The Word This Week

Mark 12:1…

Having now entered Jerusalem and having received the acclaim of the people who recognized Jesus as the long-promised Messiah - and having cleansed the Temple from the corruption found there, Jesus begins to teach the people who will listen.

The religious leaders would have none of it. Not even knowing the extent to which they were fulfilling Biblical prophecy in their examination of Jesus in the Temple Courts – as depicted by the description of the Passover Feast in Exodus 12. Their examination of Christ, (our Passover Lamb come to take away the sins of the world,) was exactly as the Word of God had described.

The religious leaders’ intent was the expose Jesus as false. But Jesus’ responses in each case had the opposite effect. It was the religious leaders who were proven false. Their hypocrisy was on full display to all who already knew they were hypocrites – but didn’t have the nerve to say so even though they knew it in their hearts.

The common people would have been amazed to witness Jesus going toe-to-toe with the religious leaders. But it wasn’t just His boldness on full display, it was His ability to expose their sinful hearts.

Make no mistake about it, Jesus’ intent was to draw the religious leaders to Himself as much as it was to expose them to the people as being pretentious. In Acts 6, we read later many priests did place their faith in Jesus for salvation. First, Jesus would convict them of their sin, even as they sought to expose Him and turn His crowd away from Him.

Jesus recounts how the prophets God has sent to warn His people about their sin and hypocrisy have always been treated terribly by the religious leaders. Some beaten, and some stoned and killed - exactly as had been described by the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Hosea and Zechariah and Malachi.

God had provided Israel everything they required to be the most prosperous nation on earth. But the religious leaders had consistently either led the people or allowed the people to turn away from God to foreign gods introduced into their lives by surrounding cultures. When God sent His prophet to bring correction, they were either disregarded, mocked, beaten, stoned, or killed.

This was going on right now as they stand before Jesus - the Son of the Owner - Whom they would kill at THIS Passover.

 The picture was so clear even the religious leaders recognized Jesus was talking about them.

Pastor Bill