BEMA 124: Statement of Triumph

Transcription Status

4 Sep 23 — Initial public release

23 May 23 — Transcript approved for release

Statement of Triumph

Brent Billings: This is The BEMA Podcast with Marty Solomon. I’m his co-host, Brent Billings. Today, we examine the triumphal entry and Jesus’s confrontation of religious corruption on all sides. In a beautiful stroke of coincidence—or providence, maybe we’ll leave that up to the listener to decide—

Marty Solomon: Oh, man.

Brent: We are releasing this episode on the 4th of July.

Marty: Oh, man. I am so nervous about whatever stroke of genius or providence this is. I’m going to try not to alienate and make mad every single listener that we have, but we’ll give us some very relevant, timely things for those listening in real-time to consider on this day.

Brent: Spoiler alert: the triumphal entry is a political maneuver on Jesus’s part.

Marty: Yes, it is, and it may give us some things to consider today. It may, it may. We’re not going to trample all over it. I’m not going to suggest that we don’t have many things to be thankful for today, for we do. We’re going to live in a wonderful place with lots of freedom. Let me just say that up front.

Brent: Although we do have some international listeners.

Marty: We do. We do. Absolutely, so they can just chuckle at us, and I’m sure enjoy this on a whole other level.

Brent: I listen to a podcast that is one American guy and one British guy and they were talking about this at some point, and he’s like, “What do British people think about Independence Day?” He was like, “We don’t think about it at all. We don’t care.”

Marty: Yes, I would imagine that’s probably the case. Alright. Well, before you start reading Brent, I’m going to do some groundwork this time. Do this a little differently—going to set some context. I’ve got some notes. We got a lot of ground to cover today. We’re not sure how far we’re going to get.

Brent: Lot of Text. Lot of context. Lot of everything.

Marty: Yes. I’m going to be in and out of reading so if it sounds like I’m in and out of reading because I am, but here we go. Matthew 21 opens with the record of the triumphal entry. We’re familiar with the image of the story. We often reenact different elements of it during our Palm Sunday celebrations. We know the picture of Jesus making the entrance on a donkey, while people wave palm branches and shout “Hosanna,” or hoshana in the Hebrew but a little historical context is going to go a long way. Jesus enters Jerusalem on the week of Passover.               

It is possible when you look at the timeline, he may have entered Jerusalem on lamb selection day, Brent Billings. That is a day when all the families would go out and choose their lamb for the Passover sacrifice. If he did, that is just stunning as he comes in the triumphal entry that he’s coming in on that same day when the lamb is chosen. We don’t know that, doesn’t tell us that, but it’s possible. Who knows? Maybe they would’ve pointed that out if that were the case. I don’t know, but it’s a possibility.

This week of Passover is significant because the tension of that region of Palestine in the Roman world, this particular region, was always one of the tensest areas that the Romans had to control. It was the home of the only group of people who refused to worship the emperor. This band of rebels was stubborn, stiff-necked, and naive. Of course, we’re talking about the Jewish people.

If you remember Herod the Great, Herod the Great was always—well, in Rome’s eyes, he was great because he could rule these Jewish people and keep political stability in this small little piece of real estate. The Roman Empire is vast. The Roman Empire stretched all the way from Spain, all the way to the boundaries of India at some points in there and the northern part of the African continent. The entire civilized world on this side of the Far East.

The fact is that this little, tiny piece of real estate was such a problem; it was the crossroads of the earth—callback to Session 2. It’s the crossroads of the earth, but this people group is such a headache for the Romans. When Herod ruled, he was able to keep that region really stable, to be quite honest. He was a genius at it. When he died, he gave his kingdom to his three sons. We’ve talked about that before.

Now, his son, all the way up in the north, which son got the north piece? That would be Caesarea…?

Brent: Philippi.

Marty: Philippi. Phillip is the son all the way up in the north. In the central part is the Herod that Jesus is always interacting with because Herod the Great is dead by the time Jesus grows up, so it’s his son, Herod—if you can remember…

Brent: Antipas.

Marty: Antipas, that’s right. Then the one in the south is the one that only lasts less than two years with his piece of the pie. He was supposed to rule this region of Judea, which was very tense, politically—just upheaval all the time. He didn’t even last two years, that was Archelaus. Archelaus was replaced by Rome’s bulldog. They chose a bulldog to come in and just stand their ground. They chose a man named Pontius Pilate, and he came and he knew how to stand his ground. That was what happened in that region.

