Monday - A Fig Tree, the Temple, and Some Greeks

We are in the life of Christ again remember that and we are in the last week of the life of Christ Just to kind of recap where we have been recently we saw that on Friday a week before our Lord's death He comes into the Bethany area suburb of Jerusalem where Mary and Martha and Lazarus live So he is in that area and he will Go back and forth between Bethany and Jerusalem go back to Bethany at night and Into Jerusalem during the day for the last week of his life on Saturday there is no information about what happened in our Lord's life and the reason is obviously it's the Sabbath day He is taking the day of rest as prescribed in the Old Testament law and then We found that Sunday we were in Mark chapter 11 last week found that on Sunday the Lord Road into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey the triumphal entry is what it is often called and We Finished up in verse 11 of Mark chapter 11 will begin in Mark tonight So let's find our place there in Mark chapter 11 We ended with verse 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything But since it was already late he went out to Bethany with the 12 I just keep that in mind Sunday evening the Lord goes in and just looks around at everything he observes everything that will be important for Elite end of what happens on Monday And what our Lord does in the temple on Monday? He just observes on Sunday night looks around it's late. He leaves goes back to Bethany and they spend the night there And one of the things that we have been talking about I want to re-emphasize this because I want to emphasize this a good bit Through this part of our Lord's life in the last week is that it's obvious from all that we're seeing That Jesus is in absolute control of everything that's happening It is it is critical to see that he's in charge not not in a pushy self-promoting way But Jesus is in control of all of the events leading up to his death the religious leaders are not in control The crowd is not in control He is not caught up in a sway or he swept into a series of events that He's powerless to stop that's not at all what's happening Jesus is in complete control of what's happening the events of Jesus death burial and resurrection Have been prophesied for hundreds of years Very specifically what would happen and Jesus is taking definite action to carry out that prophesied plan Step by step God's plan very In a very calculated Premeditated way Jesus is moving toward the cross Okay, so so we're on Monday now of the what's called the Passion Week the week of our Lord's giving of his life And we'll see today At least two maybe three events We may get into the third one Depending on how much you want to talk about tonight We may get into the third event of the day Monday The first event that happens is the cursing of the fig tree And we see it there in Mark chapter 11 it's mentioned in Matthew Mark has a little bit more to say about it, so we'll look at Mark's account Let's look at Mark 11 verse 12 the next day as they were leaving Bethany Jesus was hungry Seeing in the distance of fig tree in leaf He went to find out if it had any fruit When he reached it he found nothing but leaves Because it was not the season for figs Then he said to the tree May no one ever eat fruit from you again and his disciples heard him say it Now we'll see later on the next day when they come back into Jerusalem the fig tree is withered up So Jesus curses the fig tree What is going on with that? Why do you think Jesus did that The lesson to his followers Vaynerda here you say something Because didn't have any figs on it yeah that's that's obviously the reason why Vaynerda thought for a minute you're going to a journey meeting there. I'm just getting a little concerned but Okay Okay fig tree represents Israel hang on to that thought We'll come back to that it ties in with everything that's been said here He did curse it because it had no figs on it There's a reason Why it should have had figs on it even though the text says it was not the season for figs We'll get into that in a moment But it does tie into judgment and and is real Let's look first about the judgment on the fig tree Um, this does seem kind of strange almost out of character in fact the liberal critics Of the Bible have a field day with this passage I mean they say that okay. Yeah, look at this. This is an example of Jesus acting like a spoiled child He goes over doesn't find what he wants Well curse you you know curse the fig tree He didn't get what he wanted or some people say it's just an ill-tempered Angry blasting of a poor innocent tree. What did the tree do wrong anyway? Okay, so the the liberal critics have a field day with this passage But they missed the whole point They missed the whole point of the story By the way, it's very very interesting. I'm talking two or three times a week with my daughter missy either on the phone or Skype Because she's taking two religion classes at Iowa State University And she's getting her ears full of this kind of liberal criticism type of stuff So she calls me out every the night says dad I heard