selling was concentrated in the hands of the family of the high priest Anna. The Jews themselves have long seen this abuse. The Talmud says that Rabbi Simon ben Gamaliel, having heard that a pair of doves in the temple was worth gold, demanded that the price be reduced to a silver coin. It was the sight of poor pilgrims being deceived that sparked the wrath of Jesus. A prominent scientist of the 18th century, Lagrange, who knew the East well, said that exactly the same system existed in Mecca. A pilgrim seeking the closeness of God finds himself in the midst of noise and hubbub, where the traders have one aspiration - to get as much as possible, and where the pilgrims fight them off and swear just as fiercely. Jesus used a very vivid metaphor to describe the temple courts. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious for the robbers. This narrow and winding road passed through mountain gorges. There were many caves in the mountains where robbers awaited the travelers, and Jesus said: "In the temple courts, robbers are more terrible than those on the road to Jericho."

From Art. 16 shows that Jesus did not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. The fact is that through the courtyards of the temple it was possible to walk directly from the eastern part of the city to the Mount of Olives. In the already mentioned collection of Mishna laws, it was written: "No one should enter the temple mountain with things or in sandals, or with a knapsack, or with a bag, or with dust on their feet, or go through it to shorten the road. " Jesus reminded the Jews of their own laws: by this time, the Jews had so little thought about the sanctity of the outer courtyards of the temple that they used them as means of communication, running about their business. Jesus drew their attention to their own laws and quoted their own prophets to them. (Isa. 56: 7 and Jer. 1:11). What caused Jesus to be so angry?

1. He was angry that pilgrims were robbed. Temple officials viewed them not as believers, or simply human beings, but as means to fulfill their goals and gain benefits. The exploitation of man by man always arouses the wrath of God, and even doubly if it is carried out under the guise of religion.

2. He was angry at the desecration of the holy place of God. People have lost the sense of the presence of God in the house of God; turning the shrine into a source of profit, they desecrated it.

3. Was Jesus' anger even greater? He quoted Is. 56, 7: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples ". And, nevertheless, in that very house there was a wall, the crime for which was punishable by death for the pagans. It may well be that the anger of Jesus was caused exclusively by the Jewish nature of the worship, and He wanted to remind the Jews that God does not love them, but peace.

Commentary on Mar 11, 20-21 look in Mar 11, 12-14.

RULES FOR PRAYER (Mark 11,22-26)

Let us now return to the phrase that Mark associates with the story of the cursed fig tree. More than once we have paid attention to how firmly the utterances of Jesus settled in the minds of people, even if they forgot the connection in which He pronounced them. And here we have the same case. The statement about faith that moves mountains out of place is also given in Mat. 17, 20 and c Onion. 17, 6, but in each Gospel it is presented in a different context. The point is that Jesus said it more than once, and the reason why He said it was forgotten. The statement about the need to forgive our fellow man is given in Mat. 6, 12 and 14 in a completely different context. These sayings should be viewed not so much in relation to specific events as they are general rules that Jesus repeated many times.

In this passage we find three guidelines for how to pray.

1. One must pray in faith. The phrase about the shifting of mountains was at that time a typical phrase with the meaning eliminate difficulties. In particular, it was used to characterize wise teachers; a good teacher who could eliminate the difficulties that arose in the minds of his students was called moving mountains. One person who heard the teachings of the famous rabbi stated that “he saw Resh Lachish, who, as it were, rearranged mountains. " And therefore this phrase means: if we really believe, prayer will give us strength that is able to cope with any difficulty. This sounds very simple, but it points to two points. First, it indicates that we are ready to turn to God with our problems and difficulties. This, in itself, is a serious test. Sometimes the whole point is that we want to get what we shouldn't want at all, that we want to find a way to do something that we should never lay our hands on and that should not occupy our minds. One of the most important tests to be subjected to all your problems is to ask yourself: "Can I turn to God with this problem and can I ask Him for help in this?"

And second, it presupposes that we will be ready to receive God's guiding hand if He gives it to us. People most often seek help when they only need approval of a decision they have already made and a course of action. It makes no sense to turn to God and ask Him for help and guidance if we are not ready to obediently accept them. But if we turn our problems to God and if we are obedient enough and courageous enough to accept His instructions, we will gain strength to help us overcome physical and spiritual difficulties.

2. One should pray in hope and expectation. It is common knowledge that anything done in the firm hope of success has twice the chance. A patient who, turning to a doctor, does not believe in the validity of the prescribed medicine, has less chance of recovery than someone who is sure that the doctor can cure him. One should never pray just for the sake of form; prayer should not become an empty ritual.

In Leonard Merrick's book "Konrad in Search of His Youth" there is this episode: "Do you think prayer is always fulfilled?" Konrad asked. "During my life, I have raised many prayers, and each time I tried to convince myself that the previous prayer was fulfilled. But I knew in the depths of my heart that not one was fulfilled. Yes, I got what I wanted, but - I I say this with all reverence - it's too late ... "Mr. Irketson's thin graceful hand slid over his forehead. “Once,” he began confidentially, “I was walking down the street with a friend. It was in the spring, when tenants suddenly wanted to paint their houses, and we came up to a stepladder leaning against the wall of the House to be painted. My friend, going to the edge of this stairs, raised his hat in front of her. You must know this superstition. He was a university graduate, quite educated man. I said, "Is it possible for you to believe this nonsense?" He replied, "N-no. , I, in fact, do not believe in her, but I never miss a chance to ignore her completely. "Suddenly the voice of the parish priest changed, he spoke solemnly, excitedly, sincerely." I think that many people pray according to the principle of my friend - they do not believe it, but they never miss a chance. "There is a lot of truth in this. For many people, prayer is just a religious rite or a very faint hope. And prayer should be a passionate expectation. Maybe the whole problem is what we expect from God of confirmation our answer and therefore we do not recognize His answer when it comes to us.

3. It should be a prayer of mercy. The prayer of a bitter person cannot penetrate the wall of his enmity. Why? When we turn to God, we need to establish a connection between people who have nothing in common with each other. God builds everything on love because He there is love. If a person builds everything on bitterness and hostility, he builds a wall between himself and God. To receive an answer to his prayer, such a person must first ask God to cleanse his heart of the spirit of hostility and put the spirit of love into it. Only then can he turn to God, and God can answer him.

A WRONG QUESTION AND A DEADLY ANSWER (Mark 11,27-33)

Among the holy courtyards of the temple were two famous covered arcades. One was located on the east, the other on the south side of the courtyard of the Gentiles. On the eastern side of the courtyard was the Solomon's porch: a majestic arcade formed by Corinthian columns over 10 meters high. On the southern side of the courtyard there was an even more majestic arcade - the royal portico formed by four rows of white marble columns 2 meters in diameter and 10 meters high; there were 162 columns in total. The rabbis used to walk under these pillars and teach. Such arcades were in most of the large cities of antiquity. They sheltered from the sun, wind and rain, and there, in fact, developed most of the religious and philosophical teachings of antiquity. One of the most famous philosophical schools of antiquity is the Stoic school. It got its name from Standing Poikile - Painted Portico in Athens, in which Zeno, its founder, taught while pacing. Word standing up means portico, or arcade, and the Stoics were the school of the portico. It was in these arcades in the temple that Jesus walked and taught.

And so a group of selected high priests and scholars of law, that is, scribes, rabbis and elders, approached Him; they were actually sent from the Sanhedrin, which consisted of these three groups, and they asked Jesus the most normal question. A common man could have been amazed at the actions of Jesus - to cleanse the Court of the Gentiles from habitual and even officially recognized merchants. And so the Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus: "By what power are you doing this?" They hoped to present Jesus with a dilemma: if He said that He was acting in His power, they could arrest Him as a megalomaniac so that He would not do any more harm. In general, they could have arrested Him, and if He had said that He was doing it by the power of God, accusing Him of blasphemy and referring to the fact that God would never give anyone the power to disturb the peace and cause disorder in the courtyards of His house. Jesus clearly saw where they were going, and His answer presented them with an even worse dilemma. He said that he would answer their question if they would answer Him to one question: "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?" Sanhedrin representatives had to choose between two evils. They will say that the baptism of John was divinely ordained, they should have expected another question from Jesus: why did they then oppose him. But if they had said that the baptism of John was ordained by God, Jesus would have reminded them that John was pointing people to Him, and therefore, He already has heavenly recognition and does not need any other authority. If these members of the Sanhedrin recognized the divinity of John's work, they would have to acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah. However, they understood that if they said that John's activity was purely human, then now, when John was also recognized by everyone as a martyr, their words could cause rebellion. And so they were forced to declare that they did not know and to give Jesus the opportunity not to answer their question. The whole story is a vivid illustration of what happens to people who refuse to see the truth. They are forced to dodge and deceive and, in the end, find themselves in a desperate situation. Those who do not recognize the truth will only sink deeper and deeper into a hopeless situation.

Comments (introduction) to the entire book "From Mark"

Comments on Chapter 11

"There is a freshness and strength in the Gospel of Mark that captures the Christian reader and makes him want to serve in some way after the example of his blessed Lord."(August Wang Rin)

Introduction

I. SPECIAL POSITION IN CANON

Since the Gospel of Mark is the shortest, and about ninety percent of its material is also found in Matthew and Luke, or both, what is his contribution that we cannot do without?

Above all, Mark's concise style and journalistic simplicity make his gospel the perfect introduction to the Christian faith. In new missionary fields, Mark is often the first to be translated into national languages.

However, not only the clear, lively style, especially acceptable to the Romans and their modern allies, but also the content of the Gospel of Mark makes it unique.

Mark mainly deals with the same events as Matthew and Luke, adding to them a few unique ones, but he still has racy details that others lack. For example, he draws attention to the way Jesus looked at the disciples, how angry He was, and how He walked ahead of them on the road to Jerusalem. These details he has, undoubtedly, from Peter, with whom he was together at the end of the latter's life. Tradition says, and probably so it is, that the Gospel of Mark is, in fact, the memories of Peter. This was reflected in the personal details, plot development, and the apparent authenticity of the book. It is generally accepted that Mark was the young man who escaped naked (14.51), and that this is his humble signature on the book. (The titles of the Gospels were not originally part of the books themselves.) Tradition is obviously true, since John-Mark lived in Jerusalem; and if he had not been in any way connected with the gospel, there would be no reason for this little episode.

External evidence of his authorship is early, quite weighty and from different parts of the empire. Papias (circa 110 CE) quotes John the Elder (probably the Apostle John, although another first disciple is not excluded), who pointed out that this Gospel was written by Mark, Peter's collaborator. This is where Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and the Prologue of the Antimark agree.

