Hi everyone. Welcome back to daily gospel
exegesis where we do a verse by verse exegesis of the Gospel.
Reading from today's mass, we're currently moving through the
gospel of Mark and we're getting towards the end of our weekday.
Exploration of Mark today's reading is from Mark, chapter
11, verses 27, 1233. So as always, we will read out
the text that you would hear it today's mass and then we're
trying to pull it apart. What did it mean in its original
context? Jesus and his disciples came to
Jerusalem. And as Jesus was walking in the
temple, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders came
to him and they said to him what Authority have you for acting
like this? Or who gave you authority to do
these things? Jesus said to them.
So, I will ask you a question. Only one answer me and I will
tell you my Authority for acting like this.
John's baptism. Did it come from heaven or from
man? Answer me that And they argued
it out this way, amongst themselves.
If we say from Heaven, he will say, then why did you refuse to
believe him? But dare we say from man, they
had the people to fear for everyone, how the John was a
real prophet. So they reply to Jesus was we do
not know. And Jesus said to them, nor will
I tell you my Authority for acting like this.
So it's an interesting interaction.
We have here today in Mark chapter 11, the Pharisees and
the chief priests. They asked Jesus a question.
And Jesus, basically says, I'll answer your question if you can
answer mine. So, it's an interesting kind of
dialogue here. Let's start with the context.
So Jesus has arrived in Jerusalem for the final week of
his life and he's already cleansed the temple, which is
important for today's passage and he has just cursed the Fig
Tree. So, all of that has happened
earlier in Mark, chapter 11 and We know that Jesus spends most
of the last few days of his life teaching in the temple.
So, that's what he's doing in today's scene, he's in the
temple teaching. So verse 27, Jesus and his
disciples came to Jerusalem so he has already been in Jerusalem
if you've been reading Mark 11. So what does it mean here to
say? He comes to Jerusalem.
It appears to be because at night time in the last week of
his life, Jesus goes and stays in Bethany, which is just
outside of Jerusalem. So during the day, he's in
Jerusalem. And then at night time, he's
staying in Bethany. So here it is the next morning
after staying overnight in Bethany.
So it's probably Tuesday or Wednesday of Holy Week and we
get to today seen as Jesus was walking in the temple.
Now, it was common for Jewish rabbis to teach in the temple.
If they were in Jerusalem and popular, rabbis would attract
quite a large crowd in Jerusalem.
Particularly during Passover, the pilgrims had to come to pass
over for seven days. As in Jerusalem, and one of the
things they were doing those seven days is go and listen to
popular rabbis in the temple. So Jesus spends a lot of his
last week in the temple being a rabbi teaching.
Now, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to
him. So there's three groups listed
here, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders.
There's different responsibilities.
That each of these three groups have basically, the chief
priests oversee, the temple, the scribes were the experts in the
Jewish law, and the elders were those who kind of oversaw, the
judicial Affairs of Jerusalem, but overall, these three groups
are representatives of the Sanhedrin.
The Sanhedrin was the highest governing.
What he in Judaism and there were based in Jerusalem.
So apparently, the Sanhedrin has sent this delegation to the
temple to question, Jesus. It's actually the same group
that Jesus had prophesied would kill him in chapter 8 verse 31.
Jesus said to his disciples that the chief priests and the
scribes and the elders would kill Jesus and here they are
questioning him. We know that the chief priests
and the elders and the scribes, they're constantly trying to
discredit Jesus. And one of the ways they try to
discredit Jesus is By coming up with clever questions that they
think will get Jesus in trouble, no matter how he answers.
So they think they've come up with one of these trap questions
that Jesus can't possibly answer in a good way.
That's what they think. So, verse 28, they say to him,
what Authority have you for acting like this?
Or who gave you the authority to do these things.
Now, earlier in Jesus ministry, those already been conflicts
about Jesus, authority, Jesus, and the Jewish leaders have
already discussed. This several times.
But now, the Jesus has just cleanse the temple.
He's basically claimed to be the judge over the temple and that's
the very center of Jewish life. It's reignited, their question.
Who is this guy? How can he claim to do the
things he does? And how is he able to overturn
the tables in the temple? What Authority does he have to
do that? So they're demanding an
explanation of him. Because for Jesus to overturn
the tables in the temple, if you think about it, he would have to
have authority from them. They're the ones Who oversee the
temple on Earth, according to them anyway.
So for Jesus to come along and cleanse the temple, he would
need to have authority from them, but he's just a common do
in their mind. Now, of course, as Christians,
we know that Jesus is God himself, so Jesus has authority
over the Jewish leaders. It's a funny situation.
When you think about it, in that sense, the stewards of the
temple are demanding, an answer from God himself about the way
he conducts himself in the temple.
Now, the way they phrase, the question is probably it's
supposed to be a trap question that would seem.
So the question they ask is, what Authority have you for
acting like this? Who gave you this Authority?
