WADING RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

SERMONS IN PRINT

Peter Vibert 1/08/06

Mark 11:1-33 “From Heaven or Men”

The Gospel of Mark has carried us at breakneck speed through more than two years of Jesus’ public ministry, inviting us to consider the two great questions: Who is Jesus? And what does it mean to be his disciple? As the narrative plunges into the last two weeks before the Crucifixion, the questions are put with greater force, and it’s clear that decisions must be made. Is he a messenger from God, God’s Messiah, even God’s Son? Or is he a human pretender, a fraud, a trouble-maker, a blasphemer? Soon everyone will have to decide.

1) The King Is Coming

Crowds of pilgrims are arriving in Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Often they sang as they walked: one of the favorites when they came to the fall festival of Tabernacles was Psalm 118: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever... This is the day the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it... Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD... with boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar!”

So it is that to the sounds of singing and waving branches, Jesus enters the city with a

prophetic gesture that is surely grasped by some observers, but not at all by others. He

chooses to ride rather than walk, thus drawing attention to his importance; but he rides a donkey or perhaps the colt of an ass; showing his humility. People who knew the prophets would have recognized immediately Zechariah 9: “Rejoice, daughter of Zion; shout, daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and bringing salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey...” (Zech 9:9). The king has come to his city, but he has come gently. Some will see, by faith, who he is; and some – in unbelief – will not see. Those that see shout “Hosanna” – literally “Save us now,” but others will complain and criticize the enthusiasm of Jesus’ followers.

In the city, Jesus goes straight to the Temple, but as soon as he sees it, he leaves again immediately and heads back to Bethany for the night. As he and the Twelve return the next morning, Jesus carries out two more highly symbolic actions, which again divide the people in their responses. Finding a fig tree bearing no fruit, Jesus pronounces it will never do so again. For those who understand, the fig tree is Israel, and it has failed to produce the fruit it was expected to bear on “the Day of the Lord.” Israel is not ready for her king.

2) Who Can Endure...?

The second “sign” is far more emphatic. Jesus enters the Court of the Gentiles - the outermost court of the Temple - and violently overthrows the tables of the money-changers and drives out the people selling sacrificial doves. You can imagine the uproar! Why is he doing this? Who does he think he is? Animals guaranteed to be “without blemish” and suitable for sacrifice had, apparently, been sold nearby on the Mount of Olives for a long time. But in that year, 30AD, Caiaphas the High Priest had approved the use of the Court of the Gentiles for animal sales. And for two weeks before Passover each year, money could be exchanged so that every male pilgrim could pay his “Passover tax” of one shekel in the approved coinage – not with any old Roman coin with the Emperor’s head on it!

So the arrangements were a great convenience to many, and a source of income to a few. What’s wrong with that? Everything, shouted Jesus! This is the Temple, meant to be “a house of prayer for all nations,” as Isaiah said (Is 56:7)! Turning the outer court into a market makes it impossible for the Gentiles to pray. They have turned a place of worship into what Jeremiah in his day called “a den of robbers” (Jer 7:11). You sense Jesus’ anger: this is the only time he is reported to use force, to physically express the anger he feels at the desecration of God’s house.

Jesus leaves. He has – at least symbolically – “cleansed the Temple,” an action that in the past would have made him a hero, like Judas Maccabeus. But times have changed, and the people in charge of the religious life of Israel in 30 AD are no Maccabees. Too many of the chief priests, the scribes, the elders who dominate the Sanhedrin are corrupt and owe their positions and their allegiance to the Romans, including Caiaphas the High Priest, and the Annas family to which he belonged. And so next day, when the Twelve see that the fig tree that Jesus had “cursed” is now “withered from the roots,” Mark wants us to realize that Jesus has just acted out a parable of judgment and destruction on Israel and on its Temple. For those who don’t grasp the point, the next parable Jesus will tell – of the vineyard and its tenants (Mk 12) – will make it abundantly clear.

Jesus’ critics are already so afraid of what he may do next that they are plotting to kill him. And so they begin to confront him, and will do so every day of the following week that he appears in the Temple. “By what authority have you done this?” they demand. Who does he think he is, driving people out of the Court of the Gentiles? Some think this was the moment the leaders decided he had to go, when he threatened their authority over the Temple precincts, their control over the sacrifices, their control over the money. Some think this is the moment Judas – who held the money bag for the Twelve - decided that the traders and the priests were right, and that Jesus was a menace.

Jesus responds to their challenge in a typically rabbinic way: he asks them a question in return. “What do the leaders of Israel’s religious life have to say about John the Baptist? Was he sent from God, or just a man?” It’s a loaded question, of course, and the priests and scribes and elders realize they are caught. They know the answer, but they are unwilling to speak the truth. They know that John and Jesus were closely associated; they know that many of John’s followers had become disciples of Jesus; they know that John had encouraged it, saying Jesus was far greater than he, and that his role was only to prepare the way for “the Lord.”

They may also know, as Jesus surely does, that his question echoes the prophet Malachi, through whom God says: “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way for me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his Temple... the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come.” Accept John as sent from God, and you implicitly accept the one for whom he prepared. He is here! He has come “to his Temple,” and – as Malachi said – “who can endure the day of his coming, for he is like a refiner’s fire?” (Mal 3:1-3).

3) Truth and Discipleship

So Jesus sets up the test. Accept that he is sent from God, or treat him as just another man. If he is not from heaven, then of course his actions and his claims for himself are ridiculous or even blasphemous, depending on your point of view.

So Israel’s leaders are revealed as men who would rather lie to protect their own privileges than tell the truth and face its consequences. That’s a pattern that has been repeated many times since, by leaders of all kinds – in the church, in public life, in politics. And it’s not confined to leaders. This is an issue for many of us – admit the truth and deal with what comes, or calculate what answer will “best serve our case,” and then lie as necessary. How many of us become adept at “saying what other people want to hear”?

That is not the way of discipleship if we claim to follow Jesus. The people who are revealed here as disciples are those who acknowledge who Jesus is and who welcome him. True disciples in Jerusalem would have agreed with Jesus that prayer is more important than convenience or commerce. True disciples would have learned that their leaders were corrupt and lied repeatedly. True disciples would know that when the question is asked about John or Jesus, you come down clearly on the side of God.

“From heaven or from men?” It is a searching test, and not always an easy one. To answer it rightly means having spiritual discernment: being able to see that John and Jesus represent God in a way that the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees do not. The Holy Spirit teaches the true disciple not to be fooled by worldly achievements: the Sanhedrin appears to have power, politics, religion and history on their side. John and Jesus, on the surface, have nothing. But in truth, they have the power of God, and when Rome and Jerusalem and the Temple and the Sanhedrin are all washed away by the tides of history – or, if you prefer, God’s Providence – the words and actions of John and Jesus will live on for millennia in the lives of billions of people.

Don’t be fooled. And don’t fool yourself. There are times when the truth is right in front of us, but we don’t want to embrace it – because we figure that to do so will cost us something in approval, in finances, in status – or in whatever else is valuable to us.

Who is Jesus? Is he, like John his friend and forerunner, “from heaven or from men?” It’s still a good question. What do you think?

Let us pray...