Weekend Service for August 16Scripture Readings: Mark 11-13Mark keeps asking the same question: who is Jesus, and what will be done with that knowledge? Mark 11 through 13 gives the answer with real weight. Jesus is truly the king, but he is not the king the crowd thought it was getting. The donkey says it before anyone else understands it. Jesus does not come riding in on a warhorse to raise a flag, crush Rome, or make life easier. Jesus comes humbly, moving toward suffering, because he has not come merely to fix circumstances. He has come to transform the heart.The fig tree and the temple belong together. The fig tree has leaves but no fruit, and the temple has activity but no relationship. Jesus curses the tree and clears the temple because religion has been turned into a game. Sacrifices, money changing, and outward motions have filled the space that was meant to be “a house of prayer for all nations.” Jesus is not impressed by busy religious systems that use people instead of serving people. He is looking for fruit.Mark then shows the religious elites growing more angry because Jesus threatens their power. The questions about taxes, resurrection, and authority are traps, but Jesus keeps exposing the heart underneath the trap. The coin bears Caesar’s image, so Caesar can have it. Human beings bear God’s image, so God desires the whole life. God is not after a pile of things. God desires the person.The greatest commandment cuts through the whole structure. Jesus says the center is love for the Lord with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love for the neighbor as oneself. The teacher of the law who receives that word stands in a risky place, because his own group is against Jesus. Yet Jesus says he is not far from the kingdom of God. Head knowledge matters, but head knowledge without love and relationship leaves the heart empty.The widow’s two coins show what whole devotion looks like. The rich give a tiny part of their surplus, but the poor widow gives everything she has to live on. Jesus sees what looks insignificant to everyone else and calls it greater. Chapter 13 then turns the disciples’ eyes away from magnificent stones and toward faithfulness. Jesus says the buildings will fall, trouble will come, false messiahs will rise, and his people must stay awake and be on guard. The king has arrived, and his throne will be a cross. His crown will be thorns. His victory will look like defeat, but three days later this king will rise.[