Alright, as we land here in chapter 14, business is picking up. We know where the story is going. This has been leading to the crucifixion of Jesus for a while, but now we're getting to the heart of the story, are we not? Well, here we have Jesus two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleaven Bread, and we read that the chief priests and the scribes, they're seeking to arrest Jesus by stealth. Why? Because they're concerned with all these people who have come and these people who follow Jesus, that there will be an uproar and there will be a problem. So, they want to do this by stealth. Now, that's going to play in as we get down to the end of this passage today.

All right, we come to a rather difficult passage of scripture to interpret here, because if we go back to the context of what this passage is sitting in, we are understanding that Jesus is talking about the destruction of the temple, and it's the temple that was sitting there right in front of him. And as I've mentioned before, Jesus prophesied that that temple would be destroyed prior to its destruction, and it did happen within a generation. Now, there are some people who come to this passage, and they say that this tribulation, this is what is being talked about here, the coming of the son of Man, is in the future for us.

As we look at this second part of the Olivet discourse, it's important that we remember the first part, because what is Jesus talking about here? He is saying that the temple is going to be destroyed. The disciples have said, Hey, Jesus, look at this building. And Jesus says, Well, you think this is great. It's going to be destroyed. And he prophesied that it would happen. And as I mentioned, it did happen in the year '70, when the Romans came and sacked Jerusalem. Well, so what is Jesus talking about here? He's giving further warnings to his disciples and to his followers about how they should react when they see this happening.

For the fast pace that we have seen so far in the Gospel of Mark, we're to that point in the story that Mark is telling that is seeming to slow down quite a bit because it feels like a really long time ago that we saw Jesus and the triumphal entry, right? And we're not to the crucifixion yet. But we come to Mark 13 here and we have something that's known as the Olivec discourse. So Jesus is walking away from the temple and his disciples are like, Look, teacher, look how awesome this building is, how amazing and how great it is. And it took a very long time to build the temple.

As we finish up Mark 12 today, we are seeing two very short stories. And you'll notice here that the uninspired part of our scripture, the headings that are put in after the fact, have it in two little different stories. But really, as you read it, it is one story, right? They complement each other. And so, Jesus sees the scribes. He is talking about how they like to do their religious show. He's talking about how they like to have all this honor for themselves, but yet they go around and they devour widow's houses and they make long prayers. They make a scene out of all these things. And then immediately, where does the Gospel of Mark go?

So, as we land in this short passage today, we see a very well-known verse quoted for us. Psalm 1:10-1 is what Jesus is quoting here. The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right-hand until I put your enemies under your feet. ' Now, this is the most quoted Psalm from the Old Testament. There is no other verse in the New Testament more than this one. It is alluded to, it is quoted directly. It just isn't even close as far as verses that are quoted from the Old Testament in the New Testament. And it's important that we understand the significance of this. It not only tells us about who Jesus is, but it also lets us know that the ultimate goal here is that Jesus ascends to the right-hand of the Father, that if this is Messianic, then he is arriving someplace. He is going to arrive at the Father's right-hand, and he's going to stay there until his enemies are made a footstool.

And so, we get another opportunity to see Jesus answering a question. So a scribe sees them debating, sees them weighing back and forth and talking about these different topics, and he has a question himself. It's an important question, which commandment is the most important of all? Jesus goes back to scripture. The first thing he says is, Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. This is known as the Shema. In Hebrew, the word Shema means here. This is a confession of who God is, that the Lord God, He is one. He is not many gods. He is not all these different deities all over the place. No, he is one. He is God. He is the only true God. Then Jesus answers with more scripture, and it's a summary of the law. You should love the Lord God with all your heart, and with all your soul, with all your mind, and all your strength.

Many times when we come up against the religious leaders in the Book of Mark, it reminds me of the old 1960s Batman television show. Remember when the Riddler would be on there? Riddle me this, Batman. Many times the religious leaders, the Sadducees and the Pharisees come to Jesus and they're scheming and they're like, Let's come up with something, some scenario where we'll trick him. And every time Jesus gets the best of them, doesn't he? Well, here we have them giving this ridiculous scenario. Now, of course, this scenario could theoretically happen. There's nothing keeping this from happening, especially in a day and age without antibiotics and modern medical care, having this many people die when all these people are having many more children, more than likely.

