Jesus Raises the Temperature

If you are just joining us, we started something back in February called Following Jesus.

This is a basically year-long study of the book of Matthew, which is one of the main accounts of the life, the teachings, the actions of Jesus.

And our point with this is very simple.

We want to understand Jesus better.

We want to know him better.

We want to see him more clearly because he's everything.

He is the answer.

Jesus himself put it this way: He says in John 14, 6, I'm the way, the truth, and the life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.

In John 4, he's at a well with this woman that he's talking to, and he says, Anyone who drinks this water from this well will soon become thirsty again, but those who drink the water that I give will never be thirsty again.

It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.

Jesus makes really bold claims about himself.

He doesn't just say that I will show you the way, I will point to the way.

He says, I am the way.

And he doesn't just say that he's going to challenge us to live a different kind of life.

He actually says, I will be the source of that life.

I will give you that life.

I will empower you to live an entirely different kind of life.

And if you've been following Jesus for long, you've experienced that.

You've experienced this reality where I could not be the person I am today apart from him.

I did not get to where I am today because of reading the right self-help books, although those are often helpful.

It wasn't just having the right people in my life pouring into me, although that's very helpful.

It's no, I have this connection, this relationship with the God who created me, and he's changing me.

He's doing work that I cannot do on my own.

We need Jesus.

And so the more clearly we see him, the better we understand him, the closer we can be to him.

And even if you're here and you're not a Jesus follower and you're just kind of checking this out, you're not sure if you're gonna agree with those claims that he's the way, the truth, and the life.

At the very least, Jesus is super interesting.

So you're not wasting your time.

And I think that what we're gonna study today is at the very least going to uh to make your eyebrows raise a little bit and go, whoa, I I may have never known that Jesus did that, or at least not in that way.

I'm super excited about what we're gonna talk about today because we're actually starting a new little mini-series within our following Jesus study called Boiling Point.

Jesus is raising the temperature.

Everything is about to hit this moment where it all comes to a head.

Tension has been building for a while.

Jesus has been doing miracles, he's been teaching things, he's made a lot of enemies, and now Jesus is about to take things to a whole other level.

Things are reaching a boiling point.

And it's gonna come as a huge surprise to his disciples.

Jesus is about to step into a situation, and from their perspective, it's gonna go horribly wrong.

From their perspective, from the perspective of Jesus' family, from the perspective of his enemies, basically from the perspective of anyone not named Jesus, everything is about to go terribly wrong.

And I'm sure we've all had situations in life where you think things are going a certain way, everything feels like it's going in a good direction, then all of a sudden something comes along and it just goes south fast.

I know when I was in college, I was thinking about that this week, this brought this to my mind.

I interned at a church for about two years before I was here at his hands.

And I remember when I was like 1920, I was a new intern, and we had this event.

The interns, there were about 20 of us, we were supposed to put this event on at our church.

And to be honest, I felt like my fellow interns weren't pulling their weight.

Like they just weren't.

It kind of felt like one of those group projects where you do all the work.

If you ever had one of those back in high school, that's how I felt anyway.

So I was like, you know what?

This is important.

I'm just gonna power through, I'm gonna get us there, and I took over.

And from my perspective, things went awesome.

Like I did a good job, and the event went really well, and I felt like I felt like it was a success.

And so the next week the pastor called me into his office, and I was excited because I knew what this was about.

This was like, wow, Justin, we did not know you were this good.

Uh we had high hopes, but we were blown away.

I walk in, and Roy was a great guy, his name was Roy, and also this was in Kansas City, Missouri.

And so the South, like, we're very different here.

We we have a way of buttering people up first, and you know, we say nice, we say mean things in nice ways, you know what I mean?

But you know, up north more direct.

And so he kind of had me fooled because normally he would just boom tell you exactly what it is, but it felt like a compliment.

We started this meeting and he said, Hey, that event was really cool and great job.

And I'm sitting there like, yeah, this is an attaboy meeting, I'm about to get the gold star, whatever.

And then he he said, You know, Justin, you remind me of a speedboat.

And I thought, that's a pretty cool compliment, right?

Like a speedboat.

He was a late guy, and so I'm sitting there like, yeah, like I'm I'm not showing it, but in the inside, I'm like, speedboat, this is I like it.

And right after he said that, he said, and if you take the time to turn around, you would notice how many people are drowning in your wake.

I know, I felt the same way.

