UST MARK Chapter 11

◄ MARK 11 ► ║ ═ ©

11 After that, Jesus and his apprentices continued to walk toward the city of Jerusalem, and they were getting closer. They were near the Mount of Olives, just outside the villages of Bethphage and Bethany. Jesus told two of his apprentices to go ahead of them. 2 He instructed them, “Enter the village of Bethphage, which you see ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey that someone has tethered. It is an animal that no one has ever ridden. Remove the tether from the young donkey and lead it to me here. 3 People might ask you, ‘What are you doing?’ In that case, tell them, ‘The Lord needs this young donkey. As soon as he finishes using it, he will return it here.’ ”

4 So the two apprentices left for the village. They saw the young donkey standing on the road. Someone had tethered it to the door of a house. They started to remove its tether.

5 Some people who were there asked the two apprentices, “Why are you removing the tether from the young donkey?”

6 The two apprentices told those people what Jesus had instructed them to say. Then, those people allowed the two apprentices to take the young donkey. 7 They led the young donkey to Jesus. Then they spread their coats on the young donkey, and Jesus rode on it. 8 Then, to honor Jesus, many people laid their coats down on the path in front of Jesus. Other people cut down leafy plants that were growing in nearby farms and laid them down on the path too. 9 People walked in front of Jesus and behind him. They were shouting,

“Praise God!

May God bless him who is here to represent the Lord!

10 The kingdom that our ancestor King David ruled is now here again! May God bless it!

May everything in heaven praise God!”

11 Then Jesus went into the city of Jerusalem and he visited the temple area. He examined everything that was there. After that, because it was evening, he and his 12 representatives returned to the village of Bethany.

12 The following day, when Jesus and his apprentices were leaving the village of Bethany, Jesus became hungry. 13 He saw a fig tree further down the path. It had leaves, so he walked to it to pick some figs from it to eat. However, when he arrived at the fig tree, it had no figs but only leaves. That was because it was not yet the normal time of year when fig trees would produce ripe figs. 14 Jesus responded by saying to the fig tree, “No one will eat figs that they pick from you ever again.” The apprentices listened to him say that.

15 Then Jesus and his apprentices arrived at the city of Jerusalem. Jesus again visited the temple area. Some people were selling and buying things there. He started to force them to leave. Other people were exchanging regular money for special temple money, and other people were selling small birds for people to sacrifice. Jesus flipped over their tables and chairs. 16 Also, he did not allow people to take items through the temple area. 17 Then Jesus instructed those people, “You know that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures, ‘People should say that my temple is a place where all groups of people pray.’ However, you have turned it into ‘a hideout for thieves’!”

18 What Jesus taught impressed the large group of people. Because of that, when the ruling priests and the teachers of the Jewish law learned what Jesus had said and done, they became afraid of him. So, they planned how they might have someone execute Jesus. 19 That evening, Jesus and his apprentices left the city of Jerusalem and again spent the night in the village of Bethany.

20 The next morning, Jesus and his apprentices walked past the same fig tree that they had passed the previous morning. The apprentices noticed that it had completely died. 21 Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the fig tree. He told Jesus, “Teacher, look! The fig tree that you cursed has died!”

22 Jesus replied by telling his apprentices, “You should trust God! 23 Suppose that that you trusted that God would do what you said, and you were not unsure that God would do it. Then, you could tell the hill we are near to leave this place and fall into the ocean, and it would happen. What I have said is true. 24 Because that is true, here is what I want to tell you. Trust that God will give you whatever you ask him for, and he will give it to you. 25 Further, suppose that when you are praying, you remember that someone has offended you. You should forgive them. That way, God your Father, who rules from heaven, will also forgive you when you sin against him. 26 [However, God your Father, who rules from heaven, will not forgive you when you sin against him as long as you do not forgive other people.]”

27 After that, Jesus and his apprentices again arrived at the city of Jerusalem. While Jesus was walking around in the temple area, some of the ruling priests, the teachers of the Jewish law, and the other Jewish leaders approached him. 28 They asked him, “In what way did someone authorize you to do what you have done? Who was it that authorized you to do those things?”

29 Jesus replied, “I, too, will ask you a question. When you answer it, I will answer your question about the way in which someone authorized me to do what I have done. 30 Did God authorize John the Baptizer from heaven to baptize people, or did people authorize him to do that? Answer that question!”

31 Then the ruling priests, the teachers of the Jewish law, and the other Jewish leaders told each other, “Suppose that we answer that God authorized John from heaven. Then, he will tell us that we should have listened to John. 32 On the other hand, we cannot answer that people authorized John.” They said that because they knew that the large group of people believed that John had truly spoken for God, which made them afraid of how the large group of people would react.

33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know who authorized John.”

Jesus responded, “Because you did not answer my question, I will not tell you the way in which someone authorized me to do what I have done.”

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