The author obviously knew Palestine well, and especially Jerusalem. (The story of the upper room is marked with more details than in other Gospels. It is not surprising if the events took place in his childhood home!) The Gospel indicates the Aramaic setting (the language of Palestine), an understanding of customs, and the presentation suggests a close connection with an eyewitness of the events. The content of the book corresponds to the plan of Peter's sermon in the 10th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.

The tradition that Mark wrote the Gospel in Rome is confirmed by the use of more Latin words than others (such as centurion, census, legion, denarius, praetorium).

Ten times in NT the pagan (Latin) name of our author - Mark is mentioned, and three times - the combined Hebrew-pagan name John-Mark.

Mark - a servant or helper: first Paul, then his cousin Barnabas and, according to reliable tradition, Peter until his death - was the ideal person to write the Gospel of the Perfect Servant.

III. TIME OF WRITING

The timing of the writing of the Gospel of Mark is discussed even by conservative Bible-believing scholars. It is impossible to determine the exact date, but the time is still indicated - before the destruction of Jerusalem.

Tradition is divided in the opinion of whether Mark wrote down Peter's sermon about the life of our Lord before the death of the Apostle (before 64-68) or after his departure.

In particular, if the Gospel of Mark is the first recorded gospel, as most scholars claim today, then an earlier date of writing is necessary in order for Luke to use Mark's material.

Some scholars date the Gospel of Mark to the early 1950s, but dating from the 57th to the 60s seems more likely.

IV. PURPOSE OF WRITING AND THEME

This Gospel presents the amazing story of God's Perfect Servant, our Lord Jesus Christ; the story of the One Who gave up the outward splendor of His glory in heaven and took the form of a slave on earth (Phil. 2: 7). This is an unprecedented story about the One who "... did not come to be served, but to serve and give His soul for the ransom of many" (Mark 10:45).

If we remember that this Perfect Servant was none other than God the Son, Who voluntarily girded himself with the clothes of a slave and became a Servant to people, then the Gospel will shine for us with eternal radiance. Here we see the incarnate Son of God who lived on earth as a dependent Man.

Everything He did was in perfect harmony with the will of His Father, and all His mighty deeds were performed in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mark's style is fast, energetic and concise. He pays more attention to the works of the Lord than to His words; this is confirmed by the fact that he gives nineteen miracles and only four parables.

As we study this gospel, we will strive to find answers to three questions:

1. What does it say?

2. What does it mean?

3. What lesson is there for me?

For all who wish to be true and faithful servants of the Lord, this gospel should be a valuable ministry textbook.

Plan

I. TRAINING OF THE SERVANT (1,1-13)

II. EARLY SERVANT SERVICE IN GALILEE (1.14 - 3.12)

III. CALLING AND TRAINING SERVANT STUDENTS (3.13 - 8.38)

IV. A SERVANT'S TRAVEL TO JERUSALEM (Ch. 9-10)

V. THE SERVANT SERVICE IN JERUSALEM (Ch. 11 - 12)

Vi. SPEECH OF THE SERVANT ON THE MOUNTAIN OF ELONES (Ch. 13)

Vii. SUFFERING AND DEATH OF A SERVANT (Ch. 14 - 15)

VIII. THE SERVANT'S VICTORY (Ch. 16)

V. THE SERVANT SERVICE IN JERUSALEM (Ch. 11 - 12)

A. Triumphal entrance (11,1-11)

11,1-3 The story of the last week begins. Jesus stopped on the east slope Mount of Olives, near Wyffagia("home of immature figs") and Bethany("home of the poor, humble, oppressed").

The time had come when Jesus was to openly appear before the Jewish people as their Messiah King. He was to do this, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah (9.9), riding a young donkey. So He sends two of his disciples from Bethany to Bethphage. With perfect knowledge and full authority, He told them to find the attached young donkey, on which none of the people sat down, and lead to Him.

If someone stops them, then they should be told that the Lord needs it. The omniscience of the Lord, revealed here, prompted one person to the following statement: "This is not the Christ of modernity, but of history and heaven."

11,4-6 Everything happened as Jesus predicted. Students found a young donkey at the gate on the street of the village. When asked why they untie the animal, the disciples replied that this was what Jesus ordered to do. Then people let them go.

11,7-8 Although they had never sat on a young donkey before, he did not resist when he took his Creator to Jerusalem. The Lord drove into town on a plank of clothes and palm branches to the cries of the people that rang in His ears. For at least one moment, He was recognized as King.

11,9-10 People exclaimed:

1. "Hosanna"- the word originally meant "save, we beg," but then it became an exclamation of praise. Perhaps people meant: "We beg, save from the Roman oppressors!"

2. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"- a clear recognition that Jesus was the promised Messiah (Psalm 117: 26).

3. "Blessed is the kingdom of our father David, coming in the name of the Lord!"- they thought that the time of the establishment of the Kingdom was approaching and Christ would sit on the throne of David.

4. "Hosanna in the highest!"- a call to glorify the Lord in higher heaven or show salvation with higher heaven.

11,11 Jesus entered Jerusalem, and then to the temple- not in the Sanctuary, but in the courtyard of the temple. It was generally accepted that this is the house of God. But in this temple He was not at home, because the priests and the people refused to give Him a rightful place. That's why, having examined all fluently, Savior with twelve students retired to Bethany... It was Sunday evening.

B. Barren Fig Tree (11,12-14)

This event served as an interpretation of the noisy reception given to the Savior in Jerusalem. Jesus saw the people of Israel as barren fig tree,- he had the leaves of the confession of faith, but not the fruit. Shout "Hosanna!" will soon be replaced by the cry of "Crucify Him!"

There is an apparent difficulty in understanding this passage. Jesus cursed the fig tree for not bearing fruit, although the narrative clearly states that more not it has arrived picking time for figs. The Savior seems to have acted recklessly and impatiently. But we know that this is not the case. Then how can we explain this curious circumstance?

In biblical land, fig trees produced edible early fruits before the leaves emerged. They were the harbingers of the usual harvest, which is here described as picking time for figs. If early figs did not appear, it was a sign that there would be no regular harvest later. When Jesus came to the people of Israel, He saw the leaves that speak of their confession, but did not find fruit for God. It was a promise without fulfillment, a confession without true reality. Jesus longed for the fruit of this people. But since the early fruit was missing, He knew that there would be no later fruit from this unbelieving people, and so He cursed the fig tree. This is an omen of the condemnation that will fall on Israel in 70 CE.

However, this does not mean that Israel is condemned to eternal sterility. The Jewish people were left for a time, when Christ returns to reign, the people will be reborn and will regain the favor of God.

This is the only miracle when Christ cursed, not blessed, destroyed life, not restored it. This is puzzling. However, the objections here are unfounded. The Creator has the sovereign right to destroy an inanimate object in order to teach an important spiritual lesson and thereby save people from eternal destruction. Although the interpretation of this passage is mainly related to Israel, it applies to people of all ages who combine exalted speech and immoral life.

C. Servant Cleansing the Temple (11,15-19)

11,15-16 Starting His public ministry, Jesus expelled the merchants from the temple (John 2: 13-22). Now, as His ministry drew to a close, He entered the courtyard again. temple and expelled those who profited from the rites. He doesn't even allowed to carry any things through the temple.

11,17 By combining quotes from Isaiah and Jeremiah, He branded desecration, exclusivity, and the spirit of commerce.

God provided that the temple would be a house of prayer for all nations(Isa. 56.7), not just for Israel. They also turned it into a religious marketplace, a place for concluding dark deals and fraud (Jer. 7:11).

11,18 His accusations deeply hurt scribes and high priests. They wanted destroy Him, but they could not do it openly, because the common people looked at Jesus with awe.

11,19 In the evening He went out of the city. The verb tense of the original language indicates that this was His custom, possibly for security reasons. He was not afraid for Himself. We must remember that His ministry also included the care of the sheep, that is, His disciples (John 17: 6-19). Moreover, it would be absurd for Him to surrender to the will of enemies before a certain time.

D. The Lesson of the Barren Fig Tree (11.20-26)

11,20-23 The morning after Jesus cursed the fig tree, the disciples passed by it on their way to Jerusalem. Fig tree dried up to the root. When Peter pointed this out to the Lord, He simply said: "Have the faith of God." But how are these words related to the fig tree? The verses that follow show that Jesus called to faith as a means of removing difficulties. If students have the faith of God, then they can deal with the problem of infertility and remove an obstacle the size of a mountain.

However, these verses do not give a person the right to pray for miraculous power to fulfill their ambitions or personal comforts. Every step of faith must rest on the promise of God.

If we know that it is God's will to eliminate a certain difficulty, then we can pray with full confidence that it will be done. In fact, we can pray in faith when we are confident that our desire is in harmony with God's will as revealed in the Bible, or when we have received the inner testimony of the Spirit.

11,24 If we truly live our lives in close fellowship with the Lord and pray in the Spirit, then we can have confidence in the answer to prayer even before we receive an answer.

11,25-26 However, one of the main conditions for receiving an answer to prayer is a spirit of forgiveness. If we cherish irritability and a desire to take revenge on others, then we cannot expect that God will hear us and answer.

We should forgive, to be forgiven. This does not apply to the legal forgiveness of sins at the time of conversion: it occurs solely by grace through faith. Here we are talking about the fact that God in a fatherly way decides matters with His children. The spirit of unforgiveness breaks the believer's relationship with the Heavenly Father and obstructs the flow of blessings.

E. The question of the power of the Servant (11,27-33)

11,27-28 As soon as Jesus approached temple, He was approached by religious leaders and questioned His authority by asking two questions: (1) "By what authority do you do this?"(2) "And who gave you the authority to do this?"(that is, to cleanse the temple, curse the fig tree and enter Jerusalem in triumph). They hoped to trap Him no matter how He answered. If He had claimed to have authority in Himself as the Son of God, they would have accused Him of blasphemy. If He said He was empowered by people, they would discredit Him. If He had said that He had received authority from God, they would have challenged this claim; they viewed themselves as the God-appointed religious leaders of the people.

11,29-32 But Jesus answered a question with a question. Was John the Baptist empowered by God or not? (Under baptism by John his entire ministry is implied.)

This question confused them. If John's ministry was from heaven, then they should have responded to his call to repentance. And if they risked belittling John's ministry, they would have provoked the wrath of the common people, who believed John God's herald.

11,33 When they refused to answer, citing ignorance, the Lord refused to discuss His authority with them. Since they did not want to recognize the authority of the Forerunner, they would hardly recognize the even higher authority of the Tsar Himself!

. When they approached Jerusalem, Bethphage and Bethany, and the Mount of Olives, Jesus sends two of his disciples

. and he says to them: go to the village that is right in front of you; entering it, you will immediately find a young donkey tied up, on which none of the people sat; untied it, bring it.

. And if someone tells you: why are you doing this? - answer that the Lord needs it; and at once will send him here.