I had the exact same experience.

I was like, oh, this isn't a good meeting.

This is not, I'm not getting a promotion or whatever.

This is not how this is going.

And the point he made was, hey, yeah, you powered through and you got a lot of stuff done, but no one enjoyed working with you.

And uh, I was like, that's kind of their fault, but no, that's all good.

I've learned.

But no, like, he basically said, you know, you're like a guy who's doing his thing and ruining the lake experience for everyone else on the water.

And once I got past my initial pride, I could see that.

And it's something that I will still at times struggle with, but it has gotten better.

But it was just one of those situations where I thought things were going really well.

I thought I did a great job.

I thought he was really proud and he was gonna commend me.

The meeting, speedboat, sounded like things were headed in a good direction, and then quickly things turned, and I was like, oh, I'm being coached and challenged and corrected.

I did not see this coming.

The disciples have no idea what's about to happen.

They think Jesus is a few days away from a coronation, not a crucifixion.

We actually see that in Matthew chapter 20.

Matthew 20 · chapter mention

It says that the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt respectfully to ask a favor.

What is your request?

He asked, and she replied, In your kingdom, please let my two sons sit in the places of honor next to you, one on your right, the other to your left.

And Jesus basically says, You have no idea what you're asking for.

But that's right on the cusp of where we're gonna be in the story today.

They think that everything's about to, everything's about to go amazing.

They think that Jesus is about to be crowned king and that means they're gonna have earthly authority.

That's the way they think this is going.

Jesus knows differently, and he tells them, You don't know what you're asking for.

Things are about to get intense.

And so let's actually just jump right in and pick up where we left off last week.

And if you're new, uh, we'll get you caught up real quick.

Jesus has been traveling all over the place, and when we last uh left off, Jesus had traveled from Capernaum, which was in the northern part of Israel near the Sea of Galilee.

That's where he lived for most of his ministry, and he's made his way all the way down south to this region called Judea, and he's on the other side of the Jordan River.

He's not that far away from Jerusalem, which is the capital.

And this happens to be around the time of Passover, so literally hundreds of thousands of Jewish people would travel to Jerusalem at this time.

The roads are crazy, lots of stuff's going on.

Okay?

And so from there, it says that as Jesus and the disciples left the town of Jericho, a large crowd followed behind.

Two blind men were sitting beside the road, and when they heard that Jesus was coming that way, they began shouting, Lord, son of David, have mercy on us.

Be quiet.

The crowd yelled at them, but they only shouted louder, Lord, son of David, have mercy on us.

And when Jesus heard them, he stepped, he stopped and called, What do you want me to do for you?

Lord, they said, We want to see.

And it says that Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes, and instantly they could see, and they followed him.

So we'll bring our map back up.

Jesus leaves that area that he was on on the other side of the Jordan River.

He goes to Jericho, and that is where he encounters these blind men.

Now, interesting quick side note, super quick.

This has actually been somewhat of a controversial scripture.

Not because Jesus heals people, that's sort of par for the course for Jesus.

If you have a hard time with that idea, you're just gonna have a hard time with Jesus, because he does that everywhere he goes.

But it says that this happened when Jesus was leaving Jericho.

In Luke's gospel, it actually says in Luke chapter 18, verse 35, that as Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside and begging.

Luke 18:35

And so for years this was sort of used as a kind of gotcha thing by biblical critics to say, see, the Bible doesn't even agree with itself.

You know, Jesus is leaving Jericho in one of the stories, he's entering Jericho in the other.

Clear contradiction.

But I'm just gonna say this real quick interesting historical note.

There were two Jerichos at the time of Jesus.

I'm gonna show you on the map where they were.

Um, so we have two cities called Jericho, and they're actually right next to each other.

Just boom.

There was the Old Testament Jericho, which, if you're familiar with the story of the walls coming down, that was that Jericho.

It still existed at the time of Jesus.

But King Herod, the same King Herod who tried to kill Jesus as a baby, uh, was hugely involved in this new project to build a new Jericho, and they were literally right next to each other.

So it just so happens that you could be leaving Jericho and entering Jericho at the exact same time.

It's an interesting detail, and I just bring this up because sometimes, look, there are challenges with scripture for sure.

It's an ancient document.

I mean, the newest parts of it are 2,000 years old.

And so sometimes when we're reading stuff and it's in a different language and at a different time, you know, there can be challenges.