Brent: Is that how you said that? Pontius?

Marty: Pontius, Poncious, Pontias. I always say, Pontius.

Brent: Okay.

Marty: Probably because it makes me sound pompous. Who knows.

Brent: That’s what we’re going for here.

Marty: That’s what we’re going for. Let’s just call him Pilate. Now, Pilate did not live in Yerushalayim, that’s Jerusalem. Israel’s holy city would not be the place for a dignified Roman ruler. No. Pilate made his home in Caesarea. Oh, Brent, do you have a picture of Caesarea? You never went to Caesarea. You don’t have a picture of Caesarea.

Brent: I don’t, but they’re on the Internet. We can probably find one.

Marty: We can find a Wikipedia general public source photo.

Brent: We’ll at least throw a link to—yes. I’ll put the Wikipedia page link.

Marty: This will be different than Caesarea Philippi. This is the Caesarea—this is Caesarea Maritima, they call it. This is the one that Herod built for Caesar, named it after Caesar, this whole city was built to honor Caesar. He built a harbor. He literally just built a harbor. To this day, we don’t know how he poured underwater concrete to build the Harbor of Caesarea.

It just boggles the mind. It’s one of those things that Herod did, we have no idea how he pulled off. After Herod the Great died, that was a place where those Roman generals, those Roman governors, those Roman rulers would stay as in that great palace at Caesarea. That would’ve been Pilate’s home, that immaculate city that Herod the Great built to honor the emperor.

However, on the week of Passover, everything was incredibly intense. More than a million Jews would gather in the city of Jerusalem to celebrate a feast that remembered their deliverance from the world’s greatest superpower. The last thing Rome wanted was to let this band of rebels get all fired up after a four-glasses-of-wine party and start a revolt. Like if there’s one holiday that makes me nervous as a Roman ruler, it’s the one holiday where they get together and say, “Hey, remember that time when that great superpower was overthrown by God—Egypt—and we all walked out?” We want to make sure that they don’t lose sight of what reality looks like.

Every year, Pilate would head south from Caesarea. Maybe you can grab a map as well, Brent, that shows where Caesarea is and Joppa and then Jerusalem.

Brent: Oh, okay.

Marty: Because what happens is Pilate is going to come from his home in Caesarea, he’s going to come down that coastal road to Joppa, and then he’s going to head east from Joppa into Jerusalem. Which means that Pilate ends up entering Jerusalem from the west. He would travel with great pomp, and a show of force, soldiers, trumpeters, banners, heralds, pronouncements, and then Pilate riding on a white stallion that symbolizes military conquest.

You could have heard him coming from miles away. The message he wanted to send to the Jews was clear: “Don’t even think about it, keep everything under control or Rome would crush you.” Pilate would stay at Herod’s palace. Herod had built this beautiful palace in Jerusalem. He’s got a nice place to stay for that week. It’s not that he has to rent a hotel room or stay in the Antonia Fortress. He stays in Herod’s palace in Jerusalem until the festivities have died down and then he probably goes back to his home in Caesarea.

Meanwhile, on the same week, possibly even the same day, possibly even at the same time, a humble Jewish rabbi rides into Jerusalem, from the east, with his ragtag bunch of reject disciples. You have to realize the setting that Matthew’s readers are going to understand—the Gospels that record the triumphal entry, you have to understand the historical setting that we have in that from the west comes Pilate, entering Jerusalem with power and white stallions and soldiers and armor and swords and trumpets and heralds and banners and making a huge statement of force.

From the other side on the eastern side of Jerusalem comes this dirty, sweaty rabbi riding on a stinky old donkey and his ragtag bunch of disciples. What you have here is a very literal picture of two kingdoms colliding together. Pilate on his stallion, Jesus on his donkey. Pilate with his soldiers, Jesus, with his talmidim. Pilate instilling fear, Jesus pronouncing favor. Pilate and his chaos, Jesus with his order.

