The Thing Behind The Thing with Pastor Ben Carruthers

Well, good morning again.

Good to be here with you this morning as we continue our series on the book and the gospel of Mark.

And I have to be completely honest, I love the book of Mark.

And uh Ryan and Saiyan and I have talked a lot about it.

Um, I love the pace that Mark goes, right?

I am an action junkie.

I grew up in the heyday of the 80s action movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, right?

These movies were just constant action, hour and 30 minutes, and it's over, and that's it, right?

That's kind of the vibe with Mark.

Mark is this gospel that moves to the next story at an incredible fast pace.

But in this story, we have two instances where Jesus is maybe out of character for some, maybe a little different side of Jesus.

He's angry at a fig tree, he's angry in the temple.

And as we discover, as we read in scripture, it might ask us why is he angry?

Uh, for a couple of reasons, but we'll talk about that a little bit.

But we want to get to the thing behind the thing.

And that's the sermon title for this morning: The thing behind the thing.

Like I said, Mark moves fast.

A matter of fact, there's a Greek word called euthias, which means immediately or at once.

And this Greek word is used over 40 times in the Gospel of Mark.

The action happens quick.

Jesus is doing something and then moving on to the next thing and the next thing.

So this morning we want to ask, what is he doing here in Mark 11?

Why is he so angry at the fig tree when in the passage it says that it wasn't even in season?

Why is he angry at the temple?

And as we kind of dive into that story, we will find out that having animals there for sacrifices were normal.

Having money changers there were normal.

So these things, these two episodes where things seem to be normal on the outside, Jesus goes crazy angry.

Now, is he, is there something behind the thing, or is he having a level 10 reaction to a level two infraction?

And I think you know what he means by that.

Years ago, a long time ago, when my son Arlo was three years old, we lived in Coon Rapids and we had one of those big trampolines in our backyard.

We had the pads on it, we had the fence on it, all that stuff to keep him safe.

And Arlo and my two oldest kids and some neighbor kids were out there jumping on the trampoline.

And I was downstairs, probably watching an 80s action movie, uh, and all of a sudden I hear my three-year-old Arlo start to cry.

And the dad bat signal went up in the sky, and I ran through the sliding door like the Kool-Aid man, man.

I was just, I was going out there as fast as I can, and I see my son with blood on his mouth, and I just start to freak out.

Matter of fact, if you ask my wife this story, she will tell you as I Kool-Aid man through the door, I probably said some words I shouldn't have, right?

And I got out there and I saw the scene.

It looked like a crime scene at a CSI.

There was so much blood, not really.

But to my eyes, there was a lot of blood.

I picked up my son and I looked at those neighbors' kids in the eyes and I said, You get out of here.

What have you done to my son?

And I take my son, I hold him tight, I run into the house, and I'm like, call 911.

We need an ambulance, call the police.

I want these hooligans arrested.

We need to fix this.

I started to use all the medical terms I could.

We need cotton stat.

We need hot water, stat, all of the things.

And when it was all over, I laid Arlo down and he had a very small little tiny cut in his lip.

And I had burned the house down.

A level 10 reaction to a level two infraction.

Is that what's going on here?

The thing behind the thing this morning, I believe, is really going to push us.

This story makes us look deep into our hearts, deep into our lives, and deep into our relationships.

Because the way that Jesus is responding to these things speaks volumes about who he is, who we are, and our role as disciples of Jesus.

And those are hard topics to talk about.

So before we dive into the scripture, will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father God, we give you thanks and praise for this gospel of Mark.

We thank you for these stories that many of us know, and very often we use these stories to maybe describe your human nature, your human side.

You are fully God and fully human.

And maybe in these moments you're showing that human side.

Maybe.

But maybe there's something deeper.

Maybe there's a thing behind the thing that you were showing your disciples at that time, and you're showing the disciples in this room right now.

So, Lord, we pray that you lead us and guide us through these scriptures this morning.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

So, what is Jesus doing here in Mark 11?

So let's look again at the fig tree story.

Mark 11, 12 through 14.

It says this.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.

Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit.

When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.