. They went and found a young donkey tied at the gate in the street and untied him.

. And some of those who stood there said to them: What are you doing? why untie the colt?

. They answered them as Jesus commanded; and they let them go.

Jesus often came to Jerusalem at other times, but never with such glory as now. Previously, because of the envy of the Jews, He hid, but now, since a certain time of suffering has come by Himself, He walks openly, so that, if they wish, they may understand His glory and through the fulfillment of prophecies on Him would know the truth. And if they do not wish to comprehend, then this circumstance should serve to a greater condemnation of them, as those who did not believe even after such glorious miracles. For, look, how many signs are here! The Lord told the disciples that they would find a young donkey; said that they would be rebuked, and then, when the disciples say that the Lord requires him, they will allow (to take). For it is also important that the apostles were allowed to take the colt away; this could not have happened if the power of God had not acted on its owners, stirring up the release of the colt; they were poor people and workers. And you need to know that the Lord did not do this in vain, for before He did not require a colt, but on foot walked around Galilee and Judea many times, but He showed through this that he would prevail pagan peoples, disobedient and unscientific, like donkeys: they were tied by their sins " on the street, "that is, in this life," at the gates, "that is, outside the Church. But the disciples resolved them by means of baptism and faith, and they lifted their Lord on their shoulders, and the apostles put their robes on them, that is, all the true rules of virtue. Previously, the pagans, being naked, were ugly and did lawless deeds, but from the time they were led (to Christ) by the apostles, they learned to walk with decency, therefore Christ will be lifted up by them. Who were the owners of the colt, who forbade the apostles to take it? Demons, no doubt. However, the apostles were stronger than them.

. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their clothes on him; Jesus sat on it.

. Many spread their clothes on the way; while others cut branches from trees and spread them along the way.

. And those who preceded and followed exclaimed: Hosanna! blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

As long as the common people are unspoiled, they learn useful things. That is why they now honor Jesus, each according to his own strength. But what did they say when they glorified Him? They borrowed the real song from David, but the word "Hosanna", according to some, means "salvation", and according to others - "song". But the first opinion is better, for in the one hundred and seventeenth psalm it says: "Oh, Lord, save me" and Hosanna is written in Hebrew. They called the Kingdom of Christ the “Kingdom of David”, firstly, because Christ came from the seed of David, and secondly, because David means a strong hand. And who else is so strong in hand as the Lord, whose hands have done such wondrous deeds? But let us also put our clothes on the bed, that is, our flesh, for the flesh is the clothes of the soul, we will submit it to the Lord. We will lighten the path of our life, cutting off branches from trees, that is, imitating the lives of the saints. For the saints are like trees from which he who imitates their virtues cuts off the branches. But our deeds, both previous and subsequent, may be for the glory of God. For some have shown a good beginning in a previous life; and on the contrary, their subsequent life was not like that and did not serve to the glory of God.

. And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple; and having examined everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with twelve.

. The next day, when they left Bethany, He was hungry;

. And seeing from afar a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it; but when he came to her, he found nothing but leaves, for the time was not yet gathering fig.

. And Jesus said to her: From now on, let no one eat fruit of you for ever! And his disciples heard it.

Jesus entered the temple and soon left it again, showing through this that He was already leaving it to desolation and plunder. He goes to Bethany, which means a house of obedience, for, leaving the disobedient and hard-hearted, now he goes with his disciples to those obedient to Him. But let us also consider the story of the fig tree, for there appears to be something strange and cruel. First, Jesus was hungry early; secondly, He demands fruit when the time for figs has not yet come, and also that which punishes the insensible tree. For in what He says and does here, there was a special look. Until now, Jesus often worked miracles, but only for the benefit of people. But the disciples had not yet seen Him do evil to anyone. Now, in order to show the disciples that He can also execute, and that, if He wants, He can destroy those intending to crucify Him in one hour, He manifests His power over an insensible tree. And the miracle was truly great in that the tree, so juicy, suddenly withered; for the fig tree is juicier than almost all trees. And what He longs for early in the morning, it is He who allowed His flesh in a special way; and prematurely seeks fruit on the fig tree in order to show the disciples, as I said above, that He can also punish. And this fig tree was also an image of the Jewish synagogue, which had only leaves, that is, the Law, which delivered one shade, and they did not have fruit at all. But Jesus hunger for their salvation. He says: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me"(), and this will of God is to convert sinners. Since the synagogue had no fruit, it is cursed and withered, having no more prophets or teachers.

. Came to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those selling and buying in the temple; and overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those who sold doves;

. and did not allow anyone to carry any thing through the temple.

. And he taught them, saying: is it not written: "my house ... My house of prayer will be called for all nations" ()? and you made it a den of robbers.

Heard this is the scribes and chief priests, and sought how to destroy Him, for they were afraid of Him, because all the people were amazed at His teachings.

John also narrates about the expulsion of the money changers by Jesus, but he speaks about it at the beginning of the Gospel on the contrary, this (Mark) - towards the end. Therefore, one must think that this (last) exile was the second, which serves to a greater condemnation of the Jews, since they did not convert, despite the fact that the Lord repeatedly did this to them. He calls the temple "the den of robbers" because of the greed of the money changers. For the predatory family is devoted to robbery. And as the sellers in the temple traded in sacrificial animals for the sake of self-interest, they are called robbers. The "money changers" were engaged in the exchange of money. The Lord also introduces the prophet Isaiah as their accuser, who says: “My house is my house. prayers will be called "(). Let us pray that we too will not be expelled from the church! For many also go to our church in order to sell the good and buy the bad. There are also those who, arranging and managing church affairs, have tables full of money: they do everything out of self-interest. The seats of those selling doves are also overthrown, that is, the thrones of bishops who sell spiritual gifts, for the dove is the image of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord cast out such a saint from the hierarchy, for cursed is he who ordains for money. Likewise, the one who sells the grace and purity received in baptism to the devil sells his dove. For this he is expelled from the Church.

. When it got late, He went out of the city.

. In the morning, passing by, they saw that the fig tree had dried up to the roots.

. And, remembering, Peter says to him: Rabbi! look, the fig tree you cursed is withered.

. Jesus, answering, says to them:

. have the faith of God, for truly I say to you, if anyone says to this woe: rise up and plunge into the sea, and do not doubt in his heart, but believe that it will come true according to his words, whatever he says will be to him.

Although Matthew says that the fig tree immediately withered and that the disciples, seeing this, were amazed, however, do not be embarrassed when you hear now from Mark that they saw the withered fig tree the very next day. What Matthew said should be understood as follows: "And the fig tree immediately withered," - stop here; then read: "The disciples were surprised when they saw this." When did you see it? - not immediately, but the next day. He who understands this way will not meet any bewilderment. Notice how Christ is God here. For through the prophets the Lord says: "I ... dry up a green tree, and make a dry tree bloom"(). But marvel at God's love for mankind that even to us, who are likened to God through faith, he gives miraculous power that belongs to Him by nature, so that we can move mountains. The mountain is in the spiritual sense a proud mind, towering and stubborn. Therefore, whoever sees himself possessed by the passion of pride, trying to drive it out of himself, must seek the visitation and help of God. For he is proud who says that he does everything himself, and not with the help of God. Such a person should forbid this grief, that is, pride, and tell her: "Rise and plunge into the sea", that is, in worldly people, living in the sea of ​​this life, and unbelievers, but he himself should not "doubt", that is, let him not deviate from God. For the proud retreats from God, saying: I owe nothing to God and do not need His help.

. Therefore, I say to you: whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive, and it will be for you.

. And when you stand in prayer, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Heavenly Father may forgive you your sins.

. If you do not forgive, then your Heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins.

He who strongly believes, he directs his heart to God and, I will say in the words of David, pours out his soul before God, and whoever turns his soul to God, he unites with Him, and his heart, being warmed (by grace), makes sure that he will receive what is asked ... Whoever has experienced this will understand. And I think that everyone has experienced it, who are at least somewhat attentive. Therefore, the Lord says that you will receive everything that you ask with faith. God gives everything to the believer, when he, with tears, expresses all desires before Him in prayer and, as it were, holds on to the feet of the Lord. Do you want to receive what you asked for in another way? Forgive your brother if he has sinned in any way against you. You see how easy it is to receive God's gift!

In a rage that Christ had expelled the money changers from the temple, they come to Him with the question: "By what authority do you do this?" They seemed to be saying to Him with reproach: “Who are You, what are you doing? Have you been appointed a teacher? Has he been ordained a bishop? " They said this, trying to lead Him into difficulty, in order to catch Him. If He had said: "I do this by My power," then they would have stoned Him as an adversary, and if He had said: "(I do this) by the power of God," then they could distract the people from Him, since He recognized Himself as God. But the Lord offers them the question about John, not without reason and not with any kind of cunning. But since John testified about Him, He also asks the wicked Jews about John, so that if they recognize John as the messenger of God, they would be forced to accept John's testimony about Christ. And as they could not answer anything, then He, in order to humiliate them even more, says: "And I will not tell you"... He did not say: “I don’t know what to answer you,” but “I will not say either,” that is, since you are angry, I do not deign you to answer.

Vii. Jesus' ministry in and around Jerusalem (11: 1 - 13:37)

The fifth major section of the Gospel of Mark presents the ministry of Jesus in and around Jerusalem. In doing it, He accused the Jewish religious leaders of rejecting God's messengers, and now - the last of them: the Son of God. He warned that the judgment of God is impending on Jerusalem and all Israel.

The section describes the events of three or four days (11: 1-11 - Sunday; 11: 12-19 - Monday; 11:20 - 13:37 - Tuesday and probably Wednesday). Between 11:20 and 13:37 the exact time sequence is broken, which may indicate that Mark was presenting the material here thematically, not strictly chronologically (compare 2: 1 - 3: 6).

If so, then the task of the evangelist was to present here the "quintessence" of everything that Christ taught on Tuesday and Wednesday during Holy Week (compare 14:49). The story of Jesus' suffering begins with a "new point of reference" (14: 1). The chronological framework, which contains the described in 11: 1 - 16: 8, is formed by one week - from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

A. Solemn Entry into Jerusalem (11.1-11) (Matt. 21: 1-11; Luke 19: 28-44; John 12: 12-19)

Mark's description abounds in vivid detail.

Mar 11: 1a... About one kilometer southeast of Jerusalem was the village of Bethhagia (which means "the house of immature figs"), and at a distance of two and a half kilometers - Bethany ("the house of dates"); both villages were located on the eastern slope of the high Mount of Olives, more than 2 km long, where many olive trees grew (hence the name of the mountain).

In Bethany, which served the travelers on their way from Jerusalem to Jericho, the last stop on the deserted and unsafe road, was the house of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (John: 11: 1), in which Jesus always found shelter during His stay in Judea (Mark 11:11). There, in Bethany, was the house of Simon the Leper (14: 3-9).