this today what You know talk me through this and so we've been talking about these very kinds of things But she's she's doing with the Old Testament so not this particular one But these are the kinds of things the critics look at and say see you know, he's not all you think he was He's just a spoiled child here didn't get his way didn't get what he wanted and so he's angry at a poor innocent fig tree I want to make it very clear that Jesus did not spitefully out of control Curse and innocent fig tree Jesus is using this tree as an object lesson the judgment on the fig tree is a fitting very fitting as we'll see Object lesson for the judgment on Israel and it is an object lesson that fits with the the content of the teaching that Jesus will do in the temple that week It's like at the very beginning of the week Monday morning. He says okay here. Here's an object lesson Now I'm going to tell you what this object lesson means as I teach in the temple especially as he rakes the religious leaders over the coals in Matthew 23 and in particular But that's the whole point This is a visual parable that fits with the verbal parables that Jesus will tell especially on Tuesday in the temple So the the liberal critics miss the whole point the judgment on the fig tree really is symbolic of the judgment on Israel But in order to understand that By the way, let's take a look at the pictures very I was throwing you off there I'm sorry. We do have a picture of a fig tree just to give you an idea of what Jesus would have seen This is a fig tree in Israel fig trees today look like fig trees two thousand years ago So no different this is a fig tree and you can see it very leafy tree Here's a picture of figs ripened figs that would have come off of a fig tree Obviously figs come off of a fig tree Really bright John So that that's an example of what Jesus would have seen now in Israel Full foliage on a fig tree means that it should have figs Even though it is as the text says not time for figs yet. This is a tree that has matured early Because it is in full foliage it has leaves A fig tree that has leaves even though it's not quite yet the season for it. It's still early in the spring Even though it's not quite season for it. It has matured early and so because it has leaves it should also have figs This is not a poor little innocent fig tree that couldn't be helped because it wasn't time for figs Okay It it should have had figs because it was in full foliage So basically the tree is all show and promise but no substance Here look at me. I'm in full leaf But no figs all show beautiful leaves all promise But no substance what a fitting picture of Israel Especially of the religious leaders in Israel all show promise no substance What a beautiful object lesson of the hypocrisy of the religious leaders look good look good come look at me I'm in full foliage spiritually, but no fruit No real life producing fruit on the tree Now this becomes even more significant when you realize that consistently in the Old Testament Israel is likened to a fig tree by the prophets Jeremiah Hosea Joel Micah all four likened Israel to fig tree So we're not just dealing with you know some Nebulous tree out here that has no significance or meaning When Jesus does this with a fig tree and then you'll back it up with parables that he'll teach in the temple This is a very vivid meaningful object lesson because in the prophets Israel is likened to a fig tree It's clear that Jesus is judging the fig tree symbolically showing the judgment that comes on a superficial hypocritical Group of religious leaders that are supposed to be standing for Israel Show a profession of religion no real substance nothing there by the way This also ties into John the Baptist's denunciation of the religious leaders of Israel in his ministry back at the other end of the spectrum of Christ ministry as Christ is just beginning his ministry John the Baptist is Is announcing him to the to the nation of Israel and look at what he says this is for you on the screen of Matthew chapter Three verses seven through ten this is John the Baptist But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing he said to them You brood of viper's who warned you to flee from the coming wrath And that's what he says next produce fruit In keeping with repentance and do not think you can say to yourselves we have Abraham is our father I tell you that out of these stunts god can raise up children for Abraham The axe is already at the root of the trees you see that symbol of judgment You don't there's no fruit on the tree so the axe is going to cut it down. It's going to be judged So he says and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire So Jesus ministry is announced with the kind of preaching that uses this imagery of the fruit tree that doesn't produce fruit And is going to be judged Jesus begins the final week of his ministry with that same imagery Fig tree All show all promise full leaf supposed to have figs doesn't have any it's all show all promise no fruit And so it is a fitting symbol of the hypocrisy and the hollowness and the shallowness religiously of