Sunday Sermon - Sunday October 4, 2026 - Gospel of Mark 11:20-33 - The Challenge

Jesus has come into Jerusalem and started some mess. First he comes into the city as the Messiah the king, as the crowds shout Hosanna Save us now, and then on the very next day he goes into the temple and drives out all the commerce, he has put an end to the transactional sacrificial practices taking place in the temple, but we remember right at the beginning of that day, Jesus came to a fig tree that had no figs. The tree was bare of fruit, but it was not supposed to have fruit at that time of the year, and yet Jesus curses the tree that no one will ever eat from it again. This rather odd circumstance seemed out of place, until we came to the next day.

Mark 11:20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

Mark 11:21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

Now was the fig tree cursed because it did not have any fruit and Jesus stayed hungry? No, the fig tree is a symbol, when Jesus goes into Jerusalem it a city with a religious system that does not produce any fruit itself, and the heart of that plant is the sacrificial system that Jesus sought to put an end to. In those temple sacrifice there was no real repentance being offered to God, their was no real sacrifice of something personal and dear to them, it was nothing more than a transaction. Jesus curses the non-fruitful tree, and then He puts the ax to the unfruitful tree that is the religious transactional practices taking place in the temple. So, when Jesus and the disciples are on their way back in to Jerusalem that same fig tree that has been cursed, is  dead, root and all. At this point do the disciples fully understand that symbolism? No, and our Roman reader will also have a bit of a time wrapping his head around what is taking place. But rest assured because we have a complete canon of scripture and God has revealed to us through His Word, we can now see clearly what Jesus is doing. He is declaring that the role of the Messiah is not about ending the rule of the Romans, it is about ending the sacrificial system, and that He will be that final sacrifice of all sacrifices, but that is yet to come.

Mark 11:22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.

Again, Jesus sets to get the disciples focused on the work at hand, they are staring at this dead plant in wonder, how did it die so quickly, what is the meaning of this, Jesus says, hey guys, you have to have faith in God, you have to trust in the promises that he has given. Jesus tells them, hey boys all of this is about God, it is not about you, or this plant.

Mark 11:23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Jesus is noting to them that there is nothing more powerful for us as mortals that faith. Faith unlocks numerous doors and gives a host of possibilities by which we can unburden ourselves from the trials and tribulations of this life. Jesus says that if you truly believe, you can throw mountains into the sea, but we do not believe to that level, Jesus says that it is possible, but the problem is we look at it and go nah.

But that is now we look at most of our problems. Again this is going to seem like a reoccurring them, me hammering this same point over and over, but I am doing that because it is an on going them of the scriptures, and if starts with what Jesus said first, have faith in God. If you truly have faith you are going to let go, stop trying to control it all and allow Him to do that which He has willed. But we cannot, and we are fighting against a force that we cannot hope to beat, and yet over and over, God says submit and we say not. Gosh darn I would really like to trust you God, but you are not going to do it the way I want, and then when it all comes crashing down we want to look up at the heavens and cry out WHY?

Trust God, allow Him to, believe in His promises, stop trying to control, give it up to Him, put that yoke down, allow the Spirit of God to lead you and guide you, stop trying in your power and start living by faith and in His power. And remember this is not the prosperity gospel, this is not name it and claim it, this is not declare and decree, this is about complete and total submission to the will of God, God I am turning this over to you, I cannot fix it, I cannot control it, it is all chaos, stop, submit and follow the Spirit.

Mark 11:25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Now Jesus adds on. Now when you are praying for all of those things to be done, make sure that you extend your forgiveness to those who you are holding forgiveness from. You want a Spiritual block in your life? Here is the best way to block the Holy Spirit from working in your life, keep holding onto those grudges, keep holding onto that anger, keep refusing to forgive someone. Yeah, they hurt you, they hurt you bad, they took advantage of you, what they did was nothing less than evil. Yeah, I get it, you know what? Forgive them, stop holding onto it, top trying to wait around and say, I will forgive them when God pays them back for what they did to me. That’s not how it works. Jesus is saying why should God forgive you of your sins against Him, if you are not willing to forgive others who have sin against you? Jesus shows us in these verses the two biggest obstacles in a believer’s life.

Mark 11:27 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him,

Now Jesus is once again walking into the temple and is meet by the Jewish leadership, what they do not want to happen is a repeat performance of what took place the day before. He wanted to get their attention, He has been successful.

