Lesson # 33 | MARK 11:27-33 | HANDLING ATTACK

I.   Greetings:

 

II.  Introduction:

            Q  How many of you have been questioned about your faith by family, friends or co-workers?

            Q  Was the questioning negative?

            Q  How did you come out?

               An = Let some share, if they will, from their experiences.

            Q  Will people attack us even if we are righteous, humble and loving?

               An = Admittedly, we are often attacked because we made some type of mistake in our attitude or presentation, but sometimes we really do make the presentation of our faith properly and still we are attacked.

            Q  Should we expect it?

            Q  Why?

            Note:  In the next few verses we have the opportunity to see how to answer those who question us.  In addition, we will see how Jesus' answer to His critics becomes a test of our own spirituality.  God in His glory came to earth not merely to demonstrate His power, but to get involved with the daily grind of our experiences of criticism, and with such experiences, teach us.

 

III.  Jesus Under Fire:  Mark 11:27-28.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:27-28.

            Note:  Barclay (p. 290) notes that there are two great porches or courts in the temple:  "Solomon's Porch" and the "Royal Cloister".  The latter had four rows of marble columns 6 feet in diameter and 30 feet tall.  There were 162 of them.  This is where people would gather under shelter and often where the Rabbis taught.  What Jesus is doing is quite normal.  He is probably teaching where Rabbis were supposed to teach.

            Note:  The groups approaching Jesus were the scribes, chief priests, and elders.  These are all the various people of distinction that made up the highest court in the land, the Sanhedrin.  Hostility was coming from all factions of leadership in Jerusalem.

            Q  Does it surprise you that the perfect Son of God, the man who never sinned, was attacked by religious leaders?

               An = It should not surprise us.  Often people who are religious or are very interested in the church, are not very interested in the truth.  Many people go to church but are very upset if God would be present.  Religious people would be very offended if Jesus came to church.

            Note: No doubt the cleansing of the Temple and His great public acclaim on Palm Sunday were the cause of all the negative response He was attracting.  He had stepped on their toes both by threatening a great source of income and exposing their wrong doing, and in addition, He was obviously popular and that concerned them.  People in power do not like other people, whom they cannot control, to be popular.

            Q  How do they challenge Jesus?

               An = They question His authority for doing the things that He had been doing.  Jesus seemed to be doing things differently than before and they were upset.

            Note:  Do you see the irony?  God was right in their presence.  They were questioning what right God had to do such things in His own temple.

            Q  In your opinion, are there still people who are religiously interested without being interested in God?

               An = How people answer that question will no doubt determine their eternal future.  He is going to give them (and us) all a test today.  The first question....

            Q  Do we find ourselves always criticizing and totally disinterested in what God is doing?

            Q  Do we care about His interests or do we care about getting our own way?

 

IV.  Jesus' Non-Passive Response:  Mark 11:29-30.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:29-30.

            Q  Is Jesus humble (passive)?

               An = He does not seem to be very humble or very passive.

            Q  What type of personality is this?

               An = It depends on how one defines humble.  He is aggressive.  He goes on a counter attack.

            Q  How would this apply to us in answering our friends/relatives/co-workers? 

            Q  What about religious folks who do not understand what it means to really walk in a dynamic manner with the Lord?

               An = Our Lord will give us a pattern of how to answer.  If we want to answer in a manner similar to His then He will show us how to respond.  Lets watch Him...

            Note:  Jesus' first response is to turn the tables back on them.  They ask Him a question and He responds with a question.  They had Jesus seemingly on the defensive, and now He has them on the defensive.

 

V.  The Danger of Attacking the truth:  Mark 11:31-32.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:31-32.

            Q  Is Jesus intelligent?  How has He trapped them?