To call back to Session 1, Brent, we might say Pilate with his empire, Jesus, with his shalom. A narrative of two empires. The ultimate showdown does not go unnoticed by the Jewish people. Let’s go ahead and read the story and I may stop you right before we get there, but—

Brent: I was going to say this from the last episode. Jesus at the beginning of Chapter 20 is in the Galilee and then he departs for Jerusalem. One story later, it says as he’s leaving Jericho and then the two blind men. Like, he’s booking it down to Jerusalem.

Marty: Yes he is. Yes, sure. Absolutely.

Brent: I guess, the Passover is at a specific time so you can’t really mess around.

Marty: Well, yes you got to get there in time, I suppose.

Brent: All right. Here we are Chapter 21 of Matthew, As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you and at once you will find a donkey tied there with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them and he will send them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. Say to daughter Zion, see your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest heaven.” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Marty: All right. Matthew goes ahead and makes the obvious connection to Zechariah 9 here for us. He just actually goes ahead and quotes it in the Matthew narrative. The other Gospel writers don’t record the story exactly the same way, but that’s how Matthew goes about and does it. This showdown of Pilate from the west and Jesus from the east does not go unnoticed by the Jewish people there that are gathered on the east side of Jerusalem. The moment Jesus jumps on a donkey, each one of them recognizes the clear connection to Zechariah and that passage there. You actually have it. Go ahead and read the passage out of Zechariah 9. Just give me 9:9, Brent.

Brent: Rejoice, greatly daughter of Zion, shout daughter Jerusalem. See your king comes to you righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Marty: All right. The people grab a bunch of palm fronds, and we have to go to John’s Gospel to get that detail, by the way but in putting all these stories together, we know they grab palm fronds and they begin shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna.” Why do they grab palm fronts? It sounds like the holiday of what, Brent? We’ve talked about it before. What holiday do we grab palm fronts and shout, “Hosanna?”

Brent: Palm Sunday.

Marty: Well we do Palm Sunday because of the story but what Jewish holiday do we have? The lulav?

Brent: Which is it? Shoot. It’s one where they’re doing rain, so it’s the springtime?

Marty: Nope. It’s a fall—

Brent: Oh, it’s a fall—

Marty: Because you need the rain in the winter season.

Brent: Oh, I see.

Marty: The rainy season. It’s that last fall festival, it’s after Rosh Hashanah, after Yom Kippur. We stay in Tabernacles.

Brent: Sukkot. There it is.

Marty: Sukkot. You got it. It’s a passage of Sukkot, but this is not Sukkot. What holiday are they there for?

Brent: For Passover.

Marty: Passover. What in the world are they—there are so many Sukkot references in this chapter of Matthew. Some scholars have suggested He didn’t come on Passover, He’s actually here on Sukkot. That’s how many Sukkot references you end up finding here. Why that? Because Jesus just made a clear connection to which prophet, Brent?

Brent: To Zechariah.

Marty: To Zechariah and Zechariah ends like the last chapter, the closing scene of Zechariah ends with, we pulled out a few verses. Tell us what verses you got and read them for us, Brent.

Brent: I’ve got 14:3–5. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as He fights on a day of battle. On that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem.

Marty: Where is he coming from?

Brent: He’s coming from the Mount of Olives.

Marty: Oh my gosh, this is so good. The people see it and they’re like, “This is it.” We can chastise them all we want, but how do they not make this connection? Oh, my goodness. Go ahead.

Brent: The Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah. Then the Lord, my God will come and all the holy ones with Him.

Marty: Right? They catch it. They’re like the Lord is going to go out and fight for us. You’re quoting Zechariah, we understand, we’re ready. Here comes, now keep reading because now we got to get to the palm fronts.

Brent: Even Jesus coming from the east, Pilate coming from the west—they’re splitting the town essentially if they meet in the middle?

Marty: Oh, yes absolutely. Sure.

Brent: Later in 14:16–21, Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the king, the Lord Almighty and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles, the Sukkot.

Marty: There we go.

Brent: If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague He inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

On that day, holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the Lord almighty and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. On that day, there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord almighty.

Marty: Alright. We have them grabbing palm fronds because they see the obvious connection to Zechariah. They see Jesus jump on a donkey. I know Ray always told me like the city limits are about a mile outside of the city. Ray thinks that Jesus got on a donkey, rode it 10 feet across the city limits, and then he thinks he got off and walked the rest of the way.