Then he said to the tree, May no one ever eat fruit from you again.

And his disciples heard him say that.

So this is actually about the second day that he entered into Jerusalem during the Passover festival.

Jerusalem would have been packed full, people are coming from everywhere.

We'll talk about that in a minute.

He actually arrived the night before, went to the temple, but it says it was it was really late at night, so they went back to a place called Bethany for the night.

And so they woke up in the morning and they were heading down to the temple.

And scripture tells us that he got hungry and he went to the fig tree.

Now, this is a really interesting part in scripture here, because it says it was in bloom, it was full of leaves, and he went there, but it was out of season.

So right there we have a very interesting.

Well, if it's if it's in full full bloom, it has leaves, but yet it's out of season.

Should it have figs?

Should it provide fruit?

And the answer is yes.

There were fig trees in this time of Jesus' day, certain kinds of breeds of trees.

I don't know about breeds of trees.

I just know about the people who do know about it, who I learned this week, that some of these trees could bloom really year-round at any time.

But if a fig tree had leaves, like Mark tells us it did, in full bloom of leaves, it should have a fig.

Maybe not a full developed one, maybe a smaller one that they still ate quite a bit, but it should still provide the fig.

So Jesus goes over there, nothing, just a bunch of leaves.

Now, many of you, especially if you have children, you understand what it's like to be hangry.

Now, if you don't understand the term hangry, just talk to a parent of small children who have a survival pouch of like applesauces and granola bars that they can throw to their kids when they're hungry.

Because sometimes when you're hungry, you get a little bit upset.

You get a little bit testy.

Is that what's going on here?

Is Jesus in his human way just hungry?

It was breakfast time.

Maybe they skip breakfast.

This tree goes to figs, figs will get them, get them going for the day, and nothing there.

Is he angry because he's hungry?

I don't think so.

I think he goes to this tree that's showing full bloom, that's giving off the perception that it will give fruit.

And he goes over there and there's nothing.

And I think he gets angry, and I don't think he gets angry for himself, I think he gets angry for his disciples and for us, and I'll explain that in a little bit.

But he goes over there, and one thing that is supposed to provide fruit, it's showing one thing, and it's not providing what it's showing it's supposed to.

You see, our God is a God who creates with integrity.

You and I created with integrity.

God creates everything with integrity.

This is a now you know it's a banana.

Why?

Because it looks like a banana.

But if I was to cut into it and tell you that it wasn't a banana, I'm just kidding.

It's a banana.

And we know that because on the outside it tells us it's a banana.

What's this?

I think it's a grapefruit.

I don't know, actually.

There's only one fruit in this basket that I've ever tried, I'll be honest with you.

So either it's an orange or grapefruit, we're gonna roll with whatever it is.

You know that.

Well, we actually don't know.

We're we're gonna raise our hands here.

We know it's what it is because on the outside it tells us what's on the inside.

And we open it up, and sure enough, we see a grapefruit.

Not an orange.

That was fun.

That was a little excitement for the morning.

I know that if I bite into this apple, it's gonna be an apple.

The only fruit in this basket that I eat.

We know this because it's created this way.

We know this because on the outside it says apple.

On the inside it says apple.

See, God creates with integrity.

He goes to the tree that's supposed to provide fruit.

All of the signs on the outside says figs will be here.

It's in full bloom.

There's leaves everywhere.

And he goes there and nothing.

No fruit, no breakfast.

Not what it says it is.

And he gets angry, and he curses the fig tree, and he says, No one will eat of you.

Matter of fact, if we keep reading the story past this point, the disciples leave the temple the next day, and on their way back to Bethany, scripture tells us that this tree is now dead.

It has died.

It said one thing, but produced another.

God creates with integrity.

We as Christ followers are supposed to be people of integrity.

We say that we follow Christ, but do our actions match.

We say that we are disciples of Jesus, but do our actions match?

That's what's happening in this story.

But here is a really important part about that.

The actions of a follower of Christ should match that of Jesus.

Now, here's the important part.

As followers of Jesus, as disciples of Jesus, that doesn't mean we are perfect.

It means that we are a work in progress.

