Tuesday
“The Authority of Jesus is Questioned”
Imagine the buzz around the temple after Jesus’ visit on Monday. Here this man had come in and started turning over tables and driving the store keepers out of the temple courts. Who did he think he was? He didn’t work there, what on earth made him think he could do such a thing? What on earth or what on Heaven?
Jesus comes back the next morning; he must have made a pretty big impression the day before because the shop keepers have not returned to the Gentile courts. Instead Jesus is greeted by the men who were in charge of the Temple and they had one question they wanted answered.
Let’s turn back to Matthew 21:23 What was their question?_____________________ ____________________________________________________________________?
Jesus understood that the motive behind these men and there question was to trap Jesus and to make him look bad in front of the people. So, he decides to turn things around, he will answer their question if they can answer his.
Take a look at verse 24 what is Jesus’ question? _____________________________ ____________________________________________________________________?
A few years earlier this same group of men had asked John the Baptist, by what authority he was doing what? (John 1:24) ___________________________________.
God wanted the Jewish people to recognize Jesus when He came, so in Malachi 3:1 He told the Jewish people that something would happen first. What was it? ____________ _____________________________________________________________________.
Read Mark 1:1-8 Who was this person that would prepare the way? _______________
______________________.
So, if the Jews believed that John the Baptist really was the one that came to prepare the way for the Messiah they would have to answer “by Heaven”, forcing them to recognize Jesus as the Messiah; if they denied that John the Baptist was who he said he was then they were afraid the people would get angry with them instead of turning on Jesus like they wanted. So instead they answered (Matt 21:27) ________ __________
_____________.
They were not willing to recognize the truth, so Jesus moved on and returned to teaching the people.
Jesus spent the rest of the day in the Temple teaching in parables and answering questions raised by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We could spend days studying each of these parables, but we will have to save that for another time. But... just for the record, some of those parables and questions included the following:
The Parable of the two sons - In God’s eyes it is worse to say you will do something and then not do it.
The Parable of the tenants - The parable talked of the Jews treatment of OT prophets, the planned attempt on Jesus’s life and God’s judgement on those who planned it.
The Parable of the wedding banquet - This parable was about God’s invitation to the Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah and their response to those invitations.
The Seven Woes - Was a warning about seeking out titles of honor to foster your pride.
Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar? Answer - Yes, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.
If 7 brothers marry a widow who’s wife will she be at the time of the resurrection? Answer - None, because at the time of the resurrection none will be married.
Which is the greatest commandment? Answer - To the love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul and mind and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself.
After a long day of teaching Jesus and his disciples made their way back to Bethany for dinner and some rest. Turn to John 12.
According to verse 2 who served the dinner?___________________________.
In verse 3 the Bible tells us what Martha’s sister, Mary, was doing. She poured something on Jesus’ feet. What was it?______________________________________.
Just for fun, let’s take this a step further. Look at Psalms 23:5, a drop of oil was generally used to anoint a person’s ____________________.
How much did Mary use (John 12:3)? ______________________. That is equivalent to 2 cups, go measure out 2 cups of water, now dip your finger into the water and wipe it on your forehead. Compare the amount of water you rubbed on your forehead with the water you have left. Mary wasn’t being stingy with her precious oil, she poured every last drop out for Jesus. So again, where did the drop of oil traditionally go according to Psalms 23:5__________________, and where did Mary put her oil?_______________
________________________________________. Mary knew exactly who Jesus was, the Messiah, and she knew the best place for her was kneeling at his feet and because of this she had a greater understanding of what was to come than the others around her. She knew that Jesus was going to die in a few days and she wanted him to know just how much she loved him.
There was one disciple who did not approve of what Mary did, saying that it was wasteful and that they could have sold the expensive perfume and given the money to the poor. Which disciple was it? Vs. 4 ______________________________________.
He goes on to give an estimate of what the perfume was worth, how much was it?
_________________________________________ (if your translation says 300 denarii that is the average paid to a man for a year’s worth of work.)
Turn to Matthew 26:14-16 Judas makes a deal with the chief priests who want to kill Jesus. How much money does Judas receive for betraying Jesus? ________________________________________.
Scholar’s tell us that 30 silver coins would have been worth about 3 months of work. So let’s do a little math. I recently saw that you can get a job for $8.25 a hour at Five Guys, so if you work 40 hours a week that would be 40 x $8.25 = ____________ per week
If there is 4 weeks in a month 4 x $330 = _________________. The total for 3 months would be 3 x $1320= __________________. Or just under $4000.00.
Now let’s compare what Judas sold Jesus for, to the value of what Mary poured out on Jesus’ feet. There are 2080 work hours in a year. What is $8.25 x 2080? __________
It’s interesting to think about.
We are often tempted to save the best things we have for ourselves but Mary wanted to use her best to show her deep love for Jesus.
Now, I know you have been working hard but let’s cover one more thing before we wrap up today’s study. Look back at John 12:3, after Mary poured out her perfume onto Jesus’ feet what did she use to wipe them off? _______________________________.
Just a thought to consider. Have you ever had a certain smell bring back a favorite memory? In just 3 days, Jesus would be hung on a cross. Could it be that Mary longed to preserve the memory of that moment she spent with Jesus as long as she could so she soaked up the extra perfume with her hair instead of a towel? I wonder if as she went about doing her business the next few days if she would pull her hair over her nose and take in a deep breath to remind her of the time she spent with Jesus. I wonder if others smelled it too and if that scent served as evidence of the time she spent with Jesus. So let me ask you, if there evidence in your life of the time you spend with Jesus?
No comments:
Post a Comment