We picture him riding a donkey all the way in. He probably sent the donkey back in. Probably didn’t ride it for very long because he made his point. He didn’t have to get on a donkey for very long for everybody to be like, “We’re in! Let’s start the revolution. We know how Zechariah ends the Lord going out to fight for us, all the nations being punished and those that want to worship God coming to celebrate the Festival of Sukkot,” which is why they grab palm fronds and they start shouting the Sukkot song which is Psalm 118.

“Lord save us,” Psalm 118 says, “Lord grant us success.” The Hebrew for that is hoshana, hoshana. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord, we bless you. The Lord is God and he has made his light shine on us with bows in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I will praise you. You are my God and I will exalt you. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His love endures forever.”

Because of these passages, the palm fronds come out. Everybody makes the connection. Which raises a question, Brent? What’s the obvious practical question coming out here?

Brent: Well, real quick. Matthew says here others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road and you said there was something about John?

Marty: Yes.

Brent: John specifically says they’re palm branches?

Marty: Absolutely, yes.

Brent: Just wanted to follow up on that.

Marty: What’s the practical question that gets raised here? He jumps on a donkey.

Brent: How is he going to accomplish this?

Marty: Okay.

Brent: This is supposed to be this big.

Marty: Sure, absolutely. I’m even thinking even dumber here, like even more—he jumps on a donkey and everybody has palm fronds.

Brent: Yes, where did they get them?

Marty: Right? Well, the palm frond was the symbol of which party, Brent.

Brent: Sukkot.

Marty: That was the holiday, which party? Which one of the five sects of Judaism’s symbol is the palm frond?

Brent: Oh, Zealots.

Marty: Zealots. It was a crucifiable offense to wave a palm frond in the Roman Empire. I don’t know if it’s that way at this point in history, because if so, these people are all committing a capital offense here. At least later in Roman history, the palm frond is so associated with the zealot that to wave one in public got you crucified. They start waving palm—it makes me think that people are ready for revolution. Essentially, to say it another way, they come to Passover packing. They’re packing palm front heat, like they’re ready to Sukkot this thing.

Brent: Is there any other practical use for a palm frond? Would you…

Marty: Not that I’m aware of, not for Passover. Again, this makes some scholars go, we have Sukkot. We don’t have Passover, we have Sukkot. I completely disagree. I’m not supporting that claim. There’s so much of it but the people are calling out for a revolution. They see the statement that Jesus is making about kingship and they’re ready for a king and they give them all their support and all their praise.

You know what Jesus does, Brent? He cries. Go ahead and read me the Luke conversation. This isn’t in Matthew but Luke gives us a little bit of context that Matthew doesn’t.

Brent: As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, “If you, even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace but now it is hidden from your eyes.”

Marty: He weeps over Jerusalem. Their response makes Jesus weep. I just love the irony of how we gather together in churches all around the country and wave palm fronds on Palm Sunday, the very thing that made Jesus cry, which is fine. It’s wonderful. Keep doing that, but my goodness, the irony is thick. Nevertheless, why is it that he weeps? Well, what if we read his verse and Zechariah 9 in context. Go ahead and read me that 9 and 10. Zechariah 9:9-10.

Brent: Rejoice greatly, daughter Zion, shout, daughter Jerusalem. See your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

Marty: He talks about peace. He talks about taking away the warhorses, taking away the chariots, taking away the violence—and they want violence. Jesus goes, “Oh, you just don’t get it.” Let me go back to my notes here. I’ve always been amazed that every year we hand our children palm fronds and have them reenact the very scene that made our savior weep. This isn’t what actually haunts me the most. I’m sure Jesus is able to see the statement we are making with our hearts as we sing the words Hosanna, in spite of ourselves.

I think he accepts the worship that we are offering. What haunts me is the question of which kingdom I really want. I say I want the Kingdom of God, but I’m not sure I’m willing to pay the price. I say that I love forgiveness, but there are far too many days when I find myself on the side of the road, clutching a palm frond and shouting for a revolution that comes with my kind of power and my kind of might. I think we need to ask some questions because I think our political agendas and methods would make Jesus weep.

I think there’s a moment to pause here on July 4. I cannot believe the Lord let us publish and planned it in such a way where this is the stinking lesson we’re talking about on July 4. I do not want to offend, but my goodness, what a time we celebrate with fireworks and our freedom, which we ought to be thankful for.

As we get pulled into this narrative that wants us to celebrate war, I think our thirst for power, influence, and a particular kind of security would cause Jesus to lament over our cities and our country. I think far too much of our American culture has us standing at the west side of Jerusalem, not the east.

What’s interesting is that in two of the accounts we are told, there are donkeys. You pointed this out last time, Brent, and you were like, “Hey, there were how many blind men?”

Brent: Two blind men.

Marty: How many in Matthew? How many demoniacs?

Brent: Two.

Marty: Right. Matthew keeps including two of everything. Another Gospel writer does this for the donkeys, but Matthew does it elsewhere. Matthew keeps showing up with two—two blind men, two demoniacs, two donkeys—which is interesting because Jesus only rides how many donkeys?

Brent: He only needs one.

Marty: He only needs one donkey. He doesn’t need two. To ride two donkeys at the same time would be quite the feat. Why do we have another donkey? It might be an effort to make the account line up with the prophecy of Zechariah. Matthew is blatantly using a tool in his Gospel that is common in Jewish literature. The rabbis tell us that a teacher will often insert an additional character into the story as a way of inviting you as the listener, as the hearer, as the reader, to a moment of decision.

In the story the two blind men and two demoniacs, you are being invited into the story. If you were the other blind man, if you were the other demoniac, what would you do? There are two donkeys in the triumphal entry. Jesus rides into Jerusalem, not to conquer, but to die. He rides in to bring true peace that might last for an eternity, not a political peace that will last only for now. He rides in to restore relationships and reconcile all things, not to establish a country club.

As you watch Jesus tearfully ride into His death, you see Him glance over His shoulder, at the rider-less donkey that you are faced with a question, which kingdom do you really want? He invites you and I to ride with him into a Kingdom that is built on different values. Those are my thoughts on the triumphal entry. Just a pretty—and again, what a weird date to publish this episode on here. Oh, my goodness.

Brent: Well, you know.

Marty: Whatever it is, let’s try to knock out some more things while we’re here. See how far we can get in this chapter. I doubt we’re going to get to the end.

Brent: You brought up Psalm 118?

Marty: Yes.

Brent: Going up to the altar. What do you think Jesus is going to do?

Marty: Well, he’s headed to the altar.

Brent: Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves. It is written. He said to them, “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.”

Marty: Alright. The context here, just as we’re passing by, the context here is that, in the market, not the market, they’ve turned it into a market on the Temple Mount. You have a whole section that is designed for the Gentile, the outsider. They are not allowed to go into the courts of the temple. They can only get close to the temple and look at God, gaze on God, worship God, if you will, from a distance. That’s just how the Levitical system was set up.

That space is reserved for them. That’s their space. What the priesthood had done, what the chief priests had done is they had turned it into a marketplace, a place of worship designated for the outsider they had turned into a market for convenience and the mission. I will talk about the “Booths of Ananus.” Now, Ananus is the Hebrew way you say, Annas. It’s the same Annas and Ciaphas. Annas that you find in your Gospel accounts, but the Booths of Ananus were run by the priesthood.

When you came to the temple and you had Roman money, you weren’t allowed to take that Roman money onto the Temple Mount. You had to exchange it. You had money changes there. You had to use the proper currency so you weren’t committing idolatry when you gave your tithe and your offerings. Imagine if we had that headache when we went to church. You also needed sacrifices. Well, it had to be an approved sacrifice. The priest said, don’t worry, we’ll sell you sacrifices here on-site and then that can make that easy for you. They’ll already be approved sacrifices. Now, guess who sold you the sacrifices, Brent?

Brent: The priests.

Marty: Guess who decided whether or not the sacrifice was okay.

Brent: The priests.

Marty: Guess who set the price on those sacrifices.

Brent: The priests.

Marty: Guess who raised the sacrifices.

Brent: The priests.

Brent: Interesting. It would seem like this system is probably ripe for a little bit of corruption and they’ve planted it smack dab in the middle of the place that’s supposed to be designated for worship for the outsiders. This is why Jesus gets so angry and frustrated. Now, there is a conversation with the cleansing of the temple. It says He makes a—what does it say in Matthew? Does it talk about the whip? He makes a whip?