Here in the Gospel of Mark, there's always something fun going on. Obviously we're going to get to some things that aren't so fun. But this is a fun story to me, because once again they're trying to trick Jesus. They are sending in their best. They got people ready to go.

They are going to get him. We finally got him. We're going to get him on whether or not you should pay taxes. All right, so let's see what Jesus did. Well, they come to him and they butter him up.

This is another one of the parables that is a judgment against the Pharisees and against the religious rulers and against the people of Israel who have rejected the prophets and now are rejecting the Christ. And so, what is Jesus talking about here? What is this parable? Well, we just read it, but let's review it just a little bit. The idea here is that this man got this vineyard and this wine press and did everything to this property to prepare it to yield the harvest. He sends servants to do the harvest, and the people that work there keep killing them or beating them.

So, to understand this passage for today, we need to think back. We need to remember what happened when Jesus came in for the triumphal entry. What did Jesus do? Where did he go? And what was the big deal about what happened when he went there? Well, he went to the temple. Now, remember, when we talk about Jesus going to the temple, he is not going to the temple and going into the most holy place. He wouldn't have been allowed there because he wasn't a priest and a Levite. So, when we say that Jesus went to the temple, he went to the outer court.

Our passage for today has this going back to that fig tree from just a few verses ago. They're coming back to Jerusalem and they see the fig tree again. It's the morning, and Peter notices and points out that what Jesus had commanded, what he had cursed had come to pass. And so, Jesus takes this opportunity to have a little discussion with his disciples about prayer, and he says to them to have faith in God. Now, Jesus goes on to use some hyperbole. He says, Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and thrown to the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, believes that what he says will come to pass, it'll be done for him. ' Now, is Jesus suggesting that his disciples should renovate the landscape of the Middle East using their faith? No, he is not.

Our passage today, because it happens during the period of Passion Week, is relatively familiar for us. We're not sure what to do with a lot of it, but we know the story, and we are probably familiar with Mark's quick telling of it because it's just easy to remember. It's a quick hit of it. But these events happen in other Gospels. Now, we usually read through the text, and we don't want to do too much interpretation in light of what is coming after, because if we're reading it for the first time, we don't know what is coming.

So, where we land today with the triumphal entry, has us understanding one thing as we continue through the Book of Mark. Business is about to pick up. This is the beginning of passion week. We see Jesus arriving near Jerusalem, and he asked for his disciples to get the cold. We know this story. And ultimately, what is happening here is Jesus is coming into the city and people have heard about him. We've been seeing the excitement surrounding Jesus, the people who have been following him and people thinking they know who he is. And now this excitement is going to follow him into Jerusalem where things are a little bit different. So far he has not been around Jerusalem.

So, as we land here in the end of chapter 10, we come across another story of Jesus healing. And what do we see about Jesus here? Who is he with? He's with his disciples. We expect that. And once again, we see something else we expect because we've seen it so many times in the Gospel of Mark, he is with a crowd. And so, he is walking and Jesus is in the midst of all these people, and the word gets out. Now, it seems as though Bartimaeus must have been able to ascertain that this was a crowd, and the word must have gotten to him that Jesus was the reason for the crowd. He can't see Jesus himself.

Where we land today is one of my favorite passages from the Gospel of Mark. It's an interesting story. We have seen the disciples asking questions that are getting them in trouble with Jesus because they are seeking to elevate themselves. They're not seeking to be servants. And this one has two of the best-known disciples doing just that: James and John go up to Jesus and ask to sit at his right-hand and his left hand in his glory.

Like I said, this is a big chunk of text today getting us through a whole lot of Mark Chapter 10. It is, once again, a very well-known story. And here it is. This young man comes up to Jesus and asks what he has to do to inherit eternal life. Well, the first thing that Jesus does is confusing to us because we know that Jesus is good. He is without sin. But what does he ask the young man? Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. What Jesus is trying to do for this young man here is to say, Hey, look, only God is good. Jesus isn't saying that he isn't good, that Jesus himself isn't good. He is saying that you need to understand that only God is perfectly holy.