Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 2 Study #3
March 5, 2024
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: The growing determination of the chief priests and scribes to destroy Jesus is an aspect of His rejection of the nation.
Introduction:In our last study, we focused upon Jesus' rather violent dealings with those in The Temple who had turned it into a "cave of robbers". This was an element in His rejection of the "fig tree nation", but it was also a major aspect of the leadership of The Temple being moved to kill Him.
This evening we are going to look into those "leaders" and the reasons for their hatred.
- I. The Structure Of This Section.
- A. Following the chiasm of 9:1-11:11.
- B. The record of "rejection" begins with Jesus' curse upon the fig tree (11:12-26); a record that is structured in terms of "The Curse", "The Reason", and "The Necessity for Faith".
- C. The record of the "interruption" between the segments of Jesus' treatment of the fig tree.
- 1. The reaction by the leadership in Jerusalem and The Temple.
- a. The roots of this reaction: "they heard" (Aorist Active Indicative); and "they were being made fearful" (Imperfect Passive Indicative).
- 1) Their "hearing". Mark used "akouo" in 41 places in his record. It typically generated some kind of response/reaction except when its "function" of generating responses was deliberately blocked (4:9, 12).
- 2) Their "fear": "all the crowd were being made amazed" (Imperfect Passive Indicative).
- a) The verb is "phobeo".
- (1) It is, interestingly, used in 16:8 as a major part of the phrase "ephobounto gar" which ends Mark's record.
- (2) This "fear" is a very major aspect of Mark's entire record as is highlighted by 11:18, 32, and 12:12 and is in the background of Herod's destruction of Witness-John in 6:26.
- b) The reason for the fear is that the crowd was hearing what He was teaching and were being "so impressed" (as a metaphor out of the idea of being squashed) by it that they might have been moved to act in a hostile manner toward their "leaders".
- (1) The verb, "exeplesseto" is used by Mark in 5 places, but the specific form (Third Person Singular Imperfect Passive Indicative) is only found here in all of the New Testament where the cumulative use adds up to 13 texts (with 10 of them saying that it was a response to what Jesus was "teaching").
- (2) The "thing" that the crowd might well have reacted to was the accusation that the leaders had turned The Temple into a cave of robbers.
- b. The particular leaders.
- 1) The chief priests.
- a) The first reference by Mark to these men is in 8:31 where Jesus first told His disciples that "the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again".
- b) In 10:33 He said much the same thing.
- c) The remaining texts in Mark regarding these men (18 of them) are all found in chapters 11-15 with 11 of those 18 being in chapter 14's account of the developing plot to kill Jesus.
- d) These were wicked men who had everything to lose if they lost their influence over the crowd.
- 2) The scribes.
- a) Mark refers to these men in 21 places also (there are 21 references to the chief priests in Mark's record) with 12:38 being of primary importance.
- b) These men were of a class of "scholars" who were responsible for the actual content of doctrine (1:22) that was believed in the synagogues of Israel.
- c. They were seeking (Imperfect Active) how they might destroy (Aorist Subjunctive) Him.
- 1) This "destruction" was first introduced in 3:6.
- 2) It did not, necessarily, mean "physical destruction" as in "killing", but it did mean to nullify His impact upon the people by some method -- either showing Him up as an agent of Satan (3:22), or, if necessary, killing Him.