It appears to be not a sincere question based on the way Jesus
responds, the scribes here and the Jewish leaders think that,
no matter how Jesus answers this question, he's going to be
trapped his going to be discredited because if Jesus
Answers, by saying, my authority comes from God.
Well, then it's going to be easier for them to think he's
crazy and to accuse him of blasphemy, which is, of course,
what they want to be able to do, but on the other hand of Jesus
says my authority comes from myself.
Well, He has no real Authority and he's going to discard it
himself. So it appears to be a trap
question. And that would make sense
because we know by now that the Pharisees and the Jewish
leaders, they want to kill Jesus.
And this is one of their ways that they're going to bring it
about if they can accuse him of blasphemy, then there might be a
way that they can get him. Killed verse 29.
Jesus said to them, I will ask you a question.
Only one answer me and I will tell you my Authority for acting
like this. This.
So Jesus, he says I'll answer your question if you can answer.
Mine seems like a funny thing for Jesus to say.
But actually it was a typical rabbinical way of doing
dialogue, about religious issues.
What he's going to ask them. If you read carefully, is he's
going to use the same basic question.
They just asked him but he's going to apply to John the
Baptist rather than himself and by doing.
So he's going to expose the hardness of heart that prevents
the Jewish leaders from being open to the answer.
So he's going to use their own tactic against them and in the
process show that they're not really willing to do God's will.
So this is the question he now asks them John's baptism.
Did it come from heaven? from men, answer me that So John
the Baptist during his own Ministry developed quite a
following and it did lead to a lot of fruit.
Many conversions, many Jews came to John the Baptist and they
committed himself to God as a result of John, the Baptist's
Ministry. So it seems that John the
Baptist did a lot of good. So the obvious answer to this
question is that John the Baptist came from God, his
authority came from God, that would seem to be the obvious
answer based on the fruit that John the Baptist produced but if
the SLI does admit that John the Baptist was in fact given
Authority from God then they're going to have to admit a couple
of other things. They're going to have to firstly
admit that they should have repented at the preaching of
John the Baptist and they're also going to have to admit the
same about Jesus ministry because John the Baptist himself
said that Jesus is the mighty one.
So logically if they say John the Baptist had Authority from
God will then they're going to have to admit the geez.
Has is also from God because that's what John the Baptist
said. That would seem to answer their
original question because if Jesus has Authority from God,
then their original question about where he gets his
authority from is answered. So when we stand back and we
take the Jewish leaders, original question.
And Jesus question, they might seem to not be related but
actually they are. Jesus is kind of answering their
original question about where he gets his authority from but
doing it in kind of a veiled way that implies the answer.
If they think about it, verse 31, the Jewish leaders Viewed it
out this way, amongst themselves, if we say from
Heaven, he will say, then why did you refuse to believe him?
But dare we say from men, they had the people to fear for
everyone held that John was a real Prophet.
So the Jewish leaders here, correctly perceive that Jesus
has given them. A trap question, his turned
their own tactic against them. It's, in fact, a very clever
question and it shows the supernatural intellect of Jesus,
because if they answered Jesus question by saying, John the
Baptist was from God. Then they're going to have to
admit where we shouldn't believe John the Baptist but if on the
other hand, they say, John the Baptist came from man.
His authority was from man, they're going to have to fear
the Jewish people who were in the temple, listening to this
conversation because those Jewish people believe that John
the Baptist was a prophet. So they're going to face some
backlash if they deny that. Verse 33, the reply to Jesus was
we do not know so they don't answer the question.
They just say. We do not know this in itself
shows that the Jewish leaders are not genuinely searching for
truth. They just want to maintain the
status quo. They not actually searching for
Truth at least the vast majority of them.
And Jesus said to them, nor will I tell you my Authority for
acting like this. So Jesus basically says, since
you can't answer my question, I'm not going to answer yours,
that's the way. He finishes this conversation
which is well within his rights to do.
So there's an interesting lesson we could take from this.
A possible theological implication of this might be the
Jesus does not owe an explanation to anyone.
He doesn't always answer every question which is posting him.
Particularly for those who are outside of his kingdom, we
should keep this in mind. Jesus is not OS and answer for
every single question. We throw at him and particularly
that seems to be true for unbelievers as well.
Now there is more to this conversation.
The Jewish leaders don't just walk away after this.
The conversation goes on and Jesus is going to give them a
couple of Parables. We're going to look at this in
the coming days and you'll see here in these Parables that are
coming up, Jesus kind of answers their original question about
his identity by telling these Parables.
And particularly the next Parable, which is the parable of
the vineyard, tenants, very strong parable about Jesus role
and the Jewish leaders role There's no catechism references
for us to look at today so we will finish it there.
I hope you're enjoying this. Exploration of the Gospel of
Mark and we'll continue to look at Mark chapter 12 next week.
There's no catechism references for us to look at today so we
will finish it there. I hope you're enjoying this.
Exploration of the Gospel of Mark and we'll continue to look
at Mark chapter 12 next week.