Gospel of Mark: Triumphant Entry

Triumphant Entry

txt: Mark 11 – 13

Outline:

A. 11:1-11, Triumphant Entry to Jerusalem

  B. 11:12-26, Fig tree imagery

  B'. 11:27 – 12:44, Jesus in the Temple

A'. 13, Foretelling of destruction of Jerusalem

Comments:

A. Triumphant Entry. While there can many things be said about the Palm Sunday, I'll mention only two/ First, Jesus enters for the Eastern side of Jerusalem, goes to the center and ends up in the Temple area. It is important to note, for this path is a return from the World to the Garden. When Adam is banished from the Garden, he goes eastward to cultivate the Land (Genesis 3:24). Then Cain kills the brother in the Land, and as a punishment he goes even farther East to the World (Genesis 4:16). The Second Adam – Jesus – reverses the trajectory, He brings people back to the presence of God, to the Garden-like Temple.

Second, the fact that Jesus us coming on a donkey does not make His a lesser king. The difference between a donkey and a horse is a military associations or lack of thereof. King on a horse is a king of force, king of [military] might (1 Kings 10:26, the second problem of Solomon). While the kingdom of God should've been spread by the Word and relationships, without military pressure (Deuteronomy 17:16 vs. 17:28-20). Jesus, entering a city on a donkey, shows Himself as a ruler (Judges 12:13-14). Yet, His rule is based on His own sacrifice (Mark 10:45).

B. Fig tree imagery. Next day – Monday of the Holy Week.

a. 11:12-14, Fig Tree is cursed b. 11:15-19, Cleansing of the Temple a'. 11:20-26, Fig Tree cursing explained

The fig tree should be a fruitful tree. The point was a season, but the fact Jesus and disciples went to the Temple – expecting fruits, and finding none...

B'. Jesus in the Temple.

a. 11:27-33, Authority of Jesus b. 12:1-12, Parable of the Tenants c. 12:13-34, Big three attack Jesus

a'. 12:35-37, Who is Christ b'. 12:38-40, Beware of scribes c'. 12:41-44, Widow's offering

When the Temple is cleansed the Messiah can come in. Teaching them – the rulers and the leaders that they are NOT the owners of the sacred place but the tenants. He confronts them with the ugly truth of their hearts – they are ready to kill the HEIR. I guess, He hoped (hopelessly) that they will be shocked by His knowledge and by the depravity that consumed them. Instead of repentance they were seeking to arrest Him (Mark 12:12).

Then the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes colluded together (even though they kinda hated each other – enemy of my enemy IS my friend, right?) and attacked Jesus from three different angles: (1) submission to the foreign ruler (Caesar) – Jesus distinguished the vertical and horizontal relationship of the rule. (2) Convoluted question about the marital status after the resurrection (even though the Sadducees didn't believe that there will be one) – Jesus catches them in their hypocrisy, having a chance to proclaim the God of LIFE nit death (Mark 12:26-27). (3) The scribes could not come up with anything smart – they just a question from the 1 grade Law book – tell us the great commandments. I can even see Jesus' face with a smile almost saying: “Seriously?”

And the He puzzles them: How a great king who passed into glory by now (David) call Messiah the LORD, and we are still waiting for Him – they were never thinking this deep about the Scripture. Therefore, Jesus got no answer.

A'. Foretelling of destruction of Jerusalem.

Jesus foretells the destruction Signs of the close of the Age Abomination of Desolation Coming of the Son of Man Lesson of the Fig Tree No one knows the Day or the Hour

This is a complicated topic. And I'll share my notes as a suggestive thoughts. First, Jesus starts by talking about the Temple building/complex. Second, the Abomination of Desolation is an important concept in this prophecy (foretelling). Third, unpredictable nature of the events.

Suggestions: First, we know that by 70 AD Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. Therefore, He must be talking about the events that were fulfilled while some of the hearers still lived. We can LEARN from these losses, but the fulfillment already happened many-many years ago.

Second, abomination of desolation could not be done by Gentiles. In the past history it was always done by Jews, to be precise – priests (1 Sam. 4, and Ezekiel 8-11). They acted in a such a way that would drive the presence of God OUT of the sanctuary.

Third, at the end of the day – NO ONE knows the exact date or an hour – so, any predictions on our part and attempts to speed up the Armageddon to prepare for “the Third Temple” are futile.

