October 4 2025

Jesus longs to dwell in the temple of our hearts.

Items needed: Pen, paper

This week we look at some of the most unusual—and unexpected—parts of Jesus’ story. Jesus knocking over tables. Jesus weeping over a city. Even Jesus cursing a tree.

Each of these incidents reflect the broken-hearted side of Jesus. The Jesus who longs to connect with each one of us, yet reluctantly turns away when we think we can live without Him.

Share with your students a pen or pencil and paper (or have them write on their phones or other devices). For those with paper, tell them to draw the temple in Jerusalem. Then, have them list what Jesus might overturn, or what issues He might express anger about, if He visited our churches and institutions today. Then add what He might want to rearrange if He visited the temple of their heart.

A multitude of armies have marched on Jerusalem. Assyrian. Babylonian. Greek. Roman. Crusader. They marched to conquer, to liberate, to dominate a city renowned for its history and spirituality, sitting at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, riding a donkey, He rode in like a liberator.

The cheering crowd thrilled to follow Him through the city. Children adored Him, waving palm branches and following as closely as they could. People He’d healed of injury, disease, and death helped lead the way.

Jesus’ disciples scrambled along in a rush of emotion. Was this it? For over three years they’d watched Jesus do the incredible, the impossible, yet facing constant criticism from religious leaders. Lately, He’d spoken darkly of trials to come. What was next?

The religious leaders watched in dismay. While they longed for a messiah to liberate them from Roman rule, Jesus challenged everything they believed in. His joyful parade filled them with fear and anger, and they demanded it end.

Then Jesus stopped His victory march—not to deliver a speech, to rally His supporters, or to launch a military campaign. Instead, looking out over Jerusalem, He began to cry, His face wet with tears.

It was the last thing anyone there expected Him to do.

Sobbing, Jesus described the tragedy soon to befall the city—the Roman siege, the mass slaughter, the utter destruction of city and temple. It was only four decades away, meaning that many now watching and celebrating would live to see those horrifying days.

The siege and destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was part of the First Jewish-Roman War, when Jews in Israel revolted against the Roman empire. Losing the temple was a shocking turn of events that few expected—save for those who remembered Jesus’ words warning that the tragic day would soon come.

Read Luke 19:37-43.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.

When Solomon built a temple, its intent was to honor God and showcase His plan of salvation, a place for the ceremonies that connected God to His people. The second temple, constructed after the Babylonian exile, was built with the same goal. But when Jesus visited the temple, He found that its meaning was obscured and overwhelmed by self-centered greed.

Read Mark 15:11-18.

11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.

14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. 18 And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!”

The Book of Deuteronomy outlines the blessings the Israelites could expect if they kept their connection with God—and the wretched results if they wandered from God and God withdrew His protection. The Hebrew Scriptures detail just how things worked out for the twelve tribes.

By Jesus’ day, everyone was well acquainted with the “blessings and curses” God had laid out, and people often wondered whether this or that unexplainable trial or tragedy was the result of choices people had made. Even with that worldview, though, Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree had to prompt a double-take.

Jesus repeatedly emphasized the importance of avoiding hypocrisy. Who we are on the inside, He taught, should match how we present ourselves on the outside. Indeed, because who we truly are is revealed from the inside out, it’s critical to both our witness and our relationship with God that we represent ourselves truthfully.

Jesus’ curse on the fig tree was an enacted parable. Jesus didn’t zap a fruit tree out of spite; He did so to illustrate how many people make it look like they are bearing fruit for God, when in reality they’re as fruitless as rocks.

Read Mark 11:12-14.

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

Read Mark 11:20-21.

20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

Of all the parables Jesus told, this may be the most haunting. A man plants a vineyard, and entrusts it to hired workers to manage and harvest. When he sends servants to collect the harvest, however, the workers keep killing them. Finally, he sends his son to see them—and they murder him too.

It’s not subtle. Jesus lays out how God has sent prophet after prophet to Israel, one after another of whom the people persecuted and ignored. And now that God’s own Son has shown up, while the common people embrace and celebrate Him (even if they don’t fully understand Him), those who have power and influence to lose are plotting against Him.

Read Matthew 21:33-41.

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Jesus knew what was coming to Him, and knew that unless the religious leaders made a sudden and radical change, they would be part of it. But He also never gave up on them, so He took time in His last week to plant seeds that would help many of them understand His mission once it was accomplished.

People are no less rigid and inflexible today, but still time remains for people to change. As you look at a world that’s self-centered, self-righteous, and set in its ways, how will you work to change it?

Take some time to read over this week’s stories, and consider how you can live out your faith in ways that convict people. How can your faith make a difference in such areas as:

Matthew 21:1-46

LEADER’S NOTE

For a Relational Bible Study (RBS) you’ll want to get into the Scripture passage and encourage the youth to imagine participating in the story while it’s happening. Then you will be able to better apply it to your own situation today.

You will need to ask God for the Holy Spirit to be present as your small group discusses the questions (no more than 3-6 people in a group is recommended). Start with the opening question. It is a personal question and the answer is unique for each individual. There is no right answer and nobody is an expert here, so don’t be surprised when you hear different responses. You are depending on the Holy Spirit to be present and to speak through your group. Say what God prompts you to say, and listen to what others share.