Mark 11:28 and they said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?”

The Jewish leaders are basically like, hey dude who do you think you are? First you come into town acting like you are the Messiah, you get the city all charged up, and then yesterday you show up here in the temple and you cause pure chaos, chasing out the animals, flipping over tables, poor people running around trying to scoop up the money. What is the deal with you? You are acting like you are in charge here, so tell us, who gave you the authority to come in here and start all of this trouble?

Mark 11:29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

Jesus says, well allow me to ask you a question and if you are willing to answer it, then I will answer yours’. Why did Jesus do this, why not just come out and tell them, I am the Messiah, I have authority from God. And one might think that Jesus is being deceptive, but He is not, Jesus is showing that they have no more authority than He does. Leaders lead by example, they do not hide behind others.

Mark 11:30 Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.”

Mark 11:31 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

Mark 11:32 But shall we say, ‘From man’?”—they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet.

This is what happens when you are trying to hide something, or that you are trying to protect your position of power. They knew the truth, the truth being that John was sent by God, they could not deny that fact, people came from miles around to get baptized by John for the repentance of sin, this does not happen unless God is in it, but to say John was from God, means that Jesus who they had heard of the stories of the healing, the casting out of demons, the raising from the dead, the feeding of the thousands, you cannot do these things unless you have been sent by God, and if He, John and Jesus are sent by God, then Jesus brings God’s authority with Him, and their question just got answered, by who’s authority do you do these things, go ahead and answer that question for yourself. Can anyone do the things that Jesus has done and not come from God, no.

But to answer another way is going to have the people turn against them. The people are all standing around them right now. The temple is always full of folks, and when the Jewish leaders come out, that is going to get the attention of the crowd, and when they see the leaders heading in the direction of Jesus, the guy who just the day before, caused all the chaos the day before, yeah now the crowd is really paying attention. I would not be surprised if everyone who was in the temple was listening to this conversation. So the Jewish leadership cannot take chance of that John was just another man, the crowd knew better, hence if you are going to trash John, who by the way was brutally murdered by Herod, and was considered a martyr, well it is about to get ugly up in here.

So, no matter what they say, it is the wrong answer, now there is a right answer which is to admit the truth, John was sent by God, Jesus is the Messiah, but they cannot do this, because then they are instantly out of a job, no more power, no more wealth.

Truth exposes hypocrisy you cannot hide from it, it will expose you for who you really are.

So when you are asked a question, be honest, do not be like the Pharisees and the Scribes do not do political calculations because that means you are already being dishonest, just tell the truth. Well Darin does this require me to be truthful at all times even if it hurts their feelings, well it depends, are they in sin? Then yeah tell them, is to keep them from harm, well then maybe not.

Mark 11:33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus  said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Jesus says, well there is no reason for me to answer your questions of me, if you are not doing to be honest with me about my question. You know the right answer, you just refuse to answer it because the consequence of your answer is not something you are willing to face, but at some point you will face those consequences, you cannot avoid it forever.

And this points to salvation. We ask those people, how do you know you are going to heaven? Well because I believe that God does not send good people to hell, and I know that I am a good person, I have not murdered anyone, or stole from them, I do not sleep around, I treat people nice, so yeah, I am going to heaven.

And then you ask them, well is it you that establishes the criteria for what is and who is good, or is that God? And this is where the conversation is going to become like the conversation between, Jesus and the Jewish leaders. Well, if I say it is God, well then, I have clearly misspoken and I look stupid and if I say me, well then, I look arrogant and self-righteous, so they just now say something like well that is just what I believe, or well everyone has to decide for themselves, and they will seek to find a way to exit the conversation.  And it is ok to allow them to exit gracefully from the conversation, you have done what you can, you have planted the seed now allow the Spirit of God to work within that person, we do not have to be pushy, we do not have to force the conversation, plant the seed, if they want to continue to engage, then by all means continue, if they want to exit, then by all means allow that to happen as well, and pray for the Spirit to do a work in their lives.

Darin Bracy is the pastor at Yorktown Baptist Church in Yorktown Virginia. He is a graduate of Veritas Baptist College with a BA in Ministry and a minor in History. He has a wife Stacy, two daughters, Ashlynne and her husband Justin, their daughter Harper Darin's other daughter Aftyn, and her two dogs, Eddie and Lulubelle.

You can reach Darin at his email address, Darinbracy@gmail.com and you can see his video content on YouTube – Basic Baptist Guy