Genesis: Abraham and Lot

Genesis: Abraham and Lot

text: Genesis 13 – 19

Outline:

Trip to Canaan, 12

Lot separates from Abraham, 13

Special military operation to free Lot, 14

LORD's Covenant with Abraham, 15 – 17

Doom of Sodom and Gomarah, 18 – 19

Comments: Most often we are talking about father Abraham as the one who went to Canaan. But he was accompanied by his wife Sarai, nephew Lot with his wife and daughters. Along with this, they had quite a number of servants (think about 318 men well trained for a night special military operation). We can think of about a 1000 people or so who went initially together with Abram to the land. Therefore, apart from challenges of relationship with the outsider – people of Canaan, Egyptians etc. – there is an inner dynamic in the camp. That's what we are going to concentrate on.

Gospel of Mark: Transfiguration

Transfiguration

Text: 9:2-13

Comments: A. Context. We see this as a follow up to the first foretelling of Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus got two responses: First, Peter rebuked Jesus. Second, there is no other response whatsoever. To give them a better understanding of the resurrection glory He takes 3 of His closer disciples to a mountain.

The mountain experience is overwhelming for them, and Jesus “charges them to tell no one until the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (v. 9). This triggers a conversation and He leaves it with a cliff hanger (v. 10-13).

B. Jesus and 3 others. Jesus selects James, John, and Peter as His “mighty men.” He spends more time with them and they see His glory of transfiguration. This is a pinnacle of Biblical leadership model. David had 3 mighty men: Josheb-Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, Eleazar son of Dodo, and Shammah son of Agee the Hararite (2 Samuel 23:8-12).

If we go even further in history, we should remember Moses and his three supporters: Aaron (his brother), Hur (community leader), and Joshua a son of Nun (military leader), helping Moses to pray and win the first battle of Israel after crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 17:8-16). Also, we should remember Noah and three of his sons: Shem, Ham, Japheth (Genesis 6:9). Or Daniel with three of his friends: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 1:6-7). In the royal court we can see the following model: monarch, prime-minister (dealing mostly with the internal affairs), minister of foreign affairs, and chief military commander.

Ultimately this paradigm comes from the order of creation, however in reversed order. In human world/terms we have a leader and three supporters. In creation order we have Trinity who invites Adam into fellowship of God's counsel. So, if we begin from the Creation account we need to notice other stories of the Bible where a human was given this privilege: Abraham and three visitors (Genesis 18), Isaiah who see the LORD Sabaoth (Isaiah 6 and Isaiah 53:1).

C. Seven persons. We know that Jesus was met by Moses and Elijah. So. So far we have 6 personalities: Jesus, 3 disciples, Moses, and Elijah. Then the Father speaks, making seven persons total. This completeness is important. Because prior to that Peter said something really strange – he did not know what to say, and have decided to say something. Proverbs 17:28 says: even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise. Peter should've take a class on the Books of Wisdom... What's so strange about his words? The problem is that he equalized Jesus, whom he just confessed to be the Messiah, with Moses and Elijah. These later guys are great BUT (!) Christ is greater, far superior. Author of the Letter to Hebrews, comparing Jesus and Moses put it this way: For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses – as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor then the house itself (Hebrews 3:3).

That's why the voice of the Father is SO important – He rearranges everything to it's proper place: this is My beloved Son, listen to Him (Mark 9:7). Moses, Elijah, David, all the other writers of the Holy Scripture have no glory of their own. They are as important as long as they point to Jesus as Messiah.

D. Why Moses and Elijah? Why these two? Why not Abraham or David? I think there are at least two reasons for it. Moses and Elijah represent two very distinctive periods in Israel history enveloping (more or less) all of its span. Moses is the one who brought them from patriarchal period to the LAND. Elijah ministered in the period of divided kingdoms preparing Israel for the first (Assyrian) exile.

Second, both Moses and Elijah have “weird” death stories. We are told that Moses died, but no one knows where his grave is. Who dug the grave? OK, maybe Moses, but who put the dirt back into the grave?? With Elijah it's not simpler – if Jesus is the first being raised from the dead, where did the prophet go to await for the resurrection of Jesus? We have many questions... AS a result we end up with two mysterious people who passed through death in some different way – so, they are the perfect representatives to talk to Jesus about death and resurrection.