But so often, so often, when we encounter something in scripture and it's like, ooh, this seems like a contradiction, if you do research, if you know history, you find that there are really clear answers for a lot of those things.

In fact, most weeks we record a midweek podcast and we put that out there.

This week we're actually going to have a conversation about our ability to trust the scriptures that we read.

And how much trust can we have in their accuracy and their validity.

And so, if that's something you're interested in, kind of like this Jericho detail, give a listen this Wednesday, whenever we post that.

But let's get back.

Jesus heals these guys.

And they they use a very specific phrase in reference to Jesus, and this is important for what we're going to talk about today.

They call him the son of David.

This is a claim of kingship.

This is a claim of royalty.

All the prophecies about the Messiah, the Savior that they were waiting for were that that man would come from the line of David.

So when they yell out, Son of David, they are saying, We think you're the Messiah.

We believe you're the king that we've been waiting for.

It's a big deal.

It says after this, in Matthew 21, that they begin to approach Jerusalem.

And as they approach Jerusalem, they came to a place called Bethphage on the Mount of Olives.

And 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.

And if anyone asks 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 the daughter, to daughter Zion, see, your king comes to you, gentle, and riding on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So Jesus sends his disciples.

We'll bring up the map again.

We've got a lot of traveling happening today.

They go from Jericho, and now they're gonna make their way all the way to this place called Bethphage, which is really, really close to Jerusalem.

So you guys will see that on the map as it gets brought up.

Um they are uh, well, nope, we'll come back to that one way later.

No worries.

Spoiler alert, Jesus goes to the temple.

You saw it.

We'll get there.

So Jesus makes his way to this place called Bethphage.

And it's right outside of Jerusalem.

There's a couple other cities nearby.

One's called Bethany.

We'll see Jesus there, really close to this place called the Mount of Olives.

And while he's there, he takes this cult, this donkey, not exactly a majestic creature.

He's about to make his entrance into Jerusalem.

This may not be what you would choose if you were going to make your entrance as the coming Messiah, but it's very powerful because it actually connects to a scripture in the book of Zechariah, and it's all about peace.

He's not coming on a war horse.

He's coming in peace.

And so we see Jesus from this point make his way into the city of Jerusalem.

We see that in Matthew 21, 6, the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them, and they brought the donkey and the colt, and they placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

And 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?

And the crowds answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.

Now, we'll pause here for a second.

I want you to lock this image in your mind of all these people with palm branches.

It's very significant.

Shouting Hosanna.

Hosanna is a word that we only really see here in Scripture.

It means save us, but it also is a recognition of praise and a recognition of how powerful the person you're saying that to is.

This wouldn't be something you would shout to just a random person that you needed help from.

This is a this is an adoring phrase.

This is a worshipful phrase.

They say Hosanna, they've got palm branches, they're laying those in front of Jesus.

And so imagine this: you're the disciples, you've been with Jesus all this time, he's done miracles, you've got all this momentum.

All the people are now watching, all the people are shouting, Hosanna, save us.

People are calling you him the son of David.

Like it's happening.

You're sitting there, you're thinking, it's happening.

It's finally happening.

People know who he is.

Now we're here.

He's in Jerusalem.

And where is Jesus going to go?

Like if you're Jesus and you've got all this momentum and all these people calling you the son of David and shouting Hosanna, you've got them.

Where are you going to go?

You're going to go to maybe Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of that area.

You're going to walk right up to his door and say, hey man, it's time to pack your bags, it's time to leave.

Like the real king is in town.

I'm sure a lot of people were anticipating that.

They were desperate for Jesus to get rid of Roman rule.

Or maybe, maybe Jesus is going to take all the people and use all this momentum and strike while the iron is hot and march up to this fortress called Antonia.

I'm going to show you guys a rendering of this.

There was a fortress that the Romans built, and it was actually attached to the outer wall of the temple in Jerusalem.

And so this isn't an actual picture, this no longer exists, but this is a rendering.

Over on the bottom left corner, that would be like the courts of the temple.

And this fortress was actually something that King Herod, the same King Herod that tried to kill Jesus as a baby, had allowed to be built in partnership with Rome.

And so if you were a Jewish person worshiping in the temple, the Romans were always watching over you.

There was a Roman fortress that literally you shared a wall with, and they hated that.

I mean, the Romans were outsiders, the Romans were oppressors to them, they want to worship their God.

The Romans wanted them to worship other gods, and all this tension is always happening.