Israel and so the really the tree is a An object lesson for the judgment on Israel. That's the real point Okay, so please don't see Jesus as some petulant little child that didn't get his way Oh, I didn't see didn't get my figs so zap you you know, it's not that it's not that at all Okay, comments questions before we move on to the next event Okay, Jesus moves on from the Journey from Bethany into Jerusalem remember that two mile Walk into Jerusalem and he gets into Jerusalem And go straight to the temple now the cleansing of the temple is found in three gospels the synoptic gospels the three gospels that Basically see the life of Christ the same way same progression Primarily of events Matthew, Mark and Luke we're gonna stick with marks account because he gives the most information And what we find in verses 15 and 16 is Jesus authority demonstrated and again, Jesus is In cleansing the temple. He's demonstrating his authority over God's house Okay, so look at what verse 15 says on reaching Jerusalem Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise Through the temple courts Okay, let's stop with those two verses and let's let's get a glimpse of what is going on here First of all, I want us to take a bird's-eye view of the city of Jerusalem in Jesus day I'm sorry If it's hard to see the detail from very far away, there's a lot of room up front here So Or remember we try to have a kind of classroom setting on Wednesday night So it helps if you can get a little closer Should proud of me Jim Okay, here's here's the Mount of Olives This is a good year blimp view. Okay, we're looking down on Jerusalem Here's the Mount of Olives, Beth Page where Jesus found the or Jesus disciples found the cold Cult the fold of a donkey that he wrote in on Bethany's a little bit back this way So he would come from this direction Come down the Mount of Olives toward the temple cross the Kidren Valley Toward the temple you would come up to this area come around to the side the entrance to the temple is actually over here There was a gate here, but it was it was closed It was uh was not functioning at that time. So the steps to the temple were on the south side Here, this is the temple area Okay, um, let me see what do we have next? We have a picture of Jesus cleansing the temple. Let's take a look at that um This is just an artist depiction I look at several of these and I don't know that there's any there any that I saw that really picture it well Here's in this artist representation Jesus with the uh the Whip of of cords that he had driving out people who are selling the animals uh And others in the temple What I want us to do next let's go ahead and launch that glow Bible presentation of the temple um I want us to take a look at this is what the temple would have probably looked like in Jesus day before we go any further Let me just this is an actual um recreation of the size of Jerusalem in Jesus day. This is not an actual picture, you know This is computer graphic But it's it's this is the size of the temple area. Here's the rest of the city of Jerusalem Okay, you get a feel and and we know from You know historical records the dimensions and so forth of the city and also from archaeological digs But uh the temple mount the temple complex was absolutely enormous when compared to the rest of the city it really was the dominant feature of the city And so that's why Jesus Among other reasons is going to spend much of his time in the temple That's really the center of life you would come this is the Mount of Olives up here You'd come across the Mount of Olives across the Kidren valley And you would enter right here, but you can see this is all wall here There's an East Gate over here that's that's not open at the time Here would be the inferences over here. There were stairways numerous stairways that went up on this side And you would enter under this porch area This was Solomon's porch area there that you read about in the book of Acts You would enter up through there and come into the court of the Gentiles So if we're let's take a look first of all if we can launch that uh zoom in to the actual temple area So this is the the actual entrance into the temple area where the the Animal would be killed the brazen author right here and then the Actual holy place right here back through the curtain. There's the curtain that Separates the holy place from the holy of Holies holy of Holies would be back in this Back Anthachamber or this back room here But this is the this is the temple complex. I mean this is the temple proper This is all this out here is part of the temple complex that would have been added And built by Herod and Solomon also would have built something similar to that Let's look at the the next we can back out of that when look at the next zoom in We're going to look at the court of the Gentiles The court of the Gentiles as you can see this is that main temple complex looking from the side looking from the south side Those kind of pillard tight places right here is the main part of the temple right here That we looked at this would be the front side that we looked in just a moment ago So we're