Essential Skills for Our Journey with Jesus
Reading the Bible Well (Pt. 12) A deep dive into Mark 11:22-25.
“Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.” -1 Samuel 1:3
The Temple in Jerusalem, as in Shiloh before it, was the location of the very presence of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is where the people of Israel gathered to strengthen their faith and community through special feasts and rituals and to be forgiven through their sacrifices. It was the heart of the Jewish religion. In Mark 11, we saw that Peter put the story of the fig tree together with the story of Jesus in the Temple. He understood that Jesus was shutting down the Temple, so his next question was about where they would now worship and make their sacrifices.
Jesus responds to this burning question behind Peter’s comment about the fig tree. In Mark 11:22, Jesus’ response is more radically than anyone expected.
“‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”
In the first sentence, Jesus reaffirms that the core of the faith remains what it always has been. Long before any religious institution, Abraham had faith in God’s promise (Genesis 15:6). That belief was credited to him as righteousness; without sacrifice, rituals or the Temple. The institution of the Temple was developed to protect and strengthen that faith. It was never meant to supersede it.
Jesus’ response keeps this original trust in the fulfillment of God’s promise as the heart of faith. Then, in Mark 11:28, he goes one step further. Faith, he says, is more powerful than the Temple.
“‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Go, throw yourself into the sea,” and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”
“This mountain” is code for the Temple, as in this passage from Isaiah:
“Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3)
Isaiah’s vision was that the Temple, as the center of God’s presence, would draw people together in Jerusalem. Jesus says faith is more important than the Temple. (He also suggests this to the Samaritan woman (whose people worship God from Mount Gerizim) when he says:
“‘Woman,’ Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’” (John 4:21-24)
We see this same vision in our passage. The particular institution or its location is no longer important. What is important is worshipping God “in spirit and in truth.” In Mark, Jesus describes this kind of worship as follows:
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
The disciples can continue to be faithful without the Temple. Sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins is replaced by forgiving others. Faith and prayer supersede the religious institution. Our two stories in Mark 11 free the faith to bless all people on earth in the same spirit as the original promise in Genesis 12:2-3:
“The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
‘I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.’”
The spread of blessing is not dependent upon a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. It is centered on faith, prayer, and forgiving others. Thus the news of Jesus is free to spread all over the world.
Jesus’ last words to the disciples in the Book of Acts confirm that we are on the right track in our understanding of these passages:
“…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’”
The fulfillment of these words brought the news of Jesus to us.
Now that we have understood the passage we can apply it to our lives in the next Sunday post.