And you have a Roman fortress attached to your temple.

Maybe Jesus is going to take a group and go right up to that fortress and just take them out.

But that's not what Jesus does.

He doesn't go to Pilate, He doesn't go to the fortress.

He does something that no one really expects.

Matthew chapter 21.

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

It says that Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.

He overturned the tables of money of the money changers 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.

John chapter 2 gives us more context.

John 2 · chapter mention

It says the Jewish leaders demanded, What are you doing?

If God gave you the authority to do this, show us miracles, show us signs to prove it.

All right, Jesus replied.

What they exclaimed, it has taken forty-six years to build this temple.

You can rebuild it in three days.

But when Jesus said this temple, he meant his own body.

After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed both the scriptures and what he had said.

So Jesus does not go to Pilate, he doesn't go to the Roman officials, he doesn't go to the Roman soldiers, he goes directly into the Jewish temple, the place of worship, and he causes an unbelievable stir.

I mean, he's flipping tables over.

It's easy for us to imagine this in sort of a low-key way.

Like he's just sort of doing that.

I mean, this is intense.

When my daughter was in kindergarten, she came back home one day and told me this story, and it became a phrase in our home.

We have a phrase at our house called Going Full Parker.

There was a boy in her class named Parker.

He has since grown and become a better kid.

Okay?

So he was in kindergarten, cut him slack.

But the story goes that Parker acted up.

And my daughter's teacher looked at Parker and said, Parker, if you do that again, you're gonna lose one of your tokens.

You know, they got prizes and things, and Parker grunted.

So the teacher upped the ante and said, Parker, you need to control yourself.

I'm gonna take away two tokens.

So Parker took his pencil box and threw it on the floor.

And so the teacher said, That's three tokens, and Parker picked up his chair and threw it across the room.

That's what we call going full Parker.

Okay?

Like we'll have that conversation at home.

Like, oh, Eli just went full Parker.

Jesus went full Parker, okay?

He like, he's he walks into the temple and he's tossing these tables over, and other other gospels give us more details that he actually fashioned a whip out of leather.

Like that's think about this.

He fashioned a whip out of leather, out of leather.

And even go buy a whip.

He made one.

And he's chasing people out of the temple.

This is craziness.

This is chaos.

Now, if you know the story and the context, there's there's good reason for Jesus to do this.

This was supposed to be a place where people were worshiping God, but the people in charge of the temple were taking advantage of them.

A lot of different things were happening.

You had to give your tax to the temple, your offering, in a very specific currency, and it was not the currency that people carried.

And so, before you could give your offering, you had to go exchange your money for the temple's preferred currency, and they would just charge you a convenience fee for that.

And so you have people, poor people, trying to give to their God, and the leaders of the temple are turning this into a for-profit enterprise.

Also, you had to bring a dove or another type of animal to offer as a sacrifice.

The dove was like the least you could bring.

So the poorest people would have doves, but you had to have your animals inspected by the official inspectors of the temple, and chances are they were gonna say, hey, I'm so sorry, this animal does not meet our standards, but good news, we happen to have some animals for sale that are, they've been pre-inspected for you.

And it just so happens that those animals would be vastly more expensive than the market rate.

It's kind of like when you're in the airport and you go to get something to drink, you're like, oh, a Coke, five dollars?

It's like, where are you gonna go?

Where else are you gonna go?

That was the same thing that they did.

And interestingly, the high priest, his family happened to own all the stables inside of the temple that you would have to buy your animals from.

So, as you can see, like Jesus, he walks in, and this is supposed to be a place where people are coming to worship God, and that's what people want to do, but these people have taken it and they've made it into this like merchandise thing.

They've made it into this prophet exercise, and Jesus loses it and he's flipping tables, and it's chaos.

And if you're the disciples, again, you're sitting there like, ooh, I don't know if this is a good idea.

You know, like Jesus, you know best, but I think maybe we could go to Pilate's house.

I think maybe we go to that fortress over there, but I mean, what are you doing, Jesus?

Now, here's what's really cool.

I need you guys to nerd out with me for a second to appreciate this, because there's so many details.

Jesus, I said the wrong phrase a minute ago.

I said it, he's losing it.

He's not.

He's not going full parker, he's not losing control.

Jesus does everything on purpose.

This is incredibly intentional, what Jesus is doing.

And who knows where this originated in his mind, the decision to go directly to the temple and do this, but it may have had something to do with those palm branches that everyone laid out in front of him.

I want to show you guys a couple of coins from this same time period in Israel, roughly.

Okay, so I'm gonna show you a couple coins real quick.

So, as you can tell, these are ancient coins, and they have something engraved on them, and it's palm branches.

You see the palm branches on the bottom one, and then on the top, you see an actual palm tree with palm branches.

This symbol was incredibly important to the people of Israel.

Just about 150 years before Jesus, there was this uprising, and it was called the Maccabean Revolution.

There was a man named Judas Maccabeus, and he led the Jewish people to freedom from not the Romans, the Romans hadn't quite risen to that level of power yet, but to the Syrians who were in control of Israel at that time.

Israel always just sort of passed from, once they were conquered, they just sort of passed from one empire to another empire, never had freedom until Judas Maccabeus led a rebellion against a Syrian ruler named Antiochus.

Now, Antiochus, the people hated him.

And he hated Judaism, he hated their religion.

And so he actually wanted to force the people of Israel to worship Zeus, and he made it his purpose to rid the world of their faith.

And one of the things that Antiochus had done was to have pigs sacrificed in the temple of God.

The Jewish people, that was a detestable act.

But intentionally, he had pigs sacrificed on their altars, which tainted their altars, it desecrated everything.

And he essentially dedicated their temple to the worship of all these false gods, and terrible things were happening in the temple, and all of it was on purpose for Antiochus to make a mockery of their faith.

What he didn't understand is what this would do to the people.

And Judas Maccabe, he raises up along with all these other people.

He's from a priestly family, and they essentially storm Israel and they push Antiochus out and they reclaim Jerusalem.

And in doing so, they actually made an alliance with Rome.

There's all kinds of interesting historical things that happen here.

This is directly connected to Herod the Great and his family, which is going to happen years later, all kinds of interesting stuff.

But for a period of about a hundred years, Israel had freedom for the first time in centuries.

And when Judas kicked Antiochus out, the very first thing that he did was go to the temple and cleanse it.

That was his first prior.

Go to the temple, cleanse it, consecrate it, make it a holy place once again.

And when he did that, all the people went and got palm branches and went through the streets holding palm branches and celebrated, and it was this huge deal.

And from that point on, palm branches were this symbol to the Jewish people of independence and God cleansing what had been made unclean.

So here's Jesus, and he's coming into Jerusalem, and he comes down the Mount of Olives, goes right into the temple.

Immediately, he's got all these palm branches that are laid out in front of him.

All the people are expecting him to be just like Judas Maccabe, and they're thinking, well, he's gonna kick out the Romans.

That's what they want.

And Jesus recognizes all this symbolism, knows exactly what they have in mind, and in a weird way says, okay, I'll play along.

And he does exactly what this figure that they all revered did, but none of them expected that.

Because Jesus goes to cleanse the temple, and he's not going after the Romans, he's not going after the foreigners, he's going after his own people.

I mean, it's it's crazy.

And this doesn't just happen in a moment.

This goes on for a number of days, and Jesus is there and he teaches, and we'll continue.

It says, after this, Matthew 21, 14, the blind and the lame came to him at the temple and he healed them.

But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did, and the children shouting in the temple courts, 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?

And then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.

So we'll bring up one more map, real quick.

Jesus leaves the temple and he goes to this place called Bethany.

And Bethany is a place where he has some really close friends.

Lazarus, Martha, Mary, they live there, and he's going to hang there for a little bit.

This is sort of a place that he stays right outside of Jerusalem often.

And then after that, it says the next morning, Jesus returns to Jerusalem and he was hungry.

And he noticed a fig tree beside the road.

He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves.

And then he said to it, May you never bear fruit again.

And immediately the fig tree withered up.

The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, How did the fig tree wither so quickly?

Jesus told them, I tell you the truth.

If you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more.

You can kill trees too.

That's what Jesus said.

You can even say to this mountain, May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and it will happen.

You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.

Now, I'm going to park here.

And admittedly, we're pretty ambitious with how much ground we tried to cover today.

So we've got Jesus.

Let's just recap real quick, okay?

Jesus, he goes to Jericho, he heals some blind people, he goes into Jerusalem, and he's riding on a donkey, he's riding on a colt.

It's a sign of peace.

People are laying down palm branches.

This has deep symbolism to independence and all the stuff that the Maccabees did years ago.

And Jesus goes straight into the temple, doesn't mind the Romans, doesn't deal with any of the foreigners, any of the oppressors, goes right to his own people, and essentially kicks them out of their own temple.

Causes this huge stir, the religious leaders, he says, You're out of here.

There's all this commotion.

He leaves, he goes to Bethany, hangs with his friends, gets up the next morning and kills a tree.

Okay.

Are we all up to speed?

Just a normal day in the life of Jesus.

Right?

Just ring it.

Does anyone like feel weird about the fig tree?

Is that like just a show of hands?

I'm just curious if you're away.

Anyone have like, I don't quite get that?

Because it doesn't really feel like Jesus, does it?

It's actually the only destructive miracle that Jesus does.

Every other miracle that Jesus performs is it's a creative miracle.

Like he makes things happen.

He turns water into wine, he multiplies food, or he walks on water.

It's it's always that.

This is the only destructive miracle of Jesus.

And I think it's really important for a few reasons.

We gotta understand this.

Number one, we have to be really careful not to see Jesus as like one note.

Jesus has depth.

A few years ago, I uh I had a bad moment with my kids.

And I've had many bad moments since then, so it's not like a few years ago was the last time.

But this one I was particularly not proud of.

I just lost it.

I went full Parker.

And uh, unlike Jesus, I wasn't being intentional, I wasn't there to teach my kids anything.

I just I lost it.

I lost my cool, I yelled at my kids, and I felt horrible about it.

So the next day I came to the office and I was just sort of venting with Sheila about how down I was.

And Sheila's great, she's a great encourager.

And she said, Oh, Justin, it's not that big of a deal.

She was, you know, helping me understand this perspective.

She said, in fact, it's good for your kids to know that you're not Jesus and you have a limit.

Use that.

I was like, oh, okay.

I like that.

Like it's good for the kids to know dad can lose it sometimes, you know?

And so uh that was helpful advice.

You know, it helped me feel better in the moment.

But, you know, that's what I was when I was talking to her about that, I felt so bad because in my mind, I'm like, you know, I mean, I want to be like Jesus.

And when I think about Jesus, I don't think about him killing a fig tree, right?

I think about him healing blind people.

I think about him multiplying food and and encouraging people.

And that is what Jesus does, like 99% of the time.

But Jesus has depth.

And we want to fully understand Jesus, right?

That's the whole point of this study this year is we want to know Jesus, all of Jesus.

We don't want to say, I like that version, I like that Jesus.

I don't, I like the water to wine, Jesus.

He's fun.

He is, by the way.

900 something bottles worth of wine.

That's what he created.

Like that's that's a good friend.

I want that Jesus.

I don't want the Jesus who goes into my backyard and gets mad at my trees, and all of a sudden I don't have trees anymore.

I don't want that Jesus, right?

And there's always this temptation for us to make Jesus into the Jesus we want him to be.

And we can sort of pick and choose our favorite stories from Jesus and pick and choose our favorite teachings of Jesus and ignore some of the other ones.

This, what Jesus does here, it is not against his nature.

It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, to be honest.

Check out something that Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

This is part of the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus said, Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really vicious wolves.

You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act.

Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.

Now, in the stories of the prophets, fig trees were often used as a metaphor to describe Israel as a whole.

In fact, in Hosea chapter 9, verse 10, the Lord says, Oh, Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert.

Hosea 9:10

When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season.

But then they deserted me for Baal Pior, giving themselves to that shameful idol, to that shameful idol.

Soon they became vile as vile as the God they worshiped.

So, what Jesus is doing here with the fig tree, and then we're gonna wrap all this up.

I'm gonna try my best to tie a bow on this because, again, it's a lot.

Don't overthink this.

It's an interesting story.

I mean, Jesus sees a fig tree, but it's not even the season for figs, but the tree out of season is producing leaves.

Figs actually produce fruit before they produce leaves.

Most fruit-bearing trees, the leaves come first, then the fruit, but figs are different.

And so Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach his disciples something really important.

And it's weird, right?

Like he goes to this tree, he knows that there's not figs on it, and he curses it and it dies, and think for a second, is there anything else that Jesus has just encountered that looks really good from far away?

But up close and upon closer inspection bears no fruit.

And Jesus essentially does away with it.

This tree is basically a stand-in for the temple.

This is Jesus using an image, and this is very very much what the prophets in the Old Testament did.