on the side the the court of the Gentiles was on the side and you could go this far You could only go as far as that wall This is the court of the women and the and where the Jews could go But the Gentiles could come this far these two plaques right here and by the way one of those has been found intact By archaeologists it is a warning to the Gentiles that they can go no further or Risk suffering death if they go any further into the area that's reserved for Jewish worshipers But the Gentiles the court of the Gentiles That's what the Bible's talking about when it says the court of the Gentiles It's this outer court where Gentiles could come and pray and worship and they were encouraged to do that they were supposed to do that all right now if you could back out of that to that Picture of the temple that We zoomed in on just a moment ago. Okay. Yeah, let's look at this Here's the court of the Gentiles right here. Here's that wall. We were seeing a moment ago And this is the court of the Gentiles This area right here is Where Jesus is going to do most of his damage Or a lot of his a lot of his damage because that's where the marketplace was set up in the court of the Gentiles Couldn't couldn't go into the where the Jews actually brought sacrifices But in the court of the Gentiles they set up quite a marketplace and just to show you while we've got this this picture still up people coming from the Mount of olives Would often cut through here or people coming from town Would cut through here as a shortcut to get to the Mount of olives either way They would cut through the court of the Gentiles. So it was like a thoroughfare. It was like a street Rather than a place of worship rather than go all the way around the temple either way they would cut through here And come up so if you have that picture in mind now you get an idea of what Jesus is going to do and why? Okay All right, thanks guys appreciate that. Let's let's look at what Jesus does and keep that image in your mind of the temple In verse 15 Jesus enters the temple courts Begin driving out those who were buying and selling overturned the tables the money changers benches of those selling does would not allow anyone to carry merchandise Through the temple courts now remember that's where they carried the merchandise through the temple courts is that shortcut Through the court of the Gentiles It has become like a main thoroughfare in Jerusalem and so that's what verse 16 is talking about Now was it wrong For people to sell in the temple Was that what anger Jesus A den of thieves okay, which seems to indicate what Business practices overcharging okay. Yeah Take an advantage of people coming from other areas. Okay Tommy let's move down that street a little bit um People are coming from a lot of different areas aren't they to Jerusalem remember we talked about Josephus Jewish historians said 2.7 million people would be in Jerusalem at this time at the Passover They had to have sacrifice and if you're coming from Very far away. You're not going to bring your lamb with you You're going to bring some money and buy a lamb in Jerusalem and so There had to be animals being sold um That's not really the issue, Steve So Yeah, yeah, and that's a very important point Um, this is a slap on the face of the Gentiles and it's even more than that It is a complete Destruction of what God intended the testimony to the Gentiles to be and we'll get to that in a moment So hang on to that thought because that's a verse or two later for Jesus deals with that Good very good thought The problem is not The changing of money or the selling of animals Money had to be changed because gifts to the temple could not be received from foreign currencies That had i-dollar trust figures on them or like other pagan deities on them so money had to be changed into Money that could be used in the temple and given as gifts there Nothing wrong with changing of money that needed to be done Nothing wrong with selling of animals for sacrifices that needed to be done Because people would come from great distances would have to buy their animals in Jerusalem That's not the problem the problem is In a sense where it was where it was being done But also how it was being done Um Just imagine this way Imagine the court of the Gentiles you've got huge crowds that are there Surging toward these tables where money's being changed and animals are being sold You've got shouting you've got bargaining you've got haggling if you've i mean if If you know anything about Jewish culture or even if you go to Israel today you don't pay the price that's marked Nobody including the seller expects that You haggle you go back and forth Yeah, that's just an accepted part of the custom that would have been done in Jesus' day as well Remember Abraham did it. He's the father of the Jewish nation Remember Abraham haggled with God If they're 50 righteous people in Sodom will you spare it? Oh, oh lord if there's 40 if there's 30 I mean, you know, okay, so that's a very common Part of their culture people would be haggling over the prices and exchange rates There's the jostling of people add to that the noise