It means that we offer forgiveness, seek forgiveness, and are forgiven.

In the world today, so many times we get labeled as hypocrites because we say we're Christians and our actions don't match it up.

Fair enough.

There are people out there, absolutely, it happens.

But for you, right now, as you sit in this pew and you hear this word and you hear this story from Jesus, and you see the importance of the inside matching the outside, what does your fruit look like?

Because God creates with integrity, and we are to be people of integrity.

But this still doesn't really answer the question why, right?

Why did Jesus get angry?

Because Jesus is God.

He knew that as he approached the tree that it would not produce fruit.

He knew that.

Why did he get angry?

Was he really hungry?

I don't think so.

I think the passage explains to us why he did this.

Read this again with me.

Or you don't have to read it with me, I'll read it for you.

Then he said to the tree, May no one ever eat fruit of you again.

And then Mark says this.

This is one line that we can skip over real quick and not think anything of it.

But Mark puts it in his gospel and he says, And his disciples heard him say it.

His disciples heard him say it.

This is an action that Jesus is doing not for Jesus' sake, but for his disciples' sake.

Jesus is showing anger, Jesus is cursing the fig tree, not because he's hungry, he didn't eat breakfast, because he knew his disciples were listening, and he knew his disciples were watching, and he knew the importance of this message.

He knew the importance of if you're gonna follow me, we need to act like it.

We need to be disciples of Christ, we need to be fruitful.

His disciples were listening, and we are listening, and there's something else that's going on here.

This scene is setting up what happens next in Mark 11, 15 through 16.

Because the story of the fig tree is the same story of the temple.

One's just dealing with a fig tree and fruit, and the other one is dealing with the temple, the holy place of God and his people, and the followers of God.

It's the same story, but it's two different versions.

And so his disciples, Jesus is setting this story up and be like, Do you see this?

I know you're listening, I know you're watching, because you're about to live it out again, just moments later.

And they sure do.

So again, the story continues in Mark 11, 15 through 16, and it says this.

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there.

He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

Very famous story of Jesus, right?

And we love this one.

I love it.

I love teaching this to students, and I have for many years, because it shows what I used to teach is that it shows Jesus is human side, his angry.

He sees what's going on in the temple, he sees the money changers, he sees all these animals being sold, and he turns over the tables, righteous anger.

But the truth of it is, if you dive deep into it, is that there would have been animals sold at the temple, especially during Passover time.

There would have been money changers at the temple, especially during Passover time.

Because we have to understand the context.

Passover means people from everywhere are coming to the temple for the Passover festival.

Everywhere, far distance, they're traveling to the temple.

They're not going to travel with their sacrifice to offer to the temple.

They're not going to come with a goat or a dove or whatever it might be.

They're going to get there and then they're going to purchase it.

There's also something called a temple tax, where they had to go and pay temple tax at the temple every year, once year at Passover.

And if you came from a foreign land, you would not have the right currency to pay at the temple.

So there were money exchangers there.

Totally normal, where you'd go and I'm going to change my American dollar in for some euros, and here you go.

Here's the temple tax.

This all would have happened.

So then what is Jesus upset about?

Multiple reasons.

One, we have to understand the layout of the temple.

So check this out.

Whoa, hello, microphone.

Sorry.

The temple that we talked about looks something like this.

I gotta be careful with that apple.

I'm still got pieces in my mouth all over.

I come flying out.

This is what the temple may have looked like.

There's four completely different sections of the temple.

The outer court, the huge area, which would have been the length of about five football fields, which basically just like an outer court before you even enter what it looks like.

That was known as the court of the Gentiles.

That is where all this is taking place.

Where the moneylenders are, where the selling of animals are, where Jesus overturns the temples or overturns the tables.

This is where it's happening.

The next one in is the courtyard for women.

So women were allowed to go to the next level.

The next one in was, of course, for just the men, and then the final one was only for the high priest to go to the holies of holies just one time a year.

So why is it important that we know that it's set up in the court of the Gentiles?

Why is Jesus so upset about this?

God wants to be by his people.

And that's what people believe.