Mar 11: 1b-3... Approaching Bethany, Jesus sent two of His disciples to the village that lay right in front of them (perhaps it is about Bethphage), saying that when they entered it, they would immediately find a young donkey tied up. They should have untied him and brought him to Jesus. When describing this episode, Matthew mentions that a donkey was next to the donkey (interpretation of Matt. 21: 2).

And if someone opposed them, asking why they were doing this, they had to answer that the Lord needed a colt, and the questioner would not hinder them - Jesus instructed his disciples. It should be noted here that the Greek word "kyrios" ("Lord") is also translated as "lord". But many theologians believe that Jesus is here talking about Himself, and not about the person to whom the colt belongs. According to some interpretations, the owner of a young donkey could lend it for a while to one of the neighbors, and the disciples were sent to them - to say that the master needed the donkey.

Mar 11: 4-6... By writing down how the "two" of Jesus' instructions were fulfilled, Mark shows that everything happened in full accordance with His prediction. Does this mean that Jesus had a preliminary agreement with the donkey owner, or that His supernatural knowledge was manifested in this? A similar situation, which will arise later (Mark 14: 13-16), seems to indicate the first, but the details given by the Evangelist of how the colt was "taken out" (11: 2-6) testify in favor of the second assumption. In any case, it is possible that the donkey owner knew Jesus. The details mentioned also indicate that the incident was recorded from the words of an eyewitness; perhaps one of those sent for the colt was Peter.

Mar 11: 7-8... Jesus' disciples put their outer garments instead of a saddle on a young donkey, on which no one had yet ridden, and Jesus sat on it. Thus began the last stage of His journey to Jerusalem.

The excitement of this great moment passed on to many people, and they spontaneously began to pay homage to Him, spreading their clothes on the dusty road before Him (compare 2 Kings 9: 12-13). Others cut branches from palm trees and spread them along the way.

Mar 11: 9-10... And those who preceded Jesus and those who followed Him sang Ps. 117: 25-26. On the annual Easter holidays (Mark 14: 1), the Jews usually sang six solemn psalms (Ps. 112-117), expressing thanksgiving and praise to God, bringing their needs to Him.

Hosanna is a transliteration of the Greek word, which itself is a transliteration of the Hebrew phrase "khosi-a-na" meaning "Oh, save us now" (Psalm 117: 25a) and originally sounded like a prayer to God. Later, this expression merged into one word, becoming an exclamation of praise, like "hallelujah", and even later turned into a warm greeting, which was greeted by pilgrims or prominent spiritual teachers. The whole phrase of Hosanna in the highest (in the place where God is "on high") meant: "Save us, O God who lives in heaven!" Considering the composition and character of this multitude of people, from whose mouths "Hosanna" proceeded, it can be assumed that they pronounced it in the sense of all of the above.

The joyous "Blessed" corresponds to calling God's merciful power on someone or something. The expression "coming in the name of the Lord" originally referred to a pilgrim going to a festival. Although these words did not carry a messianic meaning, the crowd of pilgrims may have addressed them to Jesus with a "messianic allusion" (compare Gen. 49:10; Matt. 3:11); however, later and suddenly, she ceased to regard Him as the Messiah.

The phrase the kingdom coming in the name of the Lord (interpretation of Mark 1:15), associated with the name of David, expressed the hope of the people that the Messiah, having come, will restore the kingdom of David (2 Sam. 7:16; Am. 9: 11- 12). However, the enthusiasm of the crowd was intended for the Messiah-ruler, whose kingdom would be a political reality; people did not realize and did not accept the fact that this, peacefully sitting on a young donkey, was their Messiah (compare Zech. 9: 9), the suffering Messiah, Whose Kingdom was with them because He was among them.

For the majority of the people, therefore, this solemn moment meant no more than just a part of the traditional Easter procession: that is why it did not alarm the Roman authorities, it did not prompt the Jewish rulers to demand the arrest of Jesus.

Mar 11:11... Entering Jerusalem, Jesus went to the temple and entered it (the Greek word "chieron", which means "court of the temple"; the same in verses 15 and 27; the word "naos" corresponds to the "central sanctuary" - 14:58; 15: 29.38). It can be assumed that He examined everything to see if everything is being used in the temple according to God's instructions. And, perhaps, His actions the next day (11: 15-17) were the result of this "inspection" And as the time was already later (the city gates were closed before sunset) went out to Bethany with twelve.

B. Jesus' Prophetic Signs Regarding God's Judgment Over Israel (11: 12-26)

This piece has a "sandwich" structure (compare 3: 20-35; 5: 21-43; 6: 7-31). The story of Jesus' condemnation of the fig tree (11: 12-14, 20-26) is interrupted by the story of His cleansing the courtyards of the temple (verses 15-19). It can be assumed that this is done with the aim of making each of the episodes "work" for the other, explaining it.

Like a fig tree, Israel “adorned” itself with the lush “foliage” of ritual religion, but did not have the fruits of righteousness pleasing to God. Both episodes testified that the judgment of God is impending on Israel for its hypocrisy in religion (interpretation of 7: 6). Matthew tells about these two cases separately and sequentially - without specifying the exact time intervals, which we find in Mark (Matt. 21: 12-17, 18-22).

I. CONDEMNATION OF THE UNFUFFLER BOTTLE (11: 12-14) (MATTHEW 21: 18-19)

Mar 11: 12-13... The next day (early Monday morning), when they left Bethany, Jesus felt hungry, and seeing from afar a roadside fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it. But I found nothing but leaves. Mark explains: for it was not yet time to gather the figs.

Let us recall that the matter took place on Easter (14: 1), that is, it was the middle of the month of Nisan (April). On fruit-bearing figs growing in Palestine, small edible buds appear on the branches in March, and only after that, in early April, the trees are covered with dense green foliage. These early green "fruits" (buds) were eaten by the local people. (Their absence, despite the abundant foliage, indicated that this year the fig tree would not bear fruit at all.) Green "buds" usually fell off when "real" figs ripened by the end of May and the beginning of June, and it was time to "pick them up." ". So it was quite logical for Jesus to "look for something edible" on the fig tree before Easter (in April).

Mar 11:14... Jesus' harsh condemnation of the fig tree, which Peter would later call a curse (verse 21), should not, of course, be understood as the angry reaction of a hungry Christ; this episode is full of prophetic symbolism: it contains a dramatic providence of God's inevitable judgment on Israel, which was like this barren fig tree; his "promising foliage" did not hide his spiritual "nakedness" (compare Jer. 8:13; Hos. 9: 10,16; Mic. 7: 1). This is especially clearly shown in Mar. 11:27 - 12:40.

2. JESUS ​​CONDEMNS THE UNDEFINED USE OF THE TEMPLE (11: 15-19) (MATT. 21: 12-17; LU. 19: 45-46)

This event is described in all three synoptic Gospels. John described a similar cleansing of the temple by Jesus, which took place at the very beginning of His ministry (interpretation of John 2: 13-22).

Mar 11: 15-16... Arriving in Jerusalem, Jesus immediately went to the temple grounds (“chieron”; compare verse 11); He entered his large outer courtyard, the so-called courtyard of the pagans, which surrounded the inner sacred courtyards of the temple proper. The pagans were not allowed to step outside of "their" court. But in this courtyard, the high priest Caiaphas allowed the sale of ritually pure things necessary for the sacrifice: wine, oil, salt, sacrificial animals and birds (one might think that this was a kind of "innovation").

Three kinds of money were in circulation in Palestine: imperial (Roman), circulating in the provinces (Greek) and local (Jewish). As you know, all Jewish men from 20 years old had to pay a tax on the temple in the amount of half a shekel (Ex. 30: 12-16), and for this they had to resort to the help of money changers. Greek and Roman coins, on which the images of the rulers were minted and which were therefore considered "idols", were not allowed to pay the said tax.

Despite the fact that a small premium was provided for the money changers for the operations they performed, in fact, when they were carried out, they did not do without deception and extortion. Moreover, as can be inferred from Mar. 11:16 (in the English Bible, the second part of this verse sounds a little differently than in the Russian one, namely: "I brought some goods through the courtyards of the temple"), people made various purchases in other places and then, in order to shorten the road and not walk around the entire temple complex, passed from one part of the city to another by the outer courtyard of the temple, turning it into a busy highway.

Jesus was outraged at such a blatant desecration of a portion of the temple grounds — the one reserved for the Gentiles. Therefore, He began to drive out those who sold and bought, and overturned the tables of the money changers; and did not allow the courtyard of the temple to be turned into a marketplace. There were already enough of them in the city.

Mar 11:17... Jesus' fearless act attracted the attention of many people whom He began to teach by telling them what the temple of God was for. Using a question that suggested an affirmative answer, Jesus referred to the Old Testament to justify His actions (quoting Isa. 56: 7b). Only in Mark does the quote from the book of Isaiah include words for all nations. By God's predestination, the temple was to become a place of worship for Heavenly Father for both Jews and Gentiles (compare John 12:20). So the extension of this quote is appropriate in Mark, who wrote to Roman believers, recent pagans.

And you (the insensitive Jews; “you” in the Greek text sounds underlined), Jesus continued, made it (the court of the Gentiles) a den of robbers. This courtyard became the favored place of unclean hucksters (compare Jer. 7:11) - instead of being a house of prayer (compare 3: 8-28; Isa. 60: 7).

By his act, Jesus essentially declared Himself as the Messiah, whose authority over the temple is greater than the authority of the high priests (Hos. 9:15; Mal. 3: 1-5).

Mar 11: 18-19... When the religious leaders heard this, they began to look for how to destroy Him (compare 12:12; 14: 1,11), but so as not to cause indignation in the city. Only in Mark we read that they were afraid of Christ because of the authority that He used among the people. After all, this people (mainly the pilgrims who came to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem from near and far places) were amazed (literally "amazed") at His teaching. It was this popularity of Jesus that kept the Jewish authorities from immediately arresting Him. When it got late (Monday night), He left the city with His twelve disciples and probably went to Bethany (compare 11:11).

3. DRY FLUID BOTTLE AND TEACHING ON FAITH AND PRAYER (11: 20-26) (MATT. 21: 20-22)

Mar 11: 20-21... The meaning of these verses is a continuation of verses 12-14. In the morning (Tuesday), Jesus and His disciples returned to Jerusalem and, passing by, saw that the same fig tree (verse 13) had withered to its roots, and thus Jesus' words (verse 14) were fulfilled.

By naming Jesus Rabbi (compare 9: 5), Peter drew His attention to the condition of the tree. The Apostle was greatly surprised - after all, from the words of Christ, pronounced the day before, it would seem that the results were so deplorable as they appeared to their eyes now.

