PREVIOUSLY IN MARK…
Season 1: Mark chapter 1-6. (May 2009)
“The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1)
Season 2: Mark chapters 7-11 (January 2011)
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
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The Temple
1) History:
2) Significance in Judaism:
3) Animals and Money-Changers:
4) What’s Jesus upset about?
What’s going on?
a) The Fig Tree
(For reference: Mark’s other “sandwiches”: Mark 3:20–35; 4:1–20; 5:21–43; 6:7–30; 11:12–21; 14:1–11; 14:17–31; 14:53–72; 15:40–16:8)
b) What was wrong with the temple?
“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Mark 11:17)
“The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
c) Jesus’ judgement on the temple
d) If there’s no temple, how are people to meet with God?
18 Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” 20 The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” 21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body. (John 2:18-21)
What does all this mean for us?
a) The messiness of life and the things in our lives which make it hard to meet with God.
– What are you truly devoted to?
b) How the messiness of our lives stops others meeting with God
c) What do we do as a church that prevents people meeting with God?
| Something I’ll do differently for Jesus this year…
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Further Reading:
- “King’s Cross”, Tim Keller
- “Becoming a contagious Christian”, Bill Hybels