and stench of animals being sold In the temple compound and what you've got is something like a cross between a county fair and the new york stock exchange It's just not what the temple was built for And you've got all this noise and smell of animals and all this haggling over prices and people jostling toward the tables It's kind of like Disney world right there the crowds and the lines and the people getting upset and and It's the furthest thing away From a place of worship a place of prayer And so that's what Jesus is upset about This is supposed to be a place of worship and prayer go back to the Old Testament look at first Kings Eight first Kings eight were Solomon dedicates the temple read his prayer and he prays to God When he dedicates the temple When foreigners come to this place and seek your face and pray He prays that God will make this place a testimony to Gentiles That's what Solomon prayed when he dedicated the temple. He knew that's what it was supposed to be A place of testimony to the Gentiles Isaiah has a vision of the way the temple is supposed to be in Isaiah 56 look at these verses What Isaiah says 700 years before the time of Christ and Foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants Foreigners Gentiles, okay? People who do this all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant This is what he says about them These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations Isaiah knew what the temple was supposed to be Solomon knew what the temple was supposed to be It had lowered itself from a place of testimony to the Gentiles Where foreigners non-Jewish people could come and offer sacrifices and worship God and pray and be drawn to the true God It had degenerated into a place where people are haggler and fussing and fighting over prices and jostling around with animals And it's the furthest thing away from a testimony to the Gentiles. That's what burnt Jesus up Okay, Jesus will act on that. He sees this as a flagrant desecration of the purpose of the temple So that's why drives them out. That's why it turns their tables over That's why let's the animals go and that's why he also verse 16 cuts off the traffic Moving through the court of the Gentiles This is not a thoroughfare This is not a business street. It's a place of prayer Now Does that seem a little out of character for Jesus who said Coming to me all either labor heavy laden. I will give you rest where I'm meek and lowly in heart That sounded a little out of character for him or does this fit with that character It doesn't sound out of character or doesn't fit Think it Okay, all right That's fine you made very clear You do think it fits with his character. Okay, any other thoughts There's anger and there's righteous anger. Yes, of course Who is he zealous for who is he defending here in the temple Gentiles, okay, and they're right to hear about God Okay, notice what he says Notice what he says in verse 17 and as he taught them he said is it not written My house will be called a house for all nations, but you've made it a den of robbers My house in the Old Testament. That's a quote from Isaiah 56 in the Old Testament. That's God's house That's the father's house He is zealous to defend the honor of his father When it comes to promoting himself he is meek and lowly in heart That's why he rides into town on a donkey remember we saw that rather than the horse But when it comes to promoting the holiness and honor of his father When he sees that being desecrated trampled under foot and people being cheated by all the haggling of prices and Because they've come from far away and they don't have any other options They've got to buy an animal. They're being charged the exorbitant prices when he sees that kind of Den of thieves going on Then yes, he will strike out an anger Righteous anger to be sure, but it is anger nonetheless So that's that's his authority demonstrated his authority explained in verse 17 Is because this is supposed to be a house of prayer we've already looked at that This is a place for prayer and meditation who can pray and meditate with all that we've just described going on What Gentile would ever be attracted to the god of Israel in that place You see where Jesus is coming from? Israel had had forfeited her right to be a light to the Gentiles, which is what god intended her to be all along So this Jesus sees this as a massive national sin against god It is a terrible tragedy a compromise of their testimony to the lost to the Gentile nations and so Jesus reacts not out of control again demonstrating With righteous anger a zeal for his father's house and the holiness of god what Well, obviously in Jesus day, I mean before Jesus came there were not a lot of lights In Israel to the Gentiles they had they had forfeited their Right to do that through the Old Testament Consistently they were told that they were to be a light to the Gentiles even the covenant with Abraham All nations will be blessed because of you and your seed god told Abraham from the very beginning They were supposed to be blessing to all nations and there were times in the Old Testament where that was