Глава 11

1–11. Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. – 12–14. Curse of the fig tree. – 15–19. Cleansing the church. – 20–26. Talk about a withered fig tree. – 27–33. About the divine power of Christ. Mark 11:1. When they approached Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of His disciples Mark 11:2. and he said to them, Go to the village that is right in front of you; entering it, you will immediately find a young donkey tied, on which no one has sat; Having untied him, bring him. Mark 11:3. And if someone says to you: why are you doing this? - answer that the Lord needs him; and will immediately send him here. Mark 11:4. They went and found a young donkey tied at a gate in the street, and they untied it. Mark 11:5. And some of those standing there said to them: What are you doing? Why are you untying the donkey? Mark 11:6. They answered them as Jesus commanded; and they released them. Mark 11:7. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and put their garments on it; Jesus sat on him. Mark 11:8. Many spread their clothes along the road; while others cut branches from trees and spread them along the road. Mark 11:9. Both those who preceded and those who accompanied them exclaimed: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Mark 11:10. Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Mark 11:11. And Jesus entered Jerusalem and the church; and, having examined everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. For the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, see Matthew 21:1–11. Evangelist Mark adds (in verse 1) to the name Bethphage the name Bethany. Perhaps he made this addition in order to explain the almost unknown name Bethagia (this word is not in Tischendorf, 8th ed.) with the more well-known name Bethany. This last village (now El Azariyeh) was located on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives. The road to Jerusalem from Bethany led, as now, first in the southwestern and then in the northwestern direction, between the Mount of Olives and the Mount of Temptation. “And immediately he will send him here” (verse 3). According to a more reliable reading: “immediately he is sent here again.” From this “again” it is natural to draw the conclusion that the young donkey was an animal belonging to the owner of the house in which Christ was in the present case. He was only given to some neighbor for a while. “Bound at the gate”, at the crossroads (verse 4). More precisely: “at the gate, near the very road that went past the house” (ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀμφόδου). “And they brought” the donkey (verse 7). According to the testimony of the Gospel of Mark, it seems that the Lord entered Jerusalem only on a young donkey: Mark does not mention the donkey about which the Evangelist Matthew speaks. By this, however, he does not say that she would not be present at the coming of Christ. He makes it clear that the Lord rode on a young donkey - but the donkey could have walked alongside. At the same time, Evangelist Mark notes that no one has ever sat on this young donkey (see comments on Matthew 21:4–5). “Branches from the trees” (verse 8), more precisely: “the litter made from the greenery that grew in the field” (στιβάδας κόψαντες ἐκ τῶν ἀγρῶν). The Mount of Olives was then, as now, cultivated by farmers, and there was a lot of vegetation of all kinds on it. “Blessed is the coming” (“in the name of the Lord” – not included in the best lists) “the kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” (verse 10). This means that the people recognized Christ as the legitimate descendant of David, in Whom and with Whom the promised Kingdom expected by all should come. Readers of Mark's Gospel have so far read several times about the “Kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14, 4:11, 9:1, etc.), which is soon to come (Mark 1:15). If now the people call the approaching kingdom “David,” then by this they want to say that God has appointed Jesus as the King of this Kingdom of God, whom the blind man called the Son of David (Mark 10:47), and that the opening of this Kingdom should be expected in the near future. “Having examined everything...” (verse 11). According to the Gospel of Mark, Christ did not begin teaching on the day of entry because it was too late, but only carefully examined everything that was happening in the church. Obviously, according to Mark, anything particularly important was not done by Christ that day, although the evangelist Matthew remembered some miracles performed by Christ that time (Matthew 21:14). Mark 11:12. The next day, when they left Bethany, He became hungry; Mark 11:13. and seeing from afar a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find anything on it; but when he came to her, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not yet time to gather figs. Mark 11:14. And Jesus said to her: From now on let no one eat fruit from you forever! And His disciples heard it. “For it was not yet time to gather figs.” This remark of the Evangelist Mark undoubtedly relates only to the nearest sentence: “I found nothing.” He explains why the Lord did not find fruit on the fig tree: summer has not yet come, when the fruits ripen. But in this case, why did the Lord curse the tree? There is no doubt that this entire incident had a symbolic meaning. The Lord knew that there were no fruits on the tree, but this fig tree, contrary to the natural order (at the beginning of April, when the Lord passed by the fig tree, there were no leaves on it - and on fig trees in general) was decorated with leaves. It was this circumstance that gave the Lord the opportunity to admonish the disciples about a similar deception that represented Jerusalem at that time and the majestic church service, which just the day before had been the subject of the Lord’s careful observation. Jerusalem