Although Jesus did not explain the meaning of the incident, many believe that it served as a living type of God's judgment coming to Israel (interpretation of verses 12-14).

Mar 11: 22-24... Christ calls his disciples: Have the faith of God. Faith based on unshakable trust in God, His almighty power and unfailing mercy (compare 5:34).

The formula of solemn assurance follows: Truly I say to you. And then Jesus resorts to hyperbole in order to show how tremendous the power of faith is. If anyone says to this mountain (the Mount of Olives): "rise up and plunge into the sea" (into the Dead Sea, seen from the Mount of Olives), He says, then God will do it for him. With one condition: so that he does not doubt in his heart, does not hesitate in the confidence that God will fulfill his request. For Israel - alas! - there was no such faith.

Prayer with faith, as it were, activates God's power, and it accomplishes what is impossible from a human point of view (compare 10:27). For this reason, Jesus called his disciples: believe that you will receive, and it will be done for you. Faith perceives what is asked as already received, despite the fact that the answer to prayer rarely comes immediately. Judging from other passages of Scripture, Christ's promise was based on the premise that what was asked would be in accordance with the will of God (14:36; Matt. 6: 9-10; John 14: 13-14; 15: 7; 16: 23-24; 1 John 5: 14-15).

Mar 11: 25-26... Along with faith in God, an important condition for reaching our prayers is the ability to forgive. When a believer stands in prayer (the Jews usually prayed while standing - 1 Kings 1:26; Luke 18: 11,13), then if he has any grudge against another, he must forgive the offender, be it a believer or an unbeliever. This must be done so that the Heavenly Father (an expression found in the Gospel of Mark only here, while in Matthew it is often found), could also forgive us our sins.

God's forgiveness of the believer and the forgiveness of other people by believers are inextricably linked, and this connection was established by God Himself (Matt. 18: 21-35).

Everyone who receives forgiveness from God must forgive his neighbors, just as God himself has forgiven him (Eph. 4:32).

C. Jesus' Clashes with Religious Leaders in Temple Courtyards (11:27 - 12:44)

At 11:27 - 12:37, Mark appears to have combined five episodes, united by the theme of the ongoing conflict between Christ and various influential groups of religious leaders (a similar situation in 2: 1 - 3: 5). The juxtaposition of hypocritical piety to sincere worship concludes this section (12: 38-44).

All ministry of Jesus Christ in the last week of His earthly life is centered around the temple, on its territory (11: 11,15-17,27; 12: 35,41; 13: 1-3; 14:49). In the course of His clashes with religious people - during Tuesday and Wednesday - Jesus sums up His teaching. The growing hostility of the leaders towards Him is evident from the same clashes.

I. THE QUESTION ABOUT WHO WHOSE POWER JESUS ​​USED (11:27 - 12:12)

The "mandate" of Jesus by the members of the Sanhedrin was called into question. His answer put them in an extremely difficult position (11: 27-33), and from the parable he told about the winegrowers it followed that it was they who rejected God's messengers (12: 1-12).

a. Jesus' counter-question about John's baptism (11: 27-33)

Mar 11: 27-28... On Tuesday morning (verse 20) Christ and His disciples came back to Jerusalem. And when He was walking in the temple (in the Greek text cheiro, that is, "in the courtyards of the temple"; compare verses 11, 15), the representatives of the Sanhedrin approached Him. As guardians of the religious life of Israel, they asked Jesus two questions: 1) By what authority do you do this? (Who authorized You to do this?) And 2) Who gave You the authority (in the meaning of "power") to do this (literally - "these things")?

They meant His cleansing of the temple the day before (11: 15-17) and, probably, all in general His words and deeds filled with authority, which earned Him great popularity among the people (compare verse 18; 12: 12,37). From these questions we can conclude that by that time Jesus had not yet said directly that He was the Messiah (an important circumstance in terms of Mark's "motive of secrecy"; interpretation on 1: 43-45; 12: 1,12) ...

Mar 11: 29-30... The counter-question asked by Jesus (rabbis often used this method of debate - compare 10: 2-3) made His answer to them dependent on their answer to Him. Here it is: the Baptism of John (and, therefore, all his ministry - 1: 4-8; 6: 14-16,20) was from heaven (that is, from God - compare 8:11) or from men? Christ meant that His authority comes from the same source from which John the Baptist received the "authority" (and, therefore, there was no contradiction between them). The conclusion that the members of the Sanhedrin make about John will be consistent with their conclusion about Christ.

Mar 11: 31-32... So the religious leaders were faced with a dilemma. If they had answered, from heaven, they themselves would have incurred the accusation that they did not believe John and did not support his ministry (compare John 1: 19-27). In other words, they would thereby acknowledge that they had rejected God's messenger, and the implication that Jesus is empowered by God (Mark 9: 37b). This was true, but such an answer was unacceptable to religious leaders because of their disbelief in Jesus.

And if they answered: from men, that is, that John was not sent by God, then again they would discredit themselves in the eyes of the people. Mark explains: they were afraid of the people; because everyone believed that John was definitely a prophet, that is, a "representative" of God. People were of the same opinion regarding Jesus (Matt. 21:46). The leaders would have preferred the second answer, which did not correspond to the truth, but it, as we see, was unacceptable for them, who were afraid of the people.

Mar 11:33... And it remains for them to admit that they do not know the answer. But in this case, Christ also did not have to answer their question. However, even by evading an answer, His opponents showed that they did not recognize either John or Him as God's messengers. Throughout history, the religious leaders of the Jewish people have testified to this many times, and this is precisely what is reflected in the parable (12: 1-12) told further by Jesus.

11:1 When they approached Jerusalem, Bethphage and Bethany, and the Mount of Olives, [Jesus] sent two of His disciples
The journey, which began at 10: 1, is now drawing to a close, and the last week of Jesus' life on earth begins.

11:2-6 Events leading up to the fulfillment of Zechariah 9: 9:
and he says to them: go to the village that is right in front of you; entering it, you will immediately find a young donkey tied up, on which none of the people sat; untied it, bring it.
3 And if someone says to you: why are you doing this? - answer that the Lord needs it; and at once will send him here.
4 They went and found a young donkey tied at the gate in the street, and untied it.
5 And some of them that stood there said to them, What are you doing? [why] untie the colt?
6 They answered them as Jesus had commanded; and they let them go.
Could the story of the colt have gone differently? For example, having come to the village, the students would not have found the colt, because the owners would have taken him away half an hour ago? Or would those who asked why the students need a colt, would they have taken it, and they would not have given it?
No, I couldn't. Some events with God are scheduled according to a certain program, and He sets this program before the participants have to execute it.
Therefore, you should not worry about some events that, as it seems to us, are going completely differently: only what will happen to the Lord, and not to us. Artificially helping the Lord's predictions come true quickly is not worth it. But creating obstacles to the predictions coming true is not worth it either. Let every Christian do what he can do for God, and there will be what will be. The script is written from above, you don't need to add your own ...

11:7-10 The entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem on a donkey in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zech. 9: 9
And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their clothes on him; [Jesus] sat on it.
8 And many spread their clothes on the way; while others cut branches from trees and spread them along the way.
9 And those who preceded and followed exclaimed: Hosanna! blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! In a quote from Zach. 9: 9 says that the coming King will ride a young donkey. Jesus must fulfill this prophecy in every detail in order for those who are waiting for the king of Israel according to the prophecies from Scripture to be able to understand its fulfillment.

But why did Jesus, the king of Israel, have to enter Jerusalem on a donkey, on the son of a hoisted one (on the son of a “slave” who walked under a yoke)? And not on the most lifting?

What does the Scripture say? Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will not be the heir with the son of the free ... (Gal. 4:30)
A lifting "donkey" or slave is under the yoke of the Old Testament, and no matter how many sons she has, they are all sons of the yoke of the Old Testament or slaves to the letter of the Mosaic law.

Jesus, in the face of a donkey, the son of a hoist, figuratively saddled the "slavery" of those hoisted (fulfilled the Mosaic Law) and figuratively "rode" on the Mosaic law - into a new relationship between God and people (in the New Testament).

11:11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple; and having examined everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
ZWhy did Jesus look around the temple at a later time? Not just glanced there, but examined EVERYTHING in the temple. We think it took him a lot of time. The answer was revealed later, when the fruits of this examination appeared the next day. Everything that should not have been in the temple was driven out and thrown out by Christ (11: 15-17). At night Jesus just saw what was what, and during the day he dealt with all the lewdness.

11:12-14 The next day, when they left Bethany, He was hungry;
13 And seeing from afar a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it. but when he came to her, he found nothing but leaves, for the time was not yet [gathering] the figs.
14 And Jesus said to her, From now on, let no one eat fruit of you for ever! And his disciples heard it.
The questions involuntarily arise: why would Jesus look for figs on a tree, if it was NOT TIME yet to collect figs? And why did he curse the tree if it cannot change the processes of photosynthesis? After all, it is not like Jesus that he, firstly, hopes to find, for example, apples in April. And secondly, if I had not found them in April, I would have cursed the apple tree because there are no fruits on it.

The secret is simple: as we remember, it happened before Easter, in the month of Nisan, that is, in April. On fruit-bearing figs growing in Palestine, small edible buds appear on the branches in March, and only after that, in early April, the trees are covered with dense green foliage.
These early green "fruits" (buds) were eaten by the local people. In addition, one of the special properties of the fig tree is that the fruit is formed on it without any sign of flowering and even before the leaves.

Therefore, there was nothing strange on the part of Jesus that he was "looking for something edible" on the fig tree before Easter (in April).
When "real" figs ripened by the end of May and the beginning of June, and it was time to "pick them up" - the green "buds" usually fell off.
The absence of edible buds, despite the abundant foliage, indicated that this year the fig tree would not bear fruit at all.
(information about the fig tree is taken from here and from the interpretation of the Bible by scholarly theologians at Dallas Theological Seminary.http: //otveti.org)

So, the time for harvesting the figs has not yet come, but the signs that the fruits will still appear on the fig tree should have been at least in the form of something useful and edible, or in the form of unripe fruits.
In this case, the spiritual meaning of Mark's story is consistent with the examples of the fig tree from other authors of the Gospel, and it is clearer: although the time for the results for the “gathering” of the spiritual harvest on earth for God's people as a whole has not yet come, but some “edible fruit "And some benefit on the" tree of God's people "- should be in the period BEFORE the harvest (at the first coming of Christ and during the period until his second coming).
If they do not exist in principle (even in the form of buds or unripe fruits), then there will be nothing to collect from this tree, such a tree is fruitless.
And everything that does not bear the fruit expected by God will be destroyed. (Matthew 3:10)

Jesus used the curse of the barren fig tree to show how the barren “trees” of God's people would be cursed.