The prophets were almost like performance artists.

They're not just saying things, they're always acting things out, they're giving people visuals.

Jesus is giving the people a visual through this fig tree to say, hey, this thing, this worship, this whole religious system, it is fruitless.

It's fruitless.

And it's time for it to go.

And he curses the fig tree, but the fig tree's gone.

It's gone.

And what Jesus said to the religious leaders in the temple about if this temple was destroyed, and talking about himself, but also referencing their temple, that very thing happened.

Not that long after Jesus, the temple was destroyed.

Unfortunately, Jesus is it's a challenging thing, but Jesus is saying, hey, this whole system that was supposed to be about honoring God and worshiping God and bringing people to God has become so corrupted, so fruitless that it just has to it's gotta go.

So what does this teach us about Jesus?

What are we supposed to take away from this?

Well, number one, be very afraid.

Um I'm just joking.

I mean, honestly, though, if you want to do the fear thing, I should be more afraid than anybody.

Like it's a challenge to the religious leaders.

Something you gotta remember Jesus is nuanced.

When he's speaking to everyday normal people like all of us who struggle and we try our best and we often fall short, he is so gentle and he's so patient and he's kind.

He cuts us a lot of slack.

Now, when he's speaking to the religious leaders and the people who are the ones representing God and they're all corrupt and all that, he has a very different tone.

So the takeaway of this should not be that you live in total fear that after you have a bad moment and a bad day, Jesus is gonna be like, well, you're basically a bad fig tree, cursed.

That's not the way this goes.

But here's what it does teach us about Jesus.

And actually, worship team, you guys can make your way out.

We'll we'll wrap up.

We're actually gonna wrap up with worship today.

We don't normally do that, but we're gonna we're gonna do another worship.

I'm just priming the pump for that, because you've sat down and you're like, we did the worship thing, and now you're more, yeah, but it's all good.

Trust me.

Um this teaches us some really important things about Jesus, and honestly, this gives us an amazing opportunity in our minds to decide how do we respond to him.

How do we respond to Jesus?

One of the things we learn here is that Jesus cares deeply about his temple.

He cares deeply about his temple.

And here's what's beautiful: the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed, but that's not the real temple.

1 Corinthians 3 says, Don't you realize that all of you together, all of us who follow Jesus, are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God lives in you.

God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple, for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

You are the temple.

All of us together are the temple.

This is not just one verse in the New Testament, this happens multiple times.

The temple is where the presence of God dwells, and the presence of God no longer dwells in a building, it dwells in us.

Right?

Romans says that anyone who puts their faith in Jesus is now the home of the Holy Spirit, that God's Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we're his children.

So Jesus cares deeply about the temple, and you are the temple.

And Jesus cares enough about his temple to cleanse it.

He cares enough to cleanse.

That's one of the hardest things about being like a parent, those of you who have kids, is you love your kids and you you care about them.

And most days you don't wake up in the morning and go, what can I find to criticize in my children?

You wake up and you just you love them, you see them, and yet there's things that you see in them, and you go, if that grows and it goes unchecked, it'll ruin their life.

It'll completely upend all of the potential that they have.

And you have this hard choice as a parent where it's like, I can just say nothing and be their friend, or I can care enough to cleanse, and I can say, I'm gonna deal with this head on.

Jesus cares enough to cleanse, and he cares about that, he cares that way for each of us.

Jesus cares enough about me to deal with my stuff.

And I have a choice.

There's a choice.

I can choose how I want to go about that.

I can just, I can be like the people in Jerusalem and be like, Hosanna, you know, I worship you, God, save, save us, and and save me, and thank you for all you've done for me.

And then the second that he starts messing with stuff that I think is fine the way it is, I can drop those palm branches and turn away and ignore him, and I've done that so many times.

There's been so many times where God has brought to my attention something in my life that isn't good, and I just uh turn around and walk the other way.

But Jesus cares enough to cleanse.

And ultimately, the decision that I have, that I have to have as a follower of Jesus is when it comes to the junk in my life, I can either try to ignore Jesus, or I can get to the point where he has to come in and just do it in a forceful way.

And he loves me enough that I think he'll do that.

Or, or I could be like those people should have been.

They should have recognized Jesus for who he was, they should have seen what Jesus saw, and when they saw that said, Hey, Jesus, hey, let's let's carry these tables together.

Here, I'll get this side, you get that side.

Let's get these out of here.