and the church, as the evangelist would like to say, did not bear the good fruits desired by Christ; the time for this has not yet come. In time, Judaism was to bear the fruit of faith. Now he had to drink the cup of God's wrath and undergo the terrible curse of God (cf. Matt. 23:28). “And the disciples heard it,” that is, they delved into the meaning of Christ’s words, which could not have been incomprehensible to them after the parable of the fig tree, using the example of which the Lord had earlier depicted to them the sad fate of Judaism (Luke 13:6–9). Mark 11:15. We arrived in Jerusalem. Jesus, entering the church, began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the church; and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling pigeons; Mark 11:16. and did not allow anyone to carry any thing through the church. Mark 11:17. And he taught them, saying: Is it not written: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations”? and you made it a den of robbers. Mark 11:18. The scribes and high priests heard this, and they sought how to destroy Him, for they feared Him, because all the people were amazed at His teaching. Mark 11:19. When it became late, He left the city. According to the Gospel of Mark, the Lord expelled the merchants from the church on Monday, and not on Sunday, as according to the Gospel of Matthew (and Luke). One might think that the Evangelist Mark here violated the chronological order of events in order to more sharply separate the entry into Jerusalem itself as an event of extreme importance. At the very least, the testimony of the other two weather forecasters must be considered more accurate than that of Mark alone. “And he did not allow anyone to carry”... To shorten the path, they could carry various things through the porch, which was condemned by Jewish rabbis from ancient times. "And he taught them." Only one Evangelist Mark makes this remark, of course, wanting to show that the Lord, being a strict Judge of the Jews, at the same time did not stop admonishing them out of His great love for them. About the high priests and scribes - the enemies of Christ (cf. Matt. 21:15) - Evangelist Mark notes that they “feared” Christ, “because all the people were amazed at His teaching.” By this, the evangelist makes it clear that the enemies of Christ were restrained in their hostile and evil plans only by the reverence with which the people of Christ listened. “When it became late” ... It would be more correct to translate: “when evening came, the Lord left, according to His custom, the city.” Mark 11:20. In the morning, passing by, they saw that the fig tree had dried up to the roots. Mark 11:21. And, remembering, Peter said to Him: Rabbi! Look, the fig tree that You cursed has dried up. Mark 11:22. Jesus answered and said to them: Mark 11:23. have the faith of God, for truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, “Be taken up and cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, whatever he says will be done for him. Mark 11:24. Therefore I tell you: whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and it will be done for you. Mark 11:25. And when you stand in prayer, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Heavenly Father may forgive you your sins. Mark 11:26. If you do not forgive, then your Heavenly Father will not forgive you your sins. The Evangelist Mark conveys a more extensive speech of Christ than that found in the Gospel of Matthew. “The faith of God” (verse 23), i.e. faith in God as the Almighty, who can do everything that the disciples of Christ ask. We are talking here, perhaps, about that miraculous faith that was given to some Christians during the time of the apostles as a special gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 13:2). By pointing out such faith, the Lord consoles His disciples in view of the difficulties awaiting them in preaching the Gospel. “Whatever you ask in prayer...” (verse 24). When disciples pray for something, they must believe that they will receive it. We can say that faith puts the person praying in a position where he imagines himself as having already received from God everything he prays for and desires. “And when you stand praying, forgive…” (verse 25). On the other hand, the one standing (cf. Matthew 6:5 about standing while praying) during prayer must be imbued with a feeling of forgiveness towards his offenders. Otherwise, God will not forgive the person praying and his guilt before Him, and in this case he cannot count on hearing his petition to perform any extraordinary work of God (miracle). (Cf. Matthew 6:14–15). Mark 11:27. We came again to Jerusalem. And as He walked in the church, the chief priests and scribes and elders came to Him Mark 11:28. and they said to Him: By what authority are You doing this? and who gave you the power to do this? Mark 11:29. Jesus answered and said to them: I will also ask you one thing; answer Me; then I will tell you by what authority I do this. Mark 11:30. Was the Baptism of John from heaven, or from men? answer Me. Mark 11:31. They reasoned among themselves: if we say: from heaven, then He will say: why didn’t you believe him? Mark 11:32. but to say: from men - they were afraid of the people, because everyone believed that John was definitely a prophet. Mark 11:33. And they answered Jesus: We do not know. Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” “Walked in the church” (verse 27). With these words, Evangelist Mark, of course, does not mean simply walking around the church, but the conversations that Christ had here with the Jews, and the miracles that he performed. Both, of course, are understood by the high priests when they ask “by what authority” does Christ do “this.” According to the Gospel of Mark, they asked Christ about His entire way of acting - both about teaching and about miracles. You might be interested in: