Today Jesus returns to Jerusalem after spending the night in Bethany. On his way into town with his disciples he curses a fig tree, a picture of the coming judgment on Israel for failing to bear fruit for God.
He then proceeds to the Temple and drives out the merchants and the money changers, crying out, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
This leaves the religious leaders even more angry and seeking to kill him, while the crowds are astonished at his teaching. In the evening he goes out of the city to the Mount of Olives.
Scripture Reading: Mark 11:12-19