11:15-17 Expulsion from the temple of all obscene... See analysis of Matthew 21: 12-16
15 They came to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those selling and buying in the temple; and overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those who sold doves;
16 and did not allow anyone to carry any thing through the temple.
17 And he taught them, saying, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? and you made it a den of robbers.
Jesus is not only trading he destroyed the ranks in the temple, but also at the same time - he managed teach the scribes and Pharisees according to the Scriptures, quoting from them the words about the meaning of the temple of God.

This scripture can help analyze whether God approves of modern man-made so-called "temples" in the form of buildings, where the process of buying and selling is also organized:
although in modern man-made the buildings do not have trading rows of animals, but the counters with icons, candles and other attributes are worth it.
And the price list for ceremonies, as in a trading place, hangs in a conspicuous place.
Therefore, on the trade side they look like a temple in Jerusalem, turned into a house of commerce, which is not pleasing to the Almighty.

Also, it should be said that the processes of buying and selling are inappropriate in the spiritual temple of Jehovah - in the congregations of true Christians who come to meetings to worship God (Heb. 10:25; in the era of N.Z., God does not live in man-made temples - in principle, Acts 17:24). It would be inappropriate to come to meetings to worship the Creator, to conduct business negotiations or to trade in anything.

11:18 The scribes and the chief priests heard [this], and looked for a way to destroy Him, for they were afraid of Him, because all the people were amazed at His teachings.
Mark well noted the REASON the scribes fussed with the Pharisees clean up as soon as possible Christ to their hands: they FEARED that his TEACHING did not surpass their teaching in reasonableness, for people liked it.
The scribes and Pharisees were very worried about the popularity of their teaching, because they loved the glory of man more than the glory of God.

11:20,21 19 When it got late, He went out of the city.
20 In the morning, passing by, they saw that the fig tree had dried up to the roots.
21 And remembering, Peter says to him: Rabbi! look, the fig tree you cursed is withered
As we can see, not only the blessings of Christ are in effect, but curses too: we would not have gotten under the curse of Christ because of spiritual "sterility".

11:22,23 Jesus, answering, says to them:
23 Have the faith of God, for truly I say to you, if anyone says to this woe: rise and plunge into the sea, and he does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what will come true according to his words, whatever he says will be to him.
24 Therefore I say to you: whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you receive, and it will be done for you.
About the rock - hyperbole, showing the power of the action of the word of Christ, in the absolute confident in the action of the power of God helping him.
An important condition is not to doubt what you are going to do with the help of God: God helps with His power those who believe and do not doubt that He can and wants to do good to those who ask Him, if what is asked is for good and according to His will.

The example with the fig tree was given by Jesus for the edification of his disciples so that they would be strengthened in thought: the power of a Christian's word with the power of his faith is closely interconnected.

11:25 And when you stand in prayer, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Heavenly Father may forgive you your sins.
If you carefully rummage through the recesses of your heart, you can find a lot of things for which you don't want to forgive some people who somehow spoiled or complicated our life at certain stages. Each person has his own account and his own claims to willful or unwitting offenders, and we are talking about both relations within the Christian congregation, and about relations with the world.
However, a Christian should be different in that he does not keep a "black list" of grievances and claims, no matter how well-founded they may be.

11:26 If you do not forgive, then your Heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins.
Christ, saying to forgive EVERYTHING, made no exceptions to this rule for forgiveness. It does not say WHAT exactly to forgive and what weight of sins against us is to forgive. Everything in general should be left to the judgment of God, realizing that we, too, are guilty of something before someone, and before God - even more so. Moreover, sometimes what we have for our neighbor does not need forgiveness at all, because it can be just a misunderstanding and the result of our imperfection.

We forgive EVERYTHING, and only then will God find reasons to forgive us as well. Learning to forgive is not an easy science, and while there is time, we will try to master it.

11:27,28 They came back to Jerusalem. And as He walked in the temple, the chief priests and scribes and elders came up to Him.
28 And they said to him, By what authority do you do these things? and who gave you the authority to do this?
EIf the leaders wanted, then they themselves would easily understand who alone can give the power to resurrect and heal as Christ did. They didn’t see it because they didn’t want to see it.

11:29,30 Jesus answered them: I will also ask you one thing, answer Me; [then] I will also tell you by what authority I do this.
30 Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? answer me.
Jesus taught in the temple. Asking questions is good if you don’t know something and want to learn. But the questioners did not always have such a goal: Jesus was asked not to learn from him, but to find in his answers something that could be grasped as an accusation, they were looking for an excuse to deal with him, and therefore they asked tricky questions.
What to do in such cases, if we also have to face such a phenomenon? To take an example from Christ - and in this.
In this case, Jesus answered a question with a question. Moreover, the question was chosen so that the questioners had the opportunity in their own answer not to remain smart in their own eyes: their own answer to the question should make them understand that they themselves are caught.

However, we think that if the high priests and elders would have answered in the truth - not in the way that was beneficial to them, but in the way they actually believed - then Jesus would have answered them.

11:31,32 31 They reasoned among themselves: if we say: from heaven, then He will say: why did you not believe him?
32 but to say, from men, they were afraid of the people, because everyone believed that John was definitely a prophet.
The question was posed in such a way that the high priests and elders would see their failure. They consider different options for answers, but at the same time their goal is not to answer according to the Scriptures, as it was right for people from the category of teachers of the word of God, but just to get out.

Such sad fruits have grown in the hearts of religious leaders from their type of worship of God: from the desire to fulfill only the points of the Mosaic Law. By the time Christ came, they were more interested in the position of Jehovah's people than in the word of God.

SUCH religious leaders were suitable candidates to sentence Christ, who exposed their iniquities, to death and to fulfill God's plan to redeem mankind.

11:33 And they answered Jesus: We do not know. Then Jesus answered and said to them: I will not tell you by what authority I do this.
This is Jesus' answer to the leaders of God's people. It turns out that I will not say- is also sometimes the correct answer, especially if they ask out of a desire to convict something, and not learn something. Therefore, one should not be afraid of him and think that it is wrong or impolite.

When they approached Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples And said to them: Go to the village, which is right in front of you; entering it you will immediately find a young donkey tied up, on which none of the people sat; having untied him, bring him; And if someone tells you "" why are you doing this? ", Answer that

the Lord needs it; and at once will send him here. They went and found a young donkey tied at the gate in the street and untied him.

And some of those who stood there said to them: What are you doing? Why untie the colt?

They answered them as Jesus commanded; and they let them go.

And now we come to the last stage of the journey. Jesus went to the region of Caesarea Philippi, then to Galilee, visited Judea and the regions beyond Jordan, and then there was a road through Jericho. And now Jerusalem is ahead. It is necessary to immediately note some points, without which the whole episode will be very difficult to understand. When you read the first three Gospels, you might get the impression that Jesus visited Jerusalem for the first time. The authors place great emphasis on the work Jesus did in Galilee. It must be remembered that the Gospel is a small volume of works, into which the story of a three-year work is squeezed, and the authors were forced to carefully select the most interesting and well-known episodes. When we read the fourth Gospel, we often see Jesus in Jerusalem. (John 2, 13; 5, 1; 7, 10). It is clear that Jesus regularly visited Jerusalem on the great feasts. And in this, in fact, there is no contradiction. The authors of the first three Gospels are especially interested in the preaching of Jesus in Galilee, the author of the fourth - His preaching in Judea. Moreover, in the first three Gospels there are indirect indications that Jesus often visited Jerusalem: for example, close friendship with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, which suggests that Jesus repeatedly visited them; secret friendship with Joseph of Arimathea. And above all, Jesus' utterance in Mat. 23, 37 that He many times wanted to gather the children of Jerusalem, like a bird gathers her chicks under her wings, but they did not want to. Jesus would not have said this if he had not repeatedly addressed the Jerusalemites, meeting only a cold misunderstanding. This explains the case of the donkey. Jesus did not give up hope until the last moment. He knew what he was going for, and had already negotiated everything with friends in advance: He sent His disciples with a password: "The Lord needs him." No, Jesus did not suddenly, recklessly, make this decision. His whole life was built on this. Bethphage and Bethany are villages near Jerusalem.

It may very well be that Bethany means the house of figs, and Bethany— house of dates. They must have been very close, because we know from the Jewish law that Bethphage lay within the Sabbath route from Jerusalem, that is, about one kilometer, and Bethany was one of the recognized places for pilgrims to spend the night during Passover, when Jerusalem was overcrowded. ... The prophets of Israel had an expressive way of communicating their messages to the people: when people refused to listen to them, they took some dramatic step, as if declaring: "If you do not want to listen, you must make you see" (see in particular 3 Tsar. 11, 30-32). We would call these dramatic actions a dramatized warning or a dramatized teaching. And this is the manner Jesus resorts to here. His words and actions, asserting his rights, a declaration that He is the Messiah. But it is necessary to carefully and correctly mark His actions. There are sayings of the prophet Zechariah (Zach. 9, 9): "Rejoice with joy, daughter of Zion, triumph, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King is coming to You, righteous and saving, meek, sitting on a donkey and on a young donkey." The emphasis was on the fact that The king is coming in the world. In Palestine, the donkey did not enjoy such contempt; on the contrary, it was considered a noble animal. The king went to war on horseback, in peacetime he rode on a donkey.

G. Chesterton has a poem in which the modern donkey says:

“When the fish flew, and the forests walked, And figs grew on the thorns, At the moment when the moon was blood, Then I was born.

With a monstrous head and a disgusting scream, And ears like out of place wings grown, A wandering parody of the devil, Of all the four-legged.

A ragged outcast of the earth, Possessing a perverse will; Starve me, whip me, I'm dumb I still keep my secret.

Fools! After all, I also had my finest hour,

Terribly fierce and sweet

There was a scream in my ears

And there were palm branches under my feet. "

This is an amazing poem. Nowadays, everyone only despises donkeys, but in the time of Jesus it was a royal animal. But we still have to pay attention what royal title Jesus claimed. He came meek and humble, He came in peace and for the sake of peace. The people greeted Him as the Son of David, but they did not understand anything. It was at that time that Jewish poems were written Psalms of Solomon. In it, the image of the Son of David is given the way his people then imagined and what they expected. Here is its description.

“Behold, O Lord, raise up for them their king, the son of David,

When, Lord, You will see that he can reign

over Israel, your slave.

And clothe him with power that he might shake the unrighteous

rulers,

And so that he could cleanse Jerusalem from the peoples trampling on

his death.

May he wisely and justly deprive sinners of their inheritance,

He will crush the pride of sinners like an earthen vessel,

He will smash them with an iron rod.

He will destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth.

At his words the peoples will flee from him,

And he will reproach sinners for the thoughts of their hearts. ... ...

All nations will fear him

For he will destroy the earth forever with the word of his mouth. "

(Psalms 17, 21-25. 39)

These are the ideas that people fed their hearts. They were waiting for a king who would shake, break and break. Jesus knew this - and He came humble and humble, riding on a donkey.