Marty: No, it doesn’t say that.

Brent: Just says He overturned it.

Marty: It’s overturned. That’s the other Gospel writers that talk about how he “makes a whip out of cords.” One of those is John and it is possible the phrase, “to make a whip out of cords” can sometimes be used as a Rabbi using his tzitzit, his tassels. It is possible that Jesus didn’t physically whip people, but he used his tassels to shake them in the face, telling people, reminding people of their obedience, saying, “You’re not being obedient.”

He shakes his tallit at them, driving them out of the temple. I’m not sure if I’m willing to go there, but one friend of mine made a really good observation. John puts the cleansing of the temple at the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry in John 2. Every other Gospel puts it here at the end of Jesus’s ministry. There could be two cleansings. You have to explain on some level why John wants to move it. Why does John move it to the beginning of Jesus’s life and the chronology?

There could have been two cleansings. If there was, that makes me think of one thing and one thing only directly. There is one instance, Brent, in Torah, where you have to cleanse a house twice. Can you remember what that is? It’s very obscure.

Brent: Oh, obscure. I was going to say Passover.

Marty: Nope.

Brent: That’s not obscure. Gosh, I don’t know.

Marty: In Leviticus, we are given instructions about what to do when your house gets mold. What you do is you come into the house, you clear everything out of the house, you clean it, you clear the house and then you come back two weeks later to see if the mold has grown. If the mold has grown, you have to tear the house down.

Now, what I find so juicy about the potential of there being two cleansings, two cleaning outs of the temple is it’s almost like at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus comes in and if he did shake tassels, this is where I think he shook the tassels. He cleared it out just by calling for obedience. Then he came back two years later. In fact, the mold hadn’t gone away, it had spread. Then he drives it out and starts talking about how the Temple will be what, Brent?

Brent: Will be destroyed.

Marty: I think that is just so fantastic. Beautifully juicy.

Brent: Yes, that’s good.

Marty: I could be stretching it, but I think that is a really interesting little tidbit, but nevertheless, I leave that with our listeners to wrestle with. Go ahead and keep reading.

Brent: The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple and He healed them but when the chief priest and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the temple court hosanna to the son of David,” They were indignant. “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus. “Have you never read ‘from the lips of children and infants, you Lord have called forth your praise’?” He left them and went out to the city to Bethany where He spent the night. That’s a pretty strong call out on the teachers of the law. Have you never read the Psalms?

Marty: Yes. Well, absolutely. What’s interesting is the Psalms are their hymnal. This is the chief priests. The priesthood, well, they use the Psalms in their temple worship. He’s calling out their hymnal there, but yes, absolutely. It’s like, [chuckles] “Do you not know your own book?”

Brent: Moving on. Early in the morning as Jesus was on His way back to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then He said to it, “May you never bear fruit again.” Immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” They asked. Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and it’ll be done. If you believe you’ll receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Marty: It seems like Jesus, all of a sudden, has a really weird little temper tantrum here. He’s having a bad day with a priest, goes in and cleanses the temple. He’s still fuming as he walks out to Jerusalem. Goes to a fig tree—it’s not even the season for figs—he’s mad and he curses a fig tree. He has a little temper tantrum and kills a fig tree. It’s just the weirdest story, right? But we know better.

Brent: The people want violence and they’re getting it. [laughs]

Marty: Jesus is directing His violence at the trees. We know better about that than a rabbi, especially a brilliant rabbi like Jesus, He’s going to do everything for a purpose and for a reason and so He curses a tree. He’s not literally having a temper tantrum because the tree doesn’t have fruit. He’s trying to teach his disciples something, He’s trying to show his disciples something. He is trying to talk about this fruitless tree. This tree is not bearing the fruit that I want it to bear and then he curses it.

Now, everybody wants to make the connection between the fig tree and the people of Israel, but that is not the right connection in the Jewish world. In Jewish literature, in the Old Testament, a fig tree never represents the Jewish people, Israel, the olive tree does, pomegranate tree sometimes does, the vine, the grapevine is considered a tree in Hebrew thought. Grapevine can be God’s people, but the fig tree is used for something very, very specific.

That comes out of Proverbs 27:18. Do you have that verse, Brent?