               An = Everyone in those days regarded John the Baptist as a prophet.  The religious leaders did not like John, but the populous did.  What Jesus did with His question was to trap them.  In what ever way they answered they were caught.  If they answered that John's authority was from men the crowds would attack them, and they would lose credibility with the crowds who clearly saw John as a martyred prophet.  If they answered that John's authority was from God then Jesus could easily point to the fact that John authenticated Jesus' ministry.  They were stuck.

            Q  Why does Jesus withhold His answer, what does He want them to do first?

               An = They had to first answer.  He forced them to commit themselves publicly.  They had to take a position. 

            Note:  People who like to criticize do not like to take a position themselves.  It is easy to stay in the role of a critic, and attack others.  It is much harder to take and defend a position.

            Q  How could we do this in our situations with our relatives, friends or co-workers?

               An = It is possible to be quick enough to answer questions with questions.  We can learn to be quick enough to turn the tables back on them.  We can learn this if we care and we can pray for God to help us do this.  We can get them to think by making them face themselves, and their own viewpoints.  It is an act of love to do this.  Jesus loved the religious leaders.

            The only hope for religious critics is to make them examine their own lives.

            Q  Why did Jesus link Himself with John?

               An = Both stood in common opposition to those who disregarded God's will.  (Lane, p. 413).  Both of them radically put God's will first.  Both of them were courageous followers of what the Lord wanted. 

            Note:  Remember, if you truly want to follow God you will face opposition and often from the religiously powerful or religiously interested. 

            Q  Why did Jesus demand they decide about John before they could get more information about Jesus?

               An = This is the second test question for us today.  So often we do not see what the Lord is saying because long ago we did not listen to or respond to what the Lord said then!  If we keep brushing aside what He told us to do, then He will stop talking to us.

            Note:  If there is something God has told us to do and we have ignored Him, or if we have not listened to the "John the Baptists" in our lives, then God will not answer us directly.  We  will have to obey the first message before we can hear the second.  A lot of us get stuck, because God has shown us what we need to do, and we have not done it.  Then we face the silence of God.

>>>> Have everyone turn to Matthew 7:6 and you read it.

            Note:  They would not listen to John, so Jesus said they were no better than "pigs".   This is quite a racially charged statement.  Pigs were not animals of choice for Jews.  They were unclean animals.  Give them a similar example that would be as pejorative.  

            Note:  Had He said anything they would have trampled him under-foot.  By not directly answering their question He not only forced their silence, He addressed the real issue.  He was going beyond their question and showing them that despite their human religious authority they did not obey God, therefore they did not know Jesus was from God. 

            RQ  Who are the John the Baptist's we have not obeyed? 

            RQ  On what issue have you not obeyed?

            Note:  We can challenge and question God all we want, but God will come and say "what did you do with John the Baptist?"

            Note:  I had a co-worker in YFC that years ago said our work for God will go dynamically forward when our staff go straighten out their relationship to their parents.  It sounds strange that good youth work with other kids is dependent on showing respect to your own parents, but I have seen how amazingly accurate my co-worker was.  God said "Honor thy Father and Mother", He has not changed His mind.  How can we work for Him and blow off what He says?

            Note:  For you it may be something else, go over the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount, but go back to what the first message you heard from the Lord and do it.

 

VI.  The Silence of Disobedience:  Mark 11:33.

>>>> Have someone read Mark 11:33.

            Note:  The leaders were caught between not wanting to submit to God and from fear of the people.  They had it backwards.  They needed to be like Jesus.  We should not fear men because we submit to God. 

            If we are going to get into ministry, we need to figure out who we are going to fear.

            If we want to learn to be a strong and helpful influence in our community and family then we need to figure out who we are going to fear.

            Q  Why do leaders fear the people?

               An = Let them answer without comment.  Then add, when we are afraid of people, then we are not afraid of God.  We are to love people, not fear them.

            Note:  Christ is wonderful.  He is not only bright, quick, unbelievable subtle and penetrating in His handling of attack, but He has courage!  This is our model, this is our Lord,  this is our glory!  His courage was going to cost Him His life...but it would give us ours!