Having rode into Jerusalem that day on horseback, Jesus claimed his right to be the King of the world. His actions were contrary to everything that people hoped for and what they expected.

Grade 11.7-10 Here it comes

And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their clothes on him; Jesus sat on it.

Many spread their clothes along the way, while others cut branches from trees and spread them along the way.

And those who preceded and followed exclaimed: Hosanna! blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

No one has ever ridden this young donkey, and it had to be so, because an animal that had ever been used for other purposes could not be used for sacred rites. So it was with the red heifer, whose ashes cleansed from defilement (Num. 19: 2; Deut. 21: 3). The whole picture shows us that the people misunderstood the meaning of what was happening. Before us are the masses who understood the Kingdom of God as a victory over the pagans, of which they had dreamed for so long. All this is strangely reminiscent of the entry of Simon Maccabee in one hundred and fifty years into Jerusalem after the defeat of Israel's enemies. “And he entered into it on the twenty-third day of the second month of the one hundred and seventy-first year with hymns, palm branches, harp, cymbals and harps, with psalms and songs, for the great enemy of Israel is crushed” (2 Mac 13, 51). They wanted to meet Jesus as a conqueror, but they never understood what kind of victory He wanted. The very screams that the crowd raised to Jesus show their way of thinking. They spread their garments before Him on the ground, as the crowd did when Jehu was anointed for the kingdom (2 Kings 9, 13): "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" This is a quote from Ps. 117, 26. In connection with these cries, three points should be noted.

1. With this greeting, pilgrims were usually greeted when they reached the temple, gathering for a big feast.

2. “Coming One” is another title for the Messiah. When speaking of the Messiah, the Jews always spoke of The coming.

3. But the main meaning of these words becomes clear only in connection with the history of the origin of the said Psalm. In 167 BC, an unusual king named Antiochus took over the Syrian throne. He considered it his duty to become a Hellenistic missionary and to introduce everywhere the Greek way of life, Greek spiritual culture and Greek religion, even if this required the use of force. He tried to do the same in Palestine.

For a while, he conquered Palestine. It has become a crime to have a copy of the law at home or to circumcise a son; this was punishable by death. Antiochus desecrated the doors of the temple, introduced divine services to Zeus where previously Jehovah's services had been performed, openly insulted the Jews by making sacrifices on the large altar of burnt offerings. In the premises around the temple, he set up brothels. He literally did everything to destroy the Jewish faith. It was then that Judas Maccabee appeared, who expelled Antiochus from Palestine in 163 BC after a series of brilliant victories. He cleansed and rededicated the temple, an event still celebrated today as the Feast of Renewal, or Hanukkah. And, in all likelihood, Ps. 117 was written to perpetuate the memory of the great day of cleansing (renewal) and the victory won by Judas Maccabee. This is a conqueror's psalm.

This episode shows that Jesus repeatedly claimed His right to be the Messiah, and at the same time tried to show people that they had the wrong impression of the Messiah. But people didn't see it. Their greetings were not intended for the King of love, but for the conqueror who would defeat Israel's enemies.

In Art. 9 and 10 the word is used Hosanna. This word is always misunderstood. It is quoted and used as if it meant praise, but this is just transliteration - an introduction to the Russian language - Hebrew save] This word occurs in the same form in 2 Tsar. 14, 4 and 4 Tsar. 6, 26, where it is used by people seeking help and protection from the king. Screaming Hosanna people did not praise Jesus, as it often sounds when he is quoted; it was a call to God to intervene in the course of history and save His people, now that the Messiah has come. Nowhere else is Jesus' boldness more evident than in this episode. One might expect that under the current circumstances Jesus would try to secretly enter Jerusalem and hide there from the authorities who intended to kill Him, but instead He entered Jerusalem in such a way that everyone's attention was riveted to Him. It is rather risky to approach people with the words that their long-standing ideas are wrong. A person who tries to uproot the national dream of an entire people is in danger. But this is precisely what Jesus deliberately does here. We see Jesus for the last time - with a boldness bordering on heroism - turning with love to the Jews.

Brand 11.11 Quiet Before the Storm

And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple; and having examined everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

This simple verse reveals two characteristics of Jesus.

1. We see Jesus purposefully summarizing His task. Throughout these last days, Jesus has acted with extraordinary purpose. No, He did not rush recklessly into uncharted danger. He did everything with a good awareness of the situation. Looking around, He, like a commander, assessed the strength of the enemy and His strength, preparing for a decisive battle.

2. We see here where Jesus drew His strength from: He returned to the quiet village of Bethany. Before entering the battle with people, He sought intimacy with God. And only because he met God every day, He could boldly look people in the face.

From this passage we learn something about the twelve: they were with Him; they must have already quite clearly realized that Jesus was going to certain destruction, as it must have seemed to them - seeking death. Sometimes we criticize His disciples for not being faithful enough to Him in the last days, but the fact that they were with Him at that moment speaks in their favor; although they understood very little of what was happening, they were close to Him.

Mark 11.12-14. 20.21 Barren fig tree

The next day, when they left Bethany, He was hungry;

And seeing from afar a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it; but when he came to her, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not yet time to gather the figs.

And Jesus said to her, From now on, let no one eat fruit of you for ever. And his disciples heard it.

In the morning, passing by, they saw that the fig tree had dried up to the roots.

And, remembering, Peter says to Him: Rabbi! look, the fig tree you cursed is withered.

Although Mark's story of the fig tree is split in two, we take the whole story. One part of the story took place on the morning of one day, and the second - on the morning of the next day, and chronologically, between these two episodes, the cleansing of the temple took place. But in order to understand the meaning of history, it must be considered in its entirety.

Without a doubt, this is the most difficult story in the entire Gospel. Literal understanding of it causes almost insurmountable difficulties.

The story sounds hard to understand.

One gets the impression that this whole story has nothing to do with Jesus. What can we say about this? If this story is understood as something that really took place, then we must consider it as dramatized criticism, as one of those prophetic, symbolic and dramatic acts - in this case, it can be considered that two things are condemned in it.

1. Condemned promises not followed by fulfillment. The leaves on the trees might be mistaken for promises of fruit, but there was no fruit on the tree. And first of all, this is the condemnation of the people of Israel, whose whole history was a preparation for the coming of the Chosen One of God. Throughout history, Israel has promised that when the Chosen One comes, they will be glad to receive Him. But when He came, that promise remained unfulfilled. There are many stories in literature about people whose life consists of three parts. In their youth, they say about them: "He has good inclinations, he will definitely achieve something." When he grows up and does nothing, they say about him: "If he wanted, he would have achieved something." And about old people they say: "If he wanted, he could achieve something." The whole life of such a person is a story about a promise that was never fulfilled. If we consider the case presented here as a dramatized criticism, then it should be seen in it a condemnation of unfulfilled promises.

2. This is condemnation a religion not backed up by action. All this can be understood in such a way that the tree with its branches openly claims to be what it is not. Throughout the entire New Testament, a common thread runs the thought that a person can be recognized only by the fruits of his life. "You will know them by their fruits" (Mat. 7, 16). "Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance" (Onion. 3, 8). “Not everyone who says to me: Lord! God! will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven " (Mat. 1, 21). If religion didn’t make a person better and more useful, didn’t make his house happier, and didn’t make the life of those people who communicate with him more pleasant and easier, then he is not at all religious. A person cannot declare that he is a follower of Jesus Christ, and at the same time not at all resemble the Teacher, Whom he supposedly loves. If this story is taken literally and interpreted as a dramatized parable, then its meaning should be as follows. But as pertinent as we might think these lessons are, they are still quite difficult to deduce from history itself, because it would be completely unreasonable to expect figs on a fig tree if there were still a good six weeks before they ripen.

But then what to say? In the Gospel of Luke, this incident is not given at all, but there is a parable about the barren fig tree. (Onion. 13, 6-9). And this parable ends very vaguely: the owner of the vineyard wanted to uproot the tree, and the gardener begged him to wait a little longer and give the tree one more opportunity; and an agreement was reached: if the fig tree bears fruit, it will be left, and if not, it will be uprooted. Is it not possible that the case described in the passage we are considering is a continuation of the parable given by the Evangelist Luke? The people of Israel were given the opportunity, but there was no fruit, and now the time has come to uproot it. It has been suggested - and it is likely that there was a lonely stricken fig tree on the way from Bethany to Jerusalem. Apparently Jesus told His disciples: “Remember the parable of the barren fig tree that I told you? Israel is still barren and it will dry up like this tree. " It may well be that people began to associate this lonely tree with Jesus' statements about the fate of sterility, and so the whole story arose.

Let each reader understand this story as he wants, but it seems to us that a literal understanding of it would cause insurmountable difficulties. It also seems to us that this story has something to do with the parable of the barren tree. But in any case, a lesson can be learned from it: uselessness entails death.

Mark 11,15-19 The wrath of jesus

Came to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those selling and buying in the temple; and overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those who sold doves;

And he did not allow anyone to carry any thing through the temple.

And he taught them, saying: Is it not written, "My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations"? and you made it a den of robbers.

The scribes and the chief priests heard this and looked for how to destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were amazed at His teaching.

When it got late, He went out of the city.

We can better imagine all this if we have a good idea of ​​the location of the temple and its courtyards. There are two closely related words used in the New Testament: chieron, What means holy place, sanctuary and neos, which means the actual temple. Holy place spread over the entire territory of the temple. The territory of the temple covered the entire summit of Mount Zion and was approximately twelve hectares. It was surrounded by a high wall, from 300 to 400 m long, with different heights on each side. In front of the temple there was a large the courtyard of the pagans, into which everyone could enter, be they Jew or Gentile. A low wall ran along the inner edge of the courtyard of the pagans, into which tablets were embedded, warning that the death penalty threatened the pagan for the crime of this trait. The next courtyard was called the women's courtyard. It was called so because only a woman who wanted to make a sacrifice could go further. Next came courtyard of the Israelites. The whole church community gathered in it on great holidays, and from here people handed over to the priests the animals brought and brought for sacrifice. In the very center was the courtyard of the priests. The temple itself, naos, stood in the courtyard of the priests. And the whole territory with all the courtyards was a holy place or a sanctuary, chieron, and the building itself in the courtyard of the priests is a temple naos.