true and there were godly kings Who promoted the worship of god and extended that knowledge to other nations There were prophets who took that message to other nations So there were times when they were a light and as people would come to Jerusalem They could see the worship of the true god, but by the time of Jesus day there wasn't much of that light Going on it was pretty dark The nation as a whole was supposed to have been the light You You could be a a Gentile Prostalite in the sense that you could become circumcised come under the food laws and the other laws You could you could do that You still had to worship in the quarter the Gentiles, but you could become a Jewish Prostalite and put yourself under the covenant and be a A Gentile worshipper Prostalite as it were they'll see that a few times Yes That's that I wasn't getting into as I was my oldest experience Yeah, I'm not real sure to be honest. I'm not sure how they got their sacrifices in or if they gave animal sacrifices. I'm not sure Maybe they brought the sacrifice and someone took it else someone else took it in for I really don't know I'd have to do a little research on that Okay Anything else But there was definitely a barrier beyond which they could not go and it was not all the way into the um Place of sacrifice, but you know Let me back up a little bit not all the Jews went into the holy place either the Jews stayed out in the courts and the priests came out and got the sacrifices That's how it happened Yeah, the priests came out and got the sacrifices Okay Okay, his authority is explained notice his authority being challenged verse 18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to killing For they feared him Because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching remember we talked about this before They wanted him arrested they wanted him killed, but they're afraid of his popularity and so they They're kind of looking for a way to do it without it causing a lot of commotion Huh That's interesting isn't it? Do you think maybe if someone came and offered to betray him in the middle of the night in a secret place? That might work Yeah, that's why they jump on that Thursday night. That's what they're looking for To arrest him when the crowds aren't around they're afraid of the crowds They're afraid of the the popular uprising of the people so They want to arrest him and kill him, but they fear the crowds And verse 19 says when the evening came Jesus sent his disciples who now have the city But that's not all that happens There's some more that happens in the temple that day before he goes out of the city Okay, he cleanses the temple and can you just imagine the scene after that's done With in the quarter of the Gentiles with all these tables overturned an animal scurrying and people trying to get their coins back up off the ground, you know, I mean, that's been quite a scene But evidently Jesus then goes on to teach remember this is a huge complex Jesus goes on to teach because of the parallel passage over in Matthew Matthew 21 Make sure I hadn't left out any slides. I don't think we had any Matthew 21 verses 14 to 16 look at that real quick Matthew 21 verses 12 and 13 described the cleansing of the temple and then verse 14 The blind and lame came to him at the temple and he healed them so after this Cleansing the temple there's some healing going on in the temple courts verse 15 But when the chief priest and the teachers the law saw the wonderful things he did And the children shouting in the temple courts. Hosanna to the son of David They were indignant Did you hear what these children were saying they asked him yes replied Jesus have you never read from the lips of children and infants You Lord have called forth your praise. That's out of the book of Psalms Jesus quotes that so his authority is challenged by the Pharisees and the chief priests Who are upset at what he's done But also upset at these children Hosanna remember it means save us Save us again from Psalm 118 as we saw at the triumphal entry and So they try to get Jesus to quiet this This noise and Jesus doesn't And then verse 17 says he left them went out of the city to Bethany where he spent the night But there's one other thing that happens before he leaves the temple as well That John's gospel tells us about so he's gone in this is Monday He on the way into Jerusalem curses the fig tree goes into the temple Uh cleanses the temple. We don't know how long that took There evidently is some healing then that goes on after that in the temple courts probably some teaching and And then an event happens a very interesting event happens in John 12 And we'll just get started into that tonight John chapter 12 The desire of some Greeks to see Jesus Remember he's in the quarter of the Gentiles or in that area the larger Complex of the temple where a lot of people did meet and we're teaching what happens for the early church in the book of Acts would meet and do public meetings So he's now he's now teaching in the temple John chapter 12 and let's see verse 20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival They came to Philip who was