E. Bright glory of Jesus – a foretaste of the glory of resurrection. As I said in the very beginning, the mountain experience of the apostles and Jesus' request not to share it with anybody until resurrection triggered a thought process in the right direction – what this rising from the dead means? (9:10). What Jesus did is gave them a foretaste of His resurrected glory. When we compare this passage with what we see in the Book of Acts 9:3-6 and Revelation 1:9-19, the purpose of Jesus becomes clear.

Therefore, we can identify a few elements of heavenly glory: bright glorious apparel and profound conversations with the spiritual giants of all, and most importantly – fellowship with the beloved Son of God, our Lord and Savior! 

Genesis: Post Flood

Genesis: Post Flood

Text: Genesis 8:13 – 13:18

Structure: I'm sure you'll be surprised if I would tell you that the third lesson in out study of Genesis has a Biblical Waltz outline: A+B+C, related to being formless+empty+dark. Just like Genesis 1:1-2, and the Great Fall, people will face the same three challenges, and barely avoid another great judgment.

I. 8:13-19, God initiates the New World

A. 8:20-22, Noah builds the altar, formation of the merciful relationship with the LORD

  B. 9:1-7, God's blessing: be fruitful and multiply

    C. 9:8-17, Glorification, the colorful sign of the covenant – the rainbow

II. 9:18-19, Initiation of the story of the sons of Noah

A'. 9:20-28, Ham crosses the boundaries – breaking the form

  B'. 10:1 – 11:9, People don't want to fill the earth – building of the city and the tower.

    C'. 11:10 – 12:20, Abram is called to go into the land and interact with the “others.”

Comments: It's important to note that the flood had two purposes: cleaning the earth and protecting Noah with his family. I don't think that God expected everything to be perfect after the Flood – on one hand, we don't see the same magnitude of “badness” as we saw before (cp. Genesis 6:11). On the other hand, Noah and his sons are descendants of Adam – bringing the original sin into the New World with them. It's not a contraband of Methuselah (cp. Movie Noah, 2014), it's the sinful nature that began to play out in a corrupt way to distort the new beginnings...

Gospel of Mark: Jesus foretells His death and resurrection

Jesus foretells His death and resurrection

Text: 8:22 – 10:52

Outline:

A. 8:22-26, Jesus heals a blind man @ Bethsaida

 B. 8:27-30, Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ

  C. 8:31 – 9: 13, 1^st Foretelling of Jesus' death and resurrection + Transfiguration

   D. 9:14-29, Father with demon possessed son

    E. 9:30-50, 2^nd Foretelling of Jesus' death and resurrection + Who is greater?

   D'. 10:1-31, Family issues: divorce, little children, and rich YOUNG man

  C'. 10:32-34, 3^rd Foretelling of Jesus' death and resurrection

 B'. 10:35-45, James and John ask for positions at the throne of resurrected Christ

A'. 10:46-52, Healing of blind man – Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) @ Jericho

Comments: Since we have this long passage, I will divide it into three blocks. First we are going to talk about healing of the blind men. Then I will show the progression of Jesus' foretelling of His fate and the response He got from His disciples. Third, we will address some family issues. Transfiguration we will save for the next time – it is too important...

Celebration of the Church Family

Celebration of the Church Family

Zion Newsletter, May 2026

The month of May marks the celebration of Pentecost. Fifty days after the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and they began to preach. A few pages later you will read an article from Zion's President, August Selby, who visited our sister congregation in Lompoc, Bethany Lutheran Church, and how their pastor, Joseph Byrd, set a juxtaposition between the apostles who were in hiding after the crucifixion for the fear of the Jewish authorities and the same apostles who became bold witnesses and preachers of the Risen Lord Jesus.

Gospel of Mark: Bread and signs

Feeding the 4000, signs, and leaven

text: Mark 8:1-21

Outline:

A. 8:1-10, Bread of Jesus feeds 4000 (no bread, 8:2)

    B. 8:11-13, Demand of a sign

A'. 8:14-21, Leaven of Pharisees and Herod (no bread, 8:14)

Comments: Unlike the story of feeding of 5000 this story is presented in another context. Feeding of 5000 was done in the contrast to Herod's [deadly] birthday party. Here, the feeding of 4000 is a starting point for the future discussion of pharisees' leaven that followed by their demand of a sign. What other sign they want to receive but the bread coming from heaven?? That's the focus of the story as a whole.