That's why they would travel to the temple to be closest to the holies of holies, to be as close as they could to God.

Well, the Gentile people, which were people who were not Jewish but believed in God, that was as close as they could get.

There was actually big signs that were that were drilled into the stone that told them that they were not welcome any closer to God.

That was it.

And so that was their area of worship.

And so then the moneylenders and the money changers and the offering and the animals were all sold there.

And so it's packed full of people, thousands of people coming in there.

And because of that, they charged higher for the sacrifices.

They could charge double or triple what a dove would cost or what a goat would cost because they knew that they had to buy it when they got there.

The rates that they'd exchange money would go double or triple because they knew that they had to exchange the money.

And all of this happened in the court of the people who were viewed as the lowest of the low.

Are you starting to see why Jesus got upset?

The people who were kept furthest away from the presence of God had no place to worship.

And in their place of worship was corruption.

You see, the temple was supposed to provide fruit.

When you saw the walls of the temple and you saw the high temple, you knew that this was a place that provided fruit that housed God.

And Jesus shows up there and it's not providing fruit.

Fig tree and temple.

I wonder if the disciples got it.

I wonder if the disciples had this experience with the fig tree that they observed, as Mark tells us, and then they walk to the temple and they see Jesus' same reaction.

And I wonder if they got it.

I wonder if they realize the importance of providing fruit.

A place that was supposed to be worship for all people, for people to be brought closer to God, had been set up for a place to put distance between God and his people.

And so Jesus overturned the tables.

The Gospel of Matthew goes one step further.

He says he combined some strands together and made a whip and chased people and animals out of the temple and he cleaned it.

That's how important this subject is to God.

That's how important it is to Christ.

It should be that important to us.

Jesus sees these things that are causing separation between God and his people, and he overturns the table.

People of central, what tables in your life need to be overturned?

What stuff is going on in your life that you need to overturn and get rid of?

That's blocking you from fruitful relationships with other people, that's getting in the way of fruitful relationships between you and God, that's blocking you from living on the outside, on the inside.

What tables need to be overturned in your life?

A couple weeks ago, I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine and just kind of I kind of let out some, I vented a little bit and let it really kind of let a vein out and was vulnerable, which I'm horrible at.

So I put it out there, I said something, and my good friend caught it.

I kind of said it thinking maybe he'd just skip over it and we'll talk about the football game, but he caught it.

And he's like, let's go back to this.

And what I shared was that I had been just kind of working on stuff in my own life, and I had remembered a time not too long ago, about a year ago, where I think I made a mistake.

And about a year ago, uh, my wife and I and my two oldest kids were in our living room having a conversation about screen time and technology.

Fantastic, fun conversation to have with your high school kids.

And we have rules, we have limits on how much they can be on their phone and screen time, and they were going over pretty consistently.

And I get really upset about that stuff.

I'm like, I don't understand.

We have these rules set up, and you guys keep breaking them, and I was pretty heated and pretty upset.

And I'm like, you guys need to figure out a plan.

And sometimes when I get heated upset, I just need to leave the room for a little bit and calm down.

So I left the room.

However, I left the room and I came back, but I wasn't calm yet.

That was the mistake.

I came back down, I said, Well, what do you have?

And they came up with this plan.

And they told me the plan, and I said, That's a garbage plan.

And I got upset still.

Now, when I said it's a garbage plan, what I didn't realize was that was my wife's plan that she had created with my children.

And she looked at me and she said, I came up with that.

And I said, Well, it's I'm just done, I'm out, and I went and cleaned the dishes.

Happened a year ago, a year ago.

And just dealing with stuff in my life and kind of going through and figuring out the tables in my life that I need to overturn and areas where I am not providing fruit, I instantly go to my family and my friends.

And and this story came to mind.

And so I told my friend this story, and he said to me, Have you ever asked forgiveness for that?

Have you ever said I'm sorry?

And maybe you're like me in the room, maybe you're not, but those two words, I'm sorry, are really hard for me sometimes.

And I said, No, I don't think I ever have.

And he said, I might be something you want to look into.

So I went home that night and thought about it and how do I bring it up?

