Tuesday in Holy Week - The Conflict Increases

Text: Mark 11:27-33   (see below)

A day after the cleansing of the Temple episode, Mark recounts the authorities reaction to that event and the escalation of tensions between Jesus and the Temple leadership. They have had twenty-four hours to think about why Jesus acted the way he did. To put it mildly, they are not pleased. The assembly identified here in Mark 11, high priests, scribes and elders, represented the Jerusalem Sanhedrin. This group constituted the first authority in the land. These men were indeed the power brokers of their day and nothing got by them that was not important.

Jesus is walking in the Temple complex, perhaps he was out in the Court of the Gentiles listening to other rabbi's preparing their disciples for the Passover. Maybe he was teaching his disciples over in the Porticoes of Solomon. Or better, knowing what was going to happen to him, Jesus, like a visitor to a great metropolitan city, was taking all of it in perhaps even for a last time.

The members of the elite confront our Lord: “By what authority do you do these things?” This is an interesting question considering the fact that since chapter one of Mark’s Gospel it has been Jesus’ authority that has most impressed the people both in Galilee and in Judea (1:22, 1:27, 2:10, 3:15).  Who did Jesus think he was healing folks, teaching like Moses, driving out demons, and now believing he had power and authority at the highest echelons of the Jewish religious system? This rabble rouser from Galilee, what were his credentials?

Jesus will have none of it. He will not bite. In a brilliant display of rabbinical one-upmanship, Jesus turns the tables: “John’s baptism – was it from heaven or from men? Tell me!” Jesus plays on the Sanhedrin’s fear of the crowds. (Remember, it is Passover, the feast commemorating liberation. The nation of Israel was an occupied territory and the passion for freedom was fierce and intense.) The very last thing these leaders needed, here at the greatest Jewish feast, was another uprising of the people and a military response from the Romans.

So they argue amongst themselves. Caught between public embarrassment (denying that John was a prophet) and public anger (denying John’s divine call to ministry), they do what most of the powerful establishment do in a panic – they punt! “We do not know” is their lame and pathetic answer. These incompetent leaders are so isolated, so out of touch, they are fearful of the very people that they have been called to serve.

Jesus very simply states: “Neither will I tell you about my authority.”

For two thousand years there has been this tension of the authority in witness to the Gospel of our Lord offending the principalities and power structures of this world. Those who have been baptized into the life and ministry of Jesus have been given authority, in his Name, to speak and act in the world. Have you ever stopped to think about that power in your life?

I admire the way NT Wright, in his commentary on Mark’s Gospel, offers questions at the end of his interpretation of this scene: “Where are the Temples that need to be challenged and warned? Where are the people who will know how to give wise answers to the question, Who do you think you are?” (Mark, page 157)

There has never been a more urgent time for these men and women to step forward and speak in the Name of Jesus against the principalities and powers in the Church, our Nation, and in the World.

Come Lord Jesus!

Love One Another - Brian

Our Struggle

Paul of Tarsus

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Source: Ephesians 6:10-12

Mark 11:27-33

Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.’ They argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say, “Why then did you not believe him?” But shall we say, “Of human origin”?’—they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.’