from Bethesda in Galilee With a request Bethesda is kind of a Gentile Greek-ish kind of town and so Philip um They they find him may have known of him or asked around someone they could talk to they find Philip And their request is this in verse 21 sir. They said we would like to see Jesus Now the word to see Jesus is not just we just want to catch a glimpse of him as he walks by the word for see here Means to gaze at it has the idea we want to meeting with him We would like to have an interview with him. We'd like to talk with him It's not just a passing glance It's not like you know, we just like to see him like you might want to see a dignitary or you know Santa Claus or Whatever it's not that it's we want to we want to meet with him. We would like to sit down and talk with him is the idea And in verse 23 or 22 Philip went to tell Andrew Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus Now what why do you think Philip went to Andrew rather than just taking him to Jesus? Okay, Andrew was always taking people to Jesus It is interesting that Andrew does seem to be Andrew is the one that brought Peter In John 1 Andrew is the one that brought the little boys lunch in John 6 little boy that had to lunch defeating the 5,000 Andrews always grabbing somebody and bringing them to Jesus. Maybe that was his mo. Maybe that was the way he operated and so Philip Philip may have had some questions, right? These are Greeks these are Gentiles Uh Not sure if that's appropriate. Don't know if Jesus who want to meet with them Maybe I better check with Andrew. You think maybe there's some of that going on Quite possible if you study the apostles. They're very interesting studies by the way Philip seems to be the more pragmatic um Analytical of the disciples He's the one of defeating the 5,000 when Jesus said uh You all go out and get stuff to feed these folks and Philip that you can just see him on his iPad over there figure it real quick And he all of a sudden says we've only got 200 penny worth it would take this much to feed this much He's done all the figuring see he's the guy that's the analytical Uh Number crunching kind of guy among the disciples and so when someone someone comes to him with a little off the wall request Greeks who want to meet with Jesus I mean just think of the timing of the whole thing He's just overturned a bunch of money tables and driven people out of the temple and he's healing people Is this the right time or these the right people? Philips thinking through all that see He's the analytical guy that's thinking through all of the angles is this right So he says I think I better get a little better ownership of this let me go get Andrew Because Andrew know he's always taking people to Jesus. He'll know whether or not that's right I'm maybe overplaying it a little bit, but These guys were just like us. Okay, they thought a little differently Philips a little more analytical Andrews a little more whoever wants to come to Jesus. I'll find a way to get them there Kind of guy. So maybe there was some of that going on with with Philip and Andrew Well, that's Uh By the way, I just skipped through without giving any cue to our Our folks back at the booth. Sorry. That was some Greeks approaches disciples. Okay, just so you can fill it in That was the Greeks approaching the disciples In verses 20 to 22 And we're gonna have to stop there and and what we'll find here. Here's the interesting thing What we'll find is that this desire of some Greeks to see Jesus in the temple court and This is probably against still on Monday this desire We don't know whether Jesus ever met with him or not the Bible never tells us we don't know But it does in Jesus mind raise The issue of why he had come and there's a sense this is a very significant event because there's a sense in which this gets a clock stopped and another clock started Jesus is going to say now my hour has come And there's something about these Greeks these Gentiles approaching Jesus That closes a chapter in his ministry and opens a new chapter And the hour has now come for something else to be done We'll take a look at that next week and see exactly what that is and how significant a turning point This is and why Jesus just with this simple request is Motivated to say some very deep things about why he came It's a very very critical turning point. Okay Well, let's pray and then we'll get the hordes of kids coming up from downstairs All right Thank you father for The opportunity to look into our Lord's life again. We are constantly amazed At our master our our Lord and Savior The one who was totally in control of everything that was happening Lord, I pray that tonight we would learn from his zeal for your honor and glory And to see your holiness your plan of reaching Gentiles trampled underfoot in all the noise and thievery That was going on just Was more than he could take help us Lord to Respond with righteous anger whenever your glory and your holiness is at stake Not when it's us our reputation or What we have said are done, but when your glory or honors at stake Help us to take a firm stand for you In Jesus name we pray amen