Brent: The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever protects their master will be honored.

Marty: The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit and the one who—what’s it say?

Brent: Protects their master will be honored.

Marty: Protects their master. The word for protect can also be serves—serves their master. Now, the word for master is the word rav. It is the same root that rabbi is going to come from later. Jewish thought, we’ve talked about this before, connected Elijah to that first rabbi, Elijah and Elisha rabbi disciple because Elijah was called master. We talked about that with the crumbs under the master’s table, Elijah was master and so master was connected to rabbi.

The rabbinic teaching surrounding Proverbs 27:18 was when you serve your rabbi, you get to receive his teachings. The teachings of a rabbi are like sweet fruit. A fig tree is like—I think we talked about a fig tree in Session 1, perhaps, Brent. A fig tree is like a candy store in your backyard. You have a fig tree, you’ve got something really special because it is the most. They don’t have candy, they don’t have sugar in their world.

A fig is one of the sweetest things that you can get your hands on. It is like sugar, it is like candy. A fig tree eating figs is like eating sweet things and to sit under a rabbi is to get sweet things as you listen to his teachings. They said this Proverbs 27:18, “Those who guard a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who protects his master will be honored.” Listen. It’s that whole idea of rabbinical leadership.

A fig tree symbolizes not the people of God, but the leaders of God; whether that’s Pharisees, whether that’s Sadducees—Jesus is really going after the Sadducees here. When I see the fig tree, I think Sadducees. We could also think Pharisees, that’s fine. I mean, Jesus is going to have a whole chapter coming up here where He’s going to have seven woes to the Pharisees. He’s plenty mad at both, but Jesus is very, very upset on God’s behalf about the spiritual leadership that is failing his people like sheep without a shepherd, “You have lost my sheep.” Jesus said elsewhere.

Jesus is worked up when He curses a fig tree, the disciples see that and I believe the disciples catch it. I don’t think their response says they don’t catch it. I think their response says they do catch it because what do they say, Brent? They say, how did the fig tree wither so quickly? Jesus’s response, either they totally missed it and they’re a bunch of nudnicks because like the yeast conversation. They’re like, “Oh, no, we forgot lunch.”

They either missed it on that degree, or they’re saying, “Hey, how is this corrupt leadership, Jesus? We get your point. How is this corrupt leadership going to fall that quickly? Because they sure seem to be here to stay.” Jesus says, and he makes a political statement, “I tell you that if you do not doubt, not only can you do what was done in the fig tree, but you can say to this mountain”—now what do we know about rabbis, Brent?

Brent: You gotta be able to point at whatever you’re talking about.

Marty: You gotta be able to point. Which mountain? Well, He’s on the Mount of Olives and on a clear day you could easily see the mountain of Herodium. Remember Herod is the one that brought in the chief priest, Herod is the one that brought in this leadership. I think Jesus points at Herodium in the distance and says, “You can say to this mountain, go throw yourself into the sea and it will be done.”

I think Jesus says, and the way it’s worded in other Gospels is you can move—like we always say, you can move mountains, right? You can say to this mountain, “move,” and it will move. Herodium was built on what, Brent?

Brent: On a mountain that didn’t used to be there.

Marty: Right. Herod literally built a mountain, he moved a mountain. I wonder if Jesus says, “Don’t tell me that this Herod character can move mountains literally just because he has wealth and power and that a little bit of faith”—because we said the Kingdom of Heaven was like a little what?

Brent: Like a mustard seed.

Marty: Like a little bit of mustard seed, like a little bit of yeast. “Don’t tell me that a little bit of faith can’t do more than this guy’s flesh. You can take this down. This is your call.” And that’s the teaching of the fig tree. Let’s do one more Brent.

Brent: Jesus entered the temple courts. I guess he’s going back in.

Marty: He’s going after these Sadducees, by the way. Whoa. Not the Pharisees at this point, he’s going in to directly confront religious corruption. He knows he’s going to die.

Brent: Where do you suppose this fig tree was? I guess this is early in the morning. This is the next day.

Marty: There’s a couple of different Gospel accounts that you have to harmonize, if you will, to try to figure out how this lined up. It seems like he’s on his way out and then he’s coming back in when you put the Gospel accounts together. This seems to be the next day.