And luckily, my wife or I were in a car together, we're going to pick up the kids, and I just said, Hey, you know, this happened a while ago, but you know, about a year ago we had this conversation, and before I could, she's like, Oh yeah, I remember.

And a matter of fact, I couldn't even remember the words that I said.

I'm like, yeah, you know, I think I said something about a plan being not good.

She's like, oh no, you said it was garbage.

And I'm like, all right, you remember?

I said, you know what, I'm sorry for that.

I'm gonna try to do better.

And we had a really cool moment there.

And the problem's not fixed, but the table's been overturned.

Because that's been something in my life that's been blocking a fruitful relationship.

You see, it doesn't have to be as blatant as high prices in the temple.

It can be something small that has developed over time and over time until finally you realize that table has to be flipped.

Because it's blocking the fruit that you can provide, that God's gonna provide through you.

So, essential, are you producing fruit fruit?

What tables need to be overturned in your life?

These are the stories that the disciples saw.

And I think this is the meaning of these stories that we read today.

Are you producing fruit and what's what tables need to be overturned?

And here's the little secret about this.

This stuff just, you just you just don't wake up one day and say, I'm gonna ruin my relationship with my kids.

You don't wake up one day and be like, I think I want a worse relationship with my wife.

I think I want to distance myself from God.

Most people don't wake up and say, I'm gonna do these things.

You know, these horrible people in the world who do these horrible crimes, they don't wake up in the morning and be like, I'm gonna decide I'm gonna do this today.

It's things that seep into our life somehow from the world, from things that we take in, and we slowly start to develop habits and behaviors.

Two weeks ago, I went out to my garage and it was a pit.

I mean, absolute pit, man.

I had kids' bikes everywhere, scooters everywhere.

We like to clean out our cars, and cleaning out our cars means taking the garbage and putting it in dad's garage, you know, like just over to the side.

So I'm like, I'm gonna clean this thing up.

So I clean it up, made it look all nice, and I realized to myself I had just done that a month ago.

And I didn't notice the mess until it was staring me in the face.

That's how these things develop.

We don't notice the mess.

We don't notice the unfruitfulness of our lives or the hurt and broken relationships that we have until it piles up so big that we can't ignore it.

So that's the message this morning.

And if you're new here, this can kind of be like, man, this is a man.

I went to this new church, I went to this church for the first time, and this guy said that I had all this junk in my life and I go and fix all this.

And that was a really brutal message.

That wasn't what I was looking for.

That's not this, I mean, that's a bit of it, right?

And we have to acknowledge that.

That's what's happening in the scripture.

We don't have to take the scripture and make it something that it's not, because this message is important enough for Jesus to make sure the disciples took notice, for us to take notice.

This message of being fruitful is important.

This message of looking into our lives and turning over the tables that are blocking relationships, it's important.

But it's not meant to make us feel full of guilt and shame.

It wasn't back then with Jesus, and it's not now.

This, I truly believe, is a message of hope.

Because as you're sitting there thinking about the unfruitfulness areas of your life or the tables that need to be overturned, God still loves you right here, right now, where you're at, he loves you.

And as you're thinking about the unfruitfulness of your life and the tables that need to be overturned, as you sit here today, God is still using you.

God forgives you.

You see, the message of hope is that God never leaves us during our tables and during our unfruitfulness.

He never leaves us.

He never stops loving us, he never stops caring for us, he never stops providing us.

He's there with us through all of it.

That's what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Is to take moments like this when we read passages of scripture like this, where God is not saying, look at all the bad things that you've done, and I'll go and take care of it.

He's saying, Man, look at all the stuff in your life that is causing you not to be fruitful.

Look at the tables that need to be overturned in your life so that you can experience the life I want you to have and know all the way through it that he doesn't leave you, that he loves you, that even though we are sinners, Christ still died for us.

So, Central Lutheran Church, this morning I hope you hear the message of hope and encouragement that as we leave this place, as we look for areas of our lives to bring back that fruit and those areas in our lives to overturn the tables, that we're filled with hope and encouragement, knowing that we don't do it alone, that God finds a way.

Amen.