Nothing But Leaves by Brother Curtis Hansen

         Good morning. If you will, turn your bibles to the book of Mark chapter 11. We will start reading at verse 10 this morning. Last week's message was the parable of the idle pound. I want to repeat that the purpose of Jesus teaching through parables, that are recorded in scripture, was revealing heavenly truths through examples the public understood. Let's begin reading then, shall we?

        10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.

        11 And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.

        12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:

        13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

        14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

        15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;

        16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.

        17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

        18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people were astonished at his doctrine.

        19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.

        Now, let's drop down a few verses in this chapter to verse 27.

        27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders,

        28 And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?

        29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 

        30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven? or of men? answer me.

        31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?

        32 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.

        33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

            There have been many ways man has read and interpreted these scriptures. The significance of the fig tree, the meaning of the curse, and so on. When Jesus had come into Jerusalem at this point, there were people who expected him to enter the conquering king and overthrow the Romans. Jesus was not concerned with the Romans nor their rule, he came to go to the temple. His issue was more about the Hebrews and how they had corrupted his temple. He did not come as a king to conquer Rome, but as a king of righteousness to clean his temple. If the temple is the heart of the people and community, yet corrupt, the people are as well.

        You can trace the history of the temple starting in Genesis 22 when Abraham went the mountain to sacrifice Issac to God as a test. 900 years later, King David in 1 Chronicles 21 purchased the threshing floor on Mount Moriah to build an altar to God. His son Solomon would build the temple for his father. The temple would be destroyed by other nations, two different times. Every time God allowed the Hebrews to rebuild the temple, but once they turned from him, pursued other gods and sacrificed to them, God would raise up another nation to conquer Israel. 

        Let's talk briefly about the expectation of the fruit. Figs are ready to be harvested in August when they are ripe. When Jesus and the disciples arrived in Jerusalem, it was around the time of passover which places the calendar at around March or April. Much like the tree that looks bountiful and healthy, many believers have something missing. Fruit.

        The curse. Look at verse 14. There are things which look correct to man's eye, yet something essential is missing. Jesus voiced his anger in verse 17. We see in the text the disciples listening. How would you or even I take this curse if we heard it? There weren't a lot of curses spoken by Jesus in scripture. If you had heard a curse in his presence, you could look to 1) Sermon on the Mount where he said By thy fruits thou wilt know them. 2) In the Old Testament you could look at Deuteronomy chapter 28 is both about blessings and curses. 

        Jesus cursed the tree which in turn cursed the temple which cursed the people as a nation. If you get time, look up Romans 10 where Paul brings up the first two temples were destroyed by idol worship. The third temple was destroyed by the pursuit of self righteousness. This is the issue with the Pharisees and Sadducees.

        Let's look at the action. Jesus going and cleaning out the temple. His main issue was that prayer was not being able to go on. It was a place of business and money changing. The worship was focused on the pursuit and gaining of money. Jesus was and is always aware of everything. This action goes back to what you are worshipping and how your heart works. Your free will will get you on some paths that aren't towards God but towards the world. What you worship is your God. Jesus sees all this, the misdeeds and problems. He sees how we react in the flesh, or pursue other advice to suit our flesh. In this time poor people were a social curse and viewed as second class citizens in the temple.

        The main issue was worship. The correction of his people. After Jesus had cleaned out the temple, he sat down and taught those still there.

        Power and authority. Vendors had overtaken the court selling oils, herbs, spices. Animals for sacrifice as well as selling the remains of sacrificed animals to gentiles on the market. The temple would inspect animals for sacrifice and reject some of them, for the purpose of redirecting the people back to the market. Over in the market there was a 25% mark up in the price for animals to be sacrificed. The temple was loud, noisy, very busy. Where is the quiet place for prayer? I ask again this morning Who do you worship? Jesus cleaned the temple out and the people stayed to hear what he was saying. Where would the quiet place be for Hannah praying for a child in the temple? The prayer rooms had been moved out. What you worship is where your focus is rested upon.