"Again they came to
Jerusalem." Again they came to Jerusalem. There is no let-up in
what Jesus knows he must do.
Yet, "as he was
walking in the temple,…" Jesus gets no further in the sacred precincts
than the Court of the Gentiles where he is immediately met by the chief
priests, scribes and elders.
Did You
Know…?
In the sacred precincts
there were two famous cloisters. The one on the east side was called Solomon's
Porch, made of Corinthian columns which were 35 feet high. The cloister on the
south side of the temple where Jesus entered (verse 27) was called the Royal
Cloister. It was formed by four rows of white marble columns, each six feet in
diameter and 30 feet high. There were 162 columns. [i] This was no small area.
The approach by the
religious authorities is made with grave concern. Jesus is turning everything
upside down, and it is costing them dearly at this moment and may really
cost them dearly in the long-run if his actions continue. Having had the
previous evening to concoct a plan since the table-turning -- "looking for
a way to kill him" -- they figure Jesus' goose is cooked when it comes to
the source of authority.
"By whose authority
are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?"
"If Jesus said his
authority was from God, they would accuse him of blasphemy; if he said his
authority was his own, they would dismiss him as a fanatic." [ii] Either way, they could be
rid of him, permanently.
In rabbinic fashion, Jesus
counters with a question. "Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or
was it of human origin?" Followed with "Answer me" (only in
Mark's account).
Take a stand -- that's what Jesus is forcing these religious
authorities to do. And as Marc * shared with the study group, Jesus presented
them with a theological can of worms.
"They argued" is
probably putting it mildly. John the Baptist was held in high regard by the
common people. But the chief priests, scribes and elders had rejected the
baptism of John, ignoring his message. Not openly though.
If they openly stated John was a prophet of God,
then they would be stating he had divine authority; however, they found his
message to be false -- that the one coming after him (Jesus) would be more
powerful. On the other hand, if they stated the baptism of John was of human
origin, it would only add more fuel to the bonfire of revolution. They would be
rejecting and criticizing an extremely popular figure -- this Jesus. "They
were afraid of the crowd."
Walking on a thin line,
not willing to see the truth before
them, not willing to trust the truth,
not willing to risk the loss of their
own truth (wanting to keep their positions in office and their power), the
religious authorities gave the laughable response of "We don't know."
Can you imagine the throng
of people in the Court of Gentiles thinking, "Seriously?!? You're the
authorities on religion and you don't know? Put all of your
collective heads together and you have no answer?!?!"
In reply to "We don't
know," Jesus must be thinking something along the line of "What's
good for the goose is good for the gander."
"Neither will I tell
you by what authority I am doing these things." 45 days later though,
Jesus would provide an answer that had been asked by the temple officials.
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." [iii]
Sad, isn't it? These
religious authorities could've changed history. Yet if you consider it, even by
their inaction, they did. But… what would history have been like if those authorities
had replied to Jesus' question with "God"?
Switching gears --
slightly. How does hiding from the truth apply to our own everyday lives?
Can facing the truth,
knowing we were wrong, feeling the humiliation of saying so, be difficult? Is
it something we willingly want to do? Is it something we need to
do?
Lives can be changed for the
better when facing the truth. Not just our own but the lives of others.
"Others" can be numerous people.
Facing the truth isn't an
easy road. A lot of changes may occur, and we all know how much we love
changes! Nonetheless what does the future hold for us? What does the future
with God hold for us?
What if we don't face the
truth? What if we know the right thing to do but dig ourselves into a deeper
hole to avoid it at all costs? What if we're headstrong in choosing to not see,
to not trust? I've been there -- not wanting to see what the truth really was,
not trusting myself or others or God even in the pain of facing the truth that
everything would be better; better than just all right.
Let's face the truth
together. In so doing, I want to recommend three books (of which there are many
to recommend), which will be helpful. They'll also be challenging.
* Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White by Adam Hamilton, sharing
thoughts on religion, morality and politics holding together evangelical and
social gospels;
* Unchristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, describing the
increasingly negative reputation of Christians, especially among young
Americans;
* Unconditional? The Call of Jesus to Radical Forgiveness by Brian
Zahnd, which states "In a world where the ugliness of rage and retaliation
are driving the story line, Unconditional?
offers the beauty, reconciliation, and total restoration of forgiveness the way
Jesus taught us to live it."
Let's not be like the
religious authorities who looked out for their own self-interests. Let's not
bury our heads in the sand like ostriches. Let's be willing to bear fruit.
Let's live into the season for figs. Let's have faith in God and be
mountain-removers. Let's be open to God's amazing, radical grace and
forgiveness. It's something we need to do.
NEXT
When an agreement isn't an
agreement; the cornerstone is rejected
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