Let's do this, let's partner together and do this.

That's the choice that all of us have.

Jesus loves you.

He loves you, he thinks you're amazing, he died for you, he's given his life for you.

Sometimes we mix ideas in our culture together with our faith, and we think thoughts like, Jesus loves us just the way we are.

And that's true.

And sometimes we'll blend that together and say, Jesus loves me just the way I am, and he just wants me to be who I am, and that's a lie.

Jesus loves you just the way you are, and he wants to change almost everything.

Like, that's why we're new creations and we get new names and new identities and a new spirit.

Like, he doesn't want to leave you the way you are, and so when he comes into your life, when he inhabits your temple, he's gonna mess with stuff.

He's gonna mess with stuff.

And you're not the fig tree that he curses.

That that was the the whole religious system that had run its course.

You're not that.

He does not give up on us, he finishes what he starts.

Scripture teaches us that, but we have a choice to make, and we have to be sober about this.

Am I gonna be a person that has an open heart and says, Jesus, come in, and if you gotta get some tables out, take them.

If there's anything you see in me, deal with it.

Psalm chapter 139.

Psalms 139 · chapter mention

We're gonna finish with this and transition to worship.

I know it doesn't sound like we're heading toward worship, but I'm gonna explain.

I have some work to do in the next 30 seconds.

All right.

Oh Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.

You know when I sit down or stand up, you know my thoughts, even when I'm far away.

You see me when I travel and when I rest at home, you know everything I do, you know what I'm gonna say before I even say it, Lord.

You go before me and you follow me.

You place your hand of blessing on my head.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it's too great for me to understand.

It goes on later to say this in Psalm 139, 23, search me, O God, and know my heart.

Test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path to everlasting life.

Oh, if the people of Israel would have like thought like that, if the people of Israel would have not just said, Hosanna, you're here, woo-hoo.

If they would have said, Hey, you're here, have your way.

You see something that's off, deal with it.

We'll help you.

You see something that isn't the way it's supposed to be, great, we'll partner with you, we want it gone too, because we want to be the way that you created us to be.

If they could have been like that, oh my goodness, what they could have experienced, and many of them did.

In fact, 50 days after this, 3,000 of these people will give their lives to Jesus.

But in that moment, they they missed what they could have had.

And so I'm gonna pray.

We're gonna do one more song.

And the song we're gonna sing is it's called Hosanna.

It's kind of a classic at this point in time, and it's it's a song that puts us in the same place as those people with their palm branches.

It puts us in that same place where Jesus is coming and we're waving the branches and we're saying, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest, you know, we recognize who you are, but then it's an invitation to right now do exactly what we're talking about.

In this moment, to declare in our hearts and in our minds that Jesus, you are my King, you're my Savior, and it's not just that you love me, you do, and I'm so grateful that you love me, but Lord, search me.

And whatever you find, have at it.

And I might struggle, I might fight you because it's it's just my nature, but ultimately, Lord, I want you to cleanse this temple.

I want you, Lord, to remove anything that needs removed.

I want you, Lord, to mess with anything that needs messed with, and it might be painful and a struggle, it might be addiction, it might be unforgiveness and bitterness and hatred.

But it always starts here.

And Jesus loves you enough that he wants to partner with you and cleanse it all.

So I'm gonna pray, and I want to invite us to stand together and worship if you're able again, and use this moment as an opportunity to do exactly what we're talking about doing.

Invite him in and let him have his way.

So pray with me.

Father God, we thank you so much for this day.

We thank you, Lord, for caring enough to cleanse us.

You love us, and you don't just cleanse us one time, you've forgiven us of our sins.

That's all gone.

It's not about us not being loved by you or accepted by you because we mess up, but we still deal with all of the aftermath of our flesh and all of our struggles, our issues, whatever they may be.

And you love us enough not to leave us where we are.

You love us enough to keep working on us, to keep changing us and recreating us and making us the way that we're meant to be.

So, Father, as we sing this song, I just pray that you would fill all of our hearts with an openness, a genuine openness to let you speak to us, to point out anything that offends you.

For us to give you permission, not that you need it, but you're gentle at heart, and for us simply to give you permission to say, Lord, show me what needs to change.

Show me what needs to happen, I'll do it.

And I want to do it together and partner with you.

You don't have to turn the tables over, I'll help you carry them out.

We love you so much, Jesus, and we thank you for this opportunity to be with you.

Amen.