Brent: Okay. Next day, but where do you suppose the fig tree is? Is this close to the temple?

Marty: Yes, I would imagine it’s right across the Kidron Valley, which is where he appears to be staying, in what’s called the gat shemanim, Gethsemane. We’ll talk about that later, but He’s in an olive press just off the eastern side of Jerusalem in the Kidron Valley. I would imagine this fig tree is on one of those two sides, but you are close. You’re looking at Jerusalem. That famous iconic picture that you and I think of when we think of Jerusalem, you’re in that vicinity with the fig tree.

Brent: All right. Jesus entered the temple courts and while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him. By what authority are you doing these things? They asked, and who gave you this authority?

Marty: They wanted to know about his what? Brent, can you remember the word?

Brent: S’micha.

Marty: S’micha. Right. They want to know about His s’micha. Where’d you get your s’micha from? You’re doing an awful lot of things like you’re somebody and I don’t remember you coming up through the school system. Who are you again? Aren’t you the son of the carpenter? You didn’t walk through bet sefer and bet midrash and bet talmud like everybody else did. Where’d you get this? I don’t remember any rabbis laying their hands on you.

Brent: Would He not have done bet sefer?

Marty: He could have. He might have, but again, if Bruce Chilton, who we quoted in the last episode is correct, I don’t think he would’ve been admitted to bet sefer, if he would’ve been seen as a true illegitimate birth, a mamzer, I don’t think they would’ve let him in. He might not have gone through bet sefer in the same way that your normal average kid. That’s a debate. Not every scholar agrees with that but we don’t know.

Brent: Jesus replied. I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism, where did it come from? Was it from heaven or of human origin?

Marty: Now Jesus gives a really weird answer. They want to know about s’micha and he deflects John’s baptism. Like what? Again, this is one of those passages I go to—I believe John is his rabbi. This only makes sense to me if John is his rabbi. “Where’d you get your authority from?” Jesus says, “It depends. Where do you think John’s authority came from? Because John didn’t have his authority through your fancy pants school system. John didn’t have the letters after his name. John didn’t have formal authority. You tell me.”

Brent: They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say from heaven, you will ask then why didn’t you believe him? But if we say of human origin, we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

Marty: They’re stuck in a little conundrum here. They can’t go either direction. Jesus puts them in a corner and they can’t decide which way they want to go.

Brent: They answer, “Jesus, we don’t know.” Then He said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Marty: See, I think that’s Jesus. His rabbi is John and they want to know where’d you get your s’micha from and He wants to know, well, do you respect John’s s’micha? Because if you respect John’s s’micha, that’s where my s’micha came from. If you don’t, I’m not going to play this game.

It’s not an honest question. I think he knows that they can’t, they don’t respect it. He is going to fight a losing battle if he tries to tell them where his authority came from, but he also knows that they can’t admit where their position stands. Jesus just kicks the question back, puts them in a corner. They refuse to back out of their corner, and Jesus refuses to back out of his. Just brilliant rabbinical judo if you ask me.

Brent: He’s pretty good at what he does.

Marty: Pretty good. All right, Brent, I think that’s enough for today.

Brent: Alright.

Marty: Whoa. Yes, it is.

Brent: Well, if you would like to discuss this blockbuster episode—

Marty: Go ahead and email Brent this time.

Brent: Yes, yes. Just email me. Sure.

[laughter]

Brent: If you say so.

Marty: Oh, man.

Brent: No, if you want answers, you got to get into a discussion group and wrestle through this with other people. We can try to answer questions, but really, it’s the wrestling that’s going to get you somewhere.

Marty: Marty can be wrong, by the way. I can be wrong about all this Independence Day stuff and triumphal entry. Maybe we got it all right. Maybe it’s all okay. Maybe it all goes together. Who knows. I’m not the one who gets to decide that, so we’ve got to wrestle with it.

Brent: Exactly.

Marty: Because I could be wrong.

Brent: Your own community is the best place to do that, for sure.

Marty: Yes, you got it.

Brent: Check out the map on bemadiscipleship.com. We’ve got discussion groups all over the place. If there’s not one in your area, we’d love to help you start one, as well, so we can maybe wrestle with some things with you and help you start a group all at the same time. It’d be great. Thanks for joining us on The BEMA Podcast. We’ll talk to you again soon.