1 And when they draw near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sends two of his disciples,
2 and says to them, Go into the village which is over against you, and immediately on entering into it ye will find a colt tied, upon which no [child] of man has ever sat: loose it and lead it [here].
3 And if any one say to you, Why do ye this? say, The Lord has need of it; and straightway he sends it hither.
4 And they departed, and found a colt bound to the door without at the crossway, and they loose him.
5 And some of those who stood there said to them, What are ye doing, loosing the colt?
6 And they said to them as Jesus had commanded. And they let them [do it].
7 And they led the colt to Jesus, and cast their clothes upon it, and he sat on it;
8 and many strewed their clothes on the way, and others cut down branches from the trees [and went on strewing them on the way].
9 And those going on before and those following cried out, Hosanna! blessed [be] he that comes in [the] Lord's name.
10 Blessed [be] the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest!
11 And he entered into Jerusalem and into the temple; and having looked round on all things, the hour being already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
12 And on the morrow, when they were gone out of Bethany, he hungered.
13 And seeing from afar off a fig-tree which had leaves, he came, if perhaps he might find something on it. And having come up to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the time of figs.
14 And answering he said to it, Let no one eat fruit of thee any more for ever. And his disciples heard [it].
15 And they come to Jerusalem, and entering into the temple, he began to cast out those who sold and who bought in the temple, and he overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of the dove-sellers,
16 and suffered not that any one should carry any package through the temple.
17 And he taught saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? but *ye* have made it a den of robbers.
18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard [it], and they sought how they might destroy him; for they feared him, because all the crowd were astonished at his doctrine.
19 And when it was evening he went forth without the city.
20 And passing by early in the morning they saw the fig-tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter, remembering [what Jesus had said], says to him, Rabbi, see, the fig-tree which thou cursedst is dried up.
22 And Jesus answering says to them, Have faith in God.
23 Verily I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe that what he says takes place, whatever he shall say shall come to pass for him.
24 For this reason I say to you, All things whatsoever ye pray for and ask, believe that ye receive it, and it shall come to pass for you.
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have anything against any one, that your Father also who is in the heavens may forgive you your offences.
26 But if *ye* do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in the heavens forgive your offences.
27 And they come again to Jerusalem. And as he walked about in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders come to him,
28 and they say to him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority, that thou shouldest do these things?
29 And Jesus answering said to them, *I* also will ask you one thing, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:
30 The baptism of John, was it of heaven, or of men? answer me.
31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say, Why [then] have ye not believed him?
32 but should we say, Of men -- they feared the people; for all held of John that he was truly a prophet.
33 And they answering say to Jesus, We do not know. And Jesus [answering] says to them, Neither do *I* tell you by what authority I do these things.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Mark 11
Commentary on Mark 11 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 11
Mr 11:1-11. Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, on the First Day of the Week. ( = Mt 21:1-9; Lu 19:29-40; Joh 12:12, 19).
See on Lu 19:29-40.
Mr 11:11-26. The Barren Fig Tree Cursed with Lessons from It—Second Cleansing of the Temple, on the Second and Third Days of the Week. ( = Mt 21:12-22; Lu 19:45-48).
11. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon—surveyed.
all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out into Bethany with the twelve—Thus briefly does our Evangelist dispose of this His first day in Jerusalem, after the triumphal entry. Nor do the Third and Fourth Gospels give us more light. But from Matthew (Mt 21:10, 11, 14-16) we learn some additional and precious particulars, for which see on Lu 19:45-48. It was not now safe for the Lord to sleep in the city, nor, from the day of His Triumphal Entry, did He pass one night in it, save the last fatal one.
The Barren Fig Tree Cursed (Mr 11:12-14).
12. And on the morrow—The Triumphal Entry being on the first day of the week, this following day was Monday.
when they were come from Bethany—"in the morning" (Mt 21:18).
he was hungry—How was that? Had he stolen forth from that dear roof at Bethany to the "mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God?" (Lu 6:12); or, "in the morning," as on a former occasion, "risen up a great while before day, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed" (Mr 1:35); not breaking His fast thereafter, but bending His steps straight for the city, that He might "work the works of Him that sent Him while it was day?" (Joh 9:4). We know not, though one lingers upon and loves to trace out the every movement of that life of wonders. One thing, however we are sure of—it was real bodily hunger which He now sought to allay by the fruit of this fig tree, "if haply He might find any thing thereon"; not a mere scene for the purpose of teaching a lesson, as some early heretics maintained, and some still seem virtually to hold.
13. And seeing a fig tree—(In Mt 21:19, it is "one fig tree," but the sense is the same as here, "a certain fig tree," as in Mt 8:19, &c.). Bethphage, which adjoined Bethany, derives its name from its being a fig region—"House of figs."
afar off having leaves—and therefore promising fruit, which in the case of figs come before the 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—What the precise import of this explanation is, interpreters are not agreed. Perhaps all that is meant is, that as the proper fig season had not arrived, no fruit would have been expected even of this tree but for the leaves which it had, which were in this case prematurely and unnaturally developed.
14. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever—That word did not make the tree barren, but sealed it up in its own barrenness. See on Mt 13:13-15.
And his disciples heard it—and marked the saying. This is introduced as a connecting link, to explain what was afterwards to be said on the subject, as the narrative has to proceed to the other transactions of this day.
Second Cleansing of the Temple (Mr 11:15-18).
For the exposition of this portion, see on Lu 19:45-48.
Lessons from the Cursing of the Fig Tree (Mr 11:20-26).
20. And in the morning—of Tuesday, the third day of the week: He had slept, as during all this week, at Bethany.
as they passed by—going into Jerusalem again.
they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots—no partial blight, leaving life in the root; but it was now dead, root and branch. In Mt 21:19 it is said it withered away as soon as it was cursed. But the full blight had not appeared probably at once; and in the dusk perhaps, as they returned to Bethany, they had not observed it. The precision with which Mark distinguishes the days is not observed by Matthew, intent only on holding up the truths which the incident was designed to teach. In Matthew the whole is represented as taking place at once, just as the two stages of Jairus' daughter—dying and dead—are represented by him as one. The only difference is between a more summary and a more detailed narrative, each of which only confirms the other.
21. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him—satisfied that a miracle so very peculiar—a miracle, not of blessing, as all His other miracles, but of cursing—could not have been wrought but with some higher reference, and fully expecting to hear something weighty on the subject.
Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away—so connecting the two things as to show that he traced the death of the tree entirely to the curse of his Lord. Matthew (Mt 21:20) gives this simply as a general exclamation of surprise by the disciples "how soon" the blight had taken effect.
22. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed … he shall have whatsoever he saith—Here is the lesson now. From the nature of the case supposed—that they might wish a mountain removed and cast into the sea, a thing far removed from anything which they could be thought actually to desire—it is plain that not physical but moral obstacles to the progress of His kingdom were in the Redeemer's view, and that what He designed to teach was the great lesson, that no obstacle should be able to stand before a confiding faith in God.
24. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them—This verse only generalizes the assurance of Mr 11:23; which seems to show that it was designed for the special encouragement of evangelistic and missionary efforts, while this is a directory for prevailing prayer in general.
25. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses, &c.—This is repeated from the Sermon on the Mount (see on Mt 6:12); to remind them that if this was necessary to the acceptableness of all prayer, much more when great things were to be asked and confidently expected.
Mr 11:27-33. The Authority of Jesus Questioned—His Reply. ( = Mt 21:23-27; Lu 20:1-8).
See on Mt 21:23-27.