Mark 10-11

[wolfpurplemoon]

Mark 10 doesn't seem to have anything that wasn't covered by Matthew, but I'm not 100% well right now so I may be missing things.

Jesus rides into Bethlehem on a colt instead of two donkeys.

Apparently the fig tree Jesus cursed for not having any fruit wasn't even in season anyway.

Comments

Fig Tree

[(Anonymous)]

Its not the fact that it wasn't its season the bible said as he saw the tree from a far off it looked like it was barring fruit. Because he was hungry as a human he did seem frustrated with the tree as he got closer and because it wasn't barring fruit he cursed it. The principal behind it is that some people from a far look like Christians but the lifestyle they lead goes contrary to the word of God, at least that's what I get from it

[zteccc.livejournal.com]

Chapter 10
Verses 10-12 Jesus clarifies faithfulness between a husband and wife. Since the vows are forever (until death do us part), then divorce doesn't absolve those vows in God's eyes.

Verses 17-27 Covered in Matthew, but worth some commentary. The rich man was trying to get into Heaven by following the Law. His approach (common among every faith except Christianity) was to earn his way into Heaven. Of course in doing so, people often find that there is one area where they may have difficulty. This area typically is because of some sort of sin (e.g. greed, pride, lust, etc.). The example was about a rich man, but it could have just as well been about a person of accomplishments who was proud of what they had achieved or about a person who lived a good life, but who lusted after people.
The disciples asked "How can anyone ever be saved?"; Jesus answer was that there are things that people cannot do but God can do anything. It is important to know that people cannot save themselves. They cannot "do" enough good to be worthy of salvation because they will always have some sin. Only with God's grace can people be saved. God's grace is a free gift offered to those who accept it.

Chapter 11
verses 1-7 The male foal of a donkey would be a colt. This passage is one that confuses readers. Was Matthew incorrect? How about Mark? It is more likely that neither was incorrect, but Matthew included information that the others did not. Jesus could only ride one mount at a time. He rode the colt that was previously unridden, as the prophecy stated. Mark, Luke and even John mention the donkey colt, but the fact that it was unridden means that this was a young colt, just old enough to consider riding. Matthew describes not only the colt, but its mother which the young colt would be dependent on. This is not a contradiction, but simply put, Matthew included information that the others thought was unnecessary.
Consider two people describing an accident. They both could describe that a blue car struck a red car on the left rear fender, but if one of them also describes that there was a green car in the next lane that was not involved, that doesn't invalidate the eyewitness testimony of the one that doesn't describe the green car. Both testimonies involve the same details of the event, one just includes extra information.

Verse 10 "Hosanna" is both a word of praise and a plea for salvation. Specifically, they expected the Messiah to save them, most likely from the Roman occupation. Of course Jesus did save people from a greater bondage, that of sin.

Verses 12-14 It was indeed not the season for mature figs, but fig trees in the area grow a fruit locally known as taksh, immature figs, which appear when the leaves sprout in the spring. If a tree has no taksh when it has leaves, then it will be barren (at least for the year if not forever). Jesus is not capriciously cursing a fig tree, and, as I explained in Matthew, is making a bigger point about appearing to be fruitful, but not truly being fruitful (e.g. pretending to be a believer by going to church and doing good things, but not actually believing). We can see how well that worked out for Judas.

Verses 27-33 When Jesus asked the priests who gave John the Baptist his authority, the priests would have known the answer. In fact they did know the answer, but didn't want to face up to it because it highlighted their own shortcomings. They feared facing their own misrepresentation of God's word in front of the people. Their answer "We don't know" signified clearly that they didn't know God. They were dressed and acted like believers, but they clearly didn't adhere to the intent of God's word. See how this follows the fig tree story above.