The episode described took place in the courtyard of the pagans. Little by little, the pagan court acquired an almost exclusively secular character. It was conceived as a place of prayer and preparation, but during the time of Jesus it was dominated by a buying and selling atmosphere that made prayer and meditation impossible. But even worse was the fact that this trade was a pure collection of pilgrims. Every Jew had to pay a temple tax a year of half a shekel, about two days' wages of a day laborer. And this tax had to be paid in a special coin. For everyday purposes, Greek, Roman, Syrian, Egyptian, Phoenician and Tyrian coins were used, and this tax had to be paid with the temple shekel during the Passover period. At Easter, Jews came to Jerusalem from all over the world of that time with all kinds of coins. When exchanging their money for this temple half shekel, they had to pay the money changer a commission of 1/12 of a shekel, and if their coin exceeded the amount of tax and they were entitled to change, they had to pay an additional 1/12 of a shekel, so that most of the pilgrims paid these 1/6 of a shekel in addition to the tax of 1/12 of a shekel, that is, another half of the daily wages, which meant a lot to most. As for the pigeon sellers, the pigeons were part of the sacrifice system. (A lion. 12, 8; 14, 22; 15, 14). The animal for the sacrifice had to be without blemishes. Pigeons could be bought quite cheaply in the city, but the temple overseers would have found defects in them, and therefore the worshipers were recommended to buy them in the shops in the temple, although the price was about 20 times higher than their cost in the city. Everything looked like pure deception, but, to make matters even worse, all this buying and selling was concentrated in the hands of the family of the high priest Anna. The Jews themselves have long seen this abuse. The Talmud says that Rabbi Simon ben Gamaliel, having heard that a pair of doves in the temple was worth gold, demanded that the price be reduced to a silver coin. It was the sight of poor pilgrims being deceived that sparked the wrath of Jesus. A prominent scientist of the 18th century, Lagrange, who knew the East well, said that exactly the same system existed in Mecca. A pilgrim seeking the closeness of God finds himself in the midst of noise and hubbub, where the hucksters have one aspiration - to get as much as possible, and where the pilgrims fight them off and swear just as fiercely. Jesus used a very vivid metaphor to describe the temple courts. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious for the robbers. This narrow and winding road passed through mountain gorges. There were many caves in the mountains where robbers awaited the travelers, and Jesus said: "In the temple courts, robbers are more terrible than those on the road to Jericho."

From Art. 16 shows that Jesus did not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. The fact is that through the courtyards of the temple it was possible to walk directly from the eastern part of the city to the Mount of Olives. In the already mentioned collection of Mishna laws, it was written: “No one should enter the temple mountain with things or in sandals, or with a knapsack, or with a bag, or with dust on his feet, or go through it to shorten the road. " Jesus reminded the Jews of their own laws: by this time, the Jews had so little thought about the sanctity of the outer courtyards of the temple that they used them as means of communication, running about their business. Jesus drew their attention to their own laws and quoted their own prophets to them. (Is. 56, 7 and Jer. 7, 11). What caused Jesus to be so angry?

1. He was angry that pilgrims were robbed. Temple officials looked at them not as believers, not even as people, but as means for satisfying their goals and obtaining benefits. The exploitation of man by man always arouses the wrath of God, and even doubly if it is carried out under the guise of religion.

2. He was angry at the desecration of the holy place of God. People have lost the sense of the presence of God in the house of God; turning the shrine into a source of profit, they desecrated it.

3. Was Jesus' anger even greater? He quoted Is. 56, 7: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples ". And nevertheless, in that very house there was a wall, the crossing of which was punishable by death for the pagans. It may well be that the anger of Jesus was caused exclusively by the Jewish nature of the worship, and He wanted to remind the Jews that God does not love them, but peace.

Mark 11.22-26 About the rules for prayer

Jesus answering says to them:

Have the faith of God. For truly I say to you: if anyone says to this mountain: “rise up and plunge into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that it will come true according to his words, whatever he says will be to him.

Therefore, I say to you: whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive, and it will be for you.

And when you stand in prayer, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your heavenly Father may forgive you your sins;

If you do not forgive, then your Heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins.

Let us now return to the phrase that Mark associates with the story of the cursed fig tree. More than once we have paid attention to how firmly the utterances of Jesus settled in the minds of people, even if they forgot the connection in which He pronounced them. And here we have the same case. The statement about faith that moves mountains out of place is also given in Mat. 17, 20 and c Onion. 17, 6, but in each Gospel it is presented in a different context. The point is that Jesus said it more than once, and the reason why He said it was forgotten. The statement about the need to forgive our neighbors is again given in Mat. 6, 12 and 14 in a completely different context. These sayings should be viewed not so much in relation to specific events as they are general rules that Jesus repeated many times.

In this passage we find three guidelines for how to pray.

1. One must pray in faith. The phrase about the shifting of mountains was at that time a typical phrase with the meaning eliminate difficulties. In particular, it was used to characterize wise teachers; a good teacher who could eliminate the difficulties that arose in the minds of his students was called moving mountains. One person who heard the teachings of the famous rabbi stated that “he saw Resh Lachish, who, as it were, rearranged mountains. " And therefore this phrase means: if we really believe, prayer will give us strength that is able to cope with any difficulty. This sounds very simple, but it points to two points. First, it indicates that we are ready to turn to God with our problems and difficulties. This, in itself, is a serious test. Sometimes the whole point is that we want to get what we shouldn't want at all, that we want to find a way to do something that we should never lay our hands on and that should not occupy our minds. One of the most important tests that you should face with all your problems is to ask yourself: "Can I turn to God with this problem and can I ask Him for help in this?"

And second, it presupposes that we will be ready to receive God's guiding hand if He gives it to us. People most often seek help when they only need approval of a decision they have already made and a course of action. It makes no sense to turn to God and ask Him for help and guidance if we are not ready to obediently accept them. But if we turn our problems to God and if we are obedient enough and courageous enough to accept His instructions, we will gain strength to help us overcome physical and spiritual difficulties.

2. One should pray in hope and expectation. It is common knowledge that anything done in the firm hope of success has twice the chance. A patient who, turning to a doctor, does not believe in the validity of the prescribed medicine, has less chance of recovery than someone who is sure that the doctor can cure him. One should never pray just for the sake of form; prayer should not become an empty ritual.

In Leonard Merrick's book "Conrad in Search of His Youth" there is this episode: "Do you think prayer is always fulfilled?" Konrad asked. “During my life I have offered many prayers, and each time I tried to convince myself that the previous prayer was fulfilled. But I knew in the depths of my heart that none had been fulfilled. Yes, I got what I wanted, but - I say this with all due respect - it's too late ... ”Mr. Irketson's thin graceful hand slid over his forehead. “Once,” he began confidentially, “I was walking with a friend along the street. It was in the spring, when tenants suddenly wanted to paint their houses, and we came to a stepladder leaning against the wall of the house to be painted. My friend, approaching the edge of this staircase, raised his hat in front of her. You must know this superstition. He was a university graduate, a fairly educated person. I said, "Is it possible for you to believe this nonsense?" He replied: "N-no, I actually don't believe in her, but I never miss a chance." Suddenly the voice of the parish priest changed, he spoke solemnly, excitedly, sincerely. "I think a lot of people are praying like my friend - they don't believe it, but they never miss a chance." There is a great deal of truth in this. For many people, prayer is just a religious rite or a very faint hope. And prayer should be a passionate expectation. Maybe the whole problem lies in the fact that we are waiting for God's confirmation of our answer and therefore we will not know His answer when it comes to us.

3. It should be a prayer of mercy. The prayer of a bitter person cannot penetrate the wall of his enmity. Why? When we turn to God, we need to establish a connection between people who have nothing in common with each other. God builds everything on love because He there is love. If a person builds everything on bitterness and hostility, he builds a wall between himself and God. To receive an answer to his prayer, such a person must first ask God to cleanse his heart of the spirit of hostility and put the spirit of love into it. Only then can he turn to God and God can answer him.

Brand 11.27-33 An insidious question and a deadly answer

They came back to Jerusalem. And when He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and scribes and elders came up to Him.

And they said to him, By what authority do you do this? and who gave you the authority to do this?

Jesus answered them: I will also ask you one thing, answer Me; then I will also tell you by what authority I do this;

Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? answer me.

They reasoned among themselves: if we say: "from heaven", then He will say: "why did you not believe him?"

And to say: "from men" - they were afraid of the people; because everyone believed that John was definitely a prophet.

And they answered Jesus: We do not know. Then Jesus answered and said to them: I will not tell you by what authority I do this.

Among the holy courtyards of the temple were two famous covered arcades, one on the east, the other on the south side of the pagan courtyard. On the eastern side of the courtyard, it was the Solomon's porch: a majestic arcade formed by Corinthian columns over 10 meters high. On the southern side of the courtyard there was an even more majestic arcade - the royal portico formed by four rows of white marble columns 2 meters in diameter and 10 meters high; there were 162 columns in total. The rabbis used to walk under these pillars and teach. Such arcades were in most of the large cities of antiquity. They sheltered from the sun, wind and rain, and there, in fact, developed most of the religious and philosophical teachings of antiquity. One of the most famous philosophical schools of antiquity is the Stoic school. It got its name from Standing Poikile - Painted Portico in Athens, in which Zeno, its founder, taught while pacing. Word standing up means portico, or arcade, and the Stoics were the school of the portico. It was in these arcades in the temple that Jesus walked and taught.

And so a group of selected high priests and scholars of law, that is, scribes, rabbis and elders, approached Him; they were actually sent from the Sanhedrin, which consisted of these three groups, and they asked Jesus the most normal question. An ordinary person, each for himself, could be amazed at the actions of Jesus - to cleanse the pagan court from the usual and even officially recognized merchants. Therefore, the Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus: "By what power are you doing this?" They hoped to present Jesus with a dilemma: if He said that He was acting in His power, they could arrest Him as a megalomaniac so that He would not do any more harm. In general, they could have arrested Him, and if He had said that He was doing it by the power of God, accusing Him of blasphemy and referring to the fact that God would never give anyone the power to disturb the peace and cause disorder in the courtyards of His house. Jesus clearly saw where they were going, and His answer presented them with an even worse dilemma. He said that he would answer their question if they also answered Him to one question: "Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?" Sanhedrin representatives had to choose between two evils. They will say that the baptism of John was divinely ordained, they should have expected another question from Jesus: why did they then oppose him. Worse, if they say that the baptism of John was ordained by God, Jesus would remind them that John pointed people to Him, and therefore, He already has heavenly recognition and does not need any other authority. If these members of the Sanhedrin recognized the divinity of John's work, they would have to acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah. However, they understood that if they said that John's activity was purely human, then now, when John was also recognized by everyone as a martyr, their words could cause rebellion. And so they were forced to declare that they did not know and to give Jesus the opportunity not to answer their question. The whole story is a vivid illustration of what happens to people who refuse to see the truth. They are forced to dodge and deceive, and in the end they themselves find themselves in a desperate situation. A person who sees the truth may sometimes have to humble himself and admit his untruth, or stand his ground, but at least he has a bright and healthy future. And the one who does not recognize the truth will only sink deeper and deeper in a hopeless situation.