In the Company of ChristSample

Purchased by God

The last week of Jesus’ life began on what’s called Palm Sunday. It’s Passover season, so the city of Jerusalem is flooded with pilgrims. On this day, when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a colt, people surrounded Jesus shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Mark 11:9–10 NIV). I believe many of the voices yelling hosanna that day were probably pilgrims who have traveled from Galilee. What we have from the leaders of Jerusalem is silence. Jesus is arriving in Jerusalem as a king and he finds himself unwelcomed, unwanted, ignored, and rejected by the leaders in Jerusalem. In the evening, Jesus spends the night in Bethany a few miles away.

On Monday Jesus and the disciples walk back to Jerusalem. As Jesus approaches a fig tree he sees that it is all leaves, but empty of fruit. Jesus curses the tree and, interestingly, the next day it is dead. Jesus enters the temple area and sees the entire area turned into a marketplace where the Roman currency is exchanged and animals are bought and sold for Passover sacrifices. Jesus flips over the tables of the moneychangers and chases out the people who are buying and selling doves (see Mark 11:15).

The religious leaders hear of this and come to the conclusion that they need to kill Jesus before his following grows to riot proportions. It’s important to note that I think Jesus is replacing the temple system here. It is no longer the place where the presence of God was found. Jesus has become a walking, talking temple—the place where heaven and earth meet. With the coming of Jesus, you no longer need to go to a building for forgiveness. You come to a person and that person is Christ.

Jesus arrives again at the temple area on Tuesday. The religious leaders question Jesus about his authority and he answers them with a parable about authority and ownership (see Mark 12:1–12). The parable of the tenants of a vineyard illustrates the tenant's disregard for the authority of the owner, to the point of killing the owner’s son. They refused to give the owner what was rightfully his. Jesus is communicating to the leaders that they have a responsibility to recognize God’s ownership and return to him what is his and they have failed. 

This question of authority and ownership has to do with bringing your life in concert with the will of the Creator because you are made in his image. He has a right to direct your life. If you don’t let him, you are like the fig tree—all leaves and no fruit. Beware of a religious life that does not lead to true heart transformation. If we believe that Jesus came and suffered and died for us, we need to say, “You made me, you bought me, I’m yours.” We need to recognize his authority to direct all areas of our lives. As his greatest commandments say, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30–31 NIV). May you honor the God in whose image you are made.

Respond

How is being religious different from honoring God with your life?

What authority does God have in your life? How do you acknowledge that authority?

What can you do to show God that you are grateful that you belong to him?