Take turns reading the chapter out loud. Follow that with giving the students some time to individually mark their responses to the questions (a PDF version of the handout is available as a download). This gives each person a starting point for responding when you start to share as a group. Next, begin the discussion by asking the students to share what they marked and why on each question as you work your way through. Feel free to take more time on some questions than others as discussion warrants.

Encourage each person in the group to apply what is discussed to their personal lives and to share with the group what they believe God wants them to do. Then ask them to pray that God will help each of them to follow through in doing so. Remind them to expect that God will show them ways to live out the message of this passage in the coming week, and that they are free to ask others in the group to help hold them accountable.

One reason so many people dislike politicians stems from the hypocrisy that often accompanies their job. It seems they will say whatever they think people want to hear, just so they will get elected. But once they are elected, they don’t do what they said they would do. At least that’s the way it often seems.

Most of us don’t know all the details behind the scenes, or the story might get twisted. Power games come into play, as does the give-and-take in negotiating. But it really can upset us to see people say one thing and then do another. That’s your basic hypocrite.

This is not limited to politics. It happens in relationships with friends and family members. It happens at church and with religious leaders. It happens with people we thought weren’t hypocrites. The resulting disappointment leaves us feeling angry and unwilling to trust. Why does it bother us so much?

First, because it’s wrong! Second, because we’re guilty of being hypocrites, too. It might not be as public on our part, but one reason we hate the hypocrisy in others is because we’re not always consistent either. Hating on a more public figure takes the pressure off us, and gives us a release for our self-hatred due to our feelings of guilt for our hypocrisy.

Our passage for this week includes multiple examples of hypocrisy. Staring with the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem just before His crucifixion, it’s hard to believe that many who praised him as “the Son of David” and who called out, “Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord” would be the same ones who shouted, “Crucify him” less than a week later.

Let’s look at these stories in Matthew 21, spot the hypocrisy, and ask God to forgive us when we are hypocrites, and change us so we can consistently “walk the talk” and “talk the walk.”

If Jesus came to your church, what would you say? What would you do?

Read Matthew 21:1-46.

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: 5 “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” 

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”

17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

29 “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” 

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. 

1.  Christ’s entry into Jerusalem created so much excitement because:

2.  Why did Jesus cleanse the temple?

3.  Why did Jesus curse the fig tree?

4.  What caused such conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders?

5.  What lesson(s) do you draw from the story of the two sons?

6.  What made the story of the evil farmers so impactful?

7.  What upsets you about hypocrites—those who say one thing but do something else?

8.  When are you most likely to be hypocritical—not do what you say, or not say what you do?

What a bunch of hypocrites! People say one thing, but then do another. It seems as if the religious leaders are the worst. And Jesus traps them in their own judgments. But His disciples and the rest of the throng fit in as hypocrites as well. Instead of pointing the finger at others, let’s begin by taking another look—at ourselves. When do we say one thing but do another? Do we change when we get around a different group of people? Or what about not saying something important when we know we should/could? Take this as an invitation to repent of our own hypocrisy, taking the log out of our own eye, and then we can see more clearly to help our fellow hypocrites, too.

It’s easy to hate hypocrites. Because Jesus loves hypocrites, but not hypocrisy, He wants hypocrites to take another look and then repent of their hypocrisy. He will forgive and empower us to change. That can also be an encouragement and example for others. Here are three ideas for you to put this into action this week. Ask the Holy Spirit to impress you to respond to one of these options, or perhaps you will have a personalized application the Holy Spirit lays on your heart. Act on what the Holy Spirit hints for you to do!

It doesn’t take much detective work to identify another person being a hypocrite, but can you do the same with yourself?

Sometimes it’s good to have an affirmation circle where people go around the circle and say affirming things to one another. But try a “Give It to Me Straight” session with a small group of three or four people—people who know each other well and who will be honest , but yet tactful.   (Teacher: this is certainly not an activity choice for everyone, but it is included as an application activity for the rare small group who you may consider mature enough to handle it. Or perhaps even for the teachers themselves, outside of class. Remember that when Jesus spoke words that cut through hypocrisy He spoke with tears of love in His voice. This activity would only work for a group who is already highly positively invested in one another.)

When Jesus cleansed the temple, people usually not allowed in the temple finally had access. Matthew 21:14-15 mentions the blind and people with physical disabilities—people who would not be allowed in the temple because of their differences; and children—there was a court for men, one for women, and one for Gentiles, but nothing for children. Once Jesus cleansed the temple, those usually excluded from access to God finally had access because of Jesus. In some churches today, people choose not to remodel their building because they would also have to upgrade their facility to make it accessible to people with disabilities. That would be too expensive! So they continue to exclude “people who wouldn’t feel comfortable here.”

Who gets excluded at your church?

Understanding & Relating to Asian American Youth
By Jane Hong-Guzman de Leon, Kevin Doi & Mike Park

You know how important it is to engage young people in your church. But how? Even when we bring our best intentions to these conversations, the dialogue somehow flops. This comprehensive 40-page guide is the perfect handbook for any adult looking for a starting point in conversations with today’s Asian American youth. It includes an overview of the reality Asian American youth face, fundamental principles of conversation, plus 30+ questions and ideas for next steps.

Purchase