The temptation to make God into our own image affects every human being. More particularly, in the passage we are examining today, we see that those who possess God’s revelation to his people are not immune from this temptation. Like the Israelites committing idolatry at Mt. Sinai, we see in Mark 11 the Israelites wanting to make both Jesus and themselves into something other than what God’s Word says they must be. Jesus presents himself to Israel as their king in the triumphant entry, but he is not the king they want, and, as we see in Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, they are not the Israel God demands.

This passage therefore confronts us with the necessity of accepting Christ as God reveals him in the Word—we cannot make Jesus into our image. And the passage also confronts us with the necessity of assuming our identity as God’s people in accordance with his Word. [Reformation Sunday, bulletin insert on sola scriptura.] In short, God’s Word alone must define who Jesus is and who we are. Let’s develop that idea from this passage.