If David then calls Him "Lord," how is He his Son?

 

 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying:

'The LORD said to my Lord,

"Sit at My right hand,

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?

"If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.

 

- Matthew 22:41-46 

 

In our current readings, the lectionary has taken us through the Gospel of St. Matthew, and into the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).   But this week, as Ascension Day occurs tomorrow (in the Western and Armenian Apostolic Churches; for the Eastern Orthodox, it is a week later), the lectionary begins prepares us for the celebration of Christ's Ascension, with passages that affirm His identity.  On Friday the lectionary will resume texts starting with the final verses of the Sermon on the Mount.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus was explaining to His disciples the parable of the Sower (given in Monday's reading):  "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.  But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." 

 

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying, "What do you think about the Christ?  Whose Son is He?"  They said to Him, "The Son of David."  He said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call Him 'Lord,' saying: 'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool"'?  If David then calls Him 'Lord,' how is He his Son?"  And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.  The setting for today's reading is Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  He is in Jerusalem in the temple, where He has been questioned, and been in dispute with the religious leaders.  Here, Jesus in turn asks the Pharisees a question.  What do you think about the Christ? is a question about the Messiah (Christ is the Greek word meaning "Anointed" and so refers to the Messiah).  After they answer, the Son of David, Jesus then poses a question to these experts, who do nothing but pore over the Scriptures, a question about the Scriptures and their understanding, pointing to a psalm of David that refers to the Lord, the Christ.  Jesus refers to Psalm 110, quoting its first verse.  My study Bible comments that He does so to lead the Pharisees to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God incarnate.  They suppose the Messiah to be a mere man, and in this is the understanding that the Messiah would be a Son of David.  But David, as the king of Israel, could never call anyone else "Lord" except if he were addressing God.  But here in this psalm, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  So, therefore, the Messiah must be God, the only "lord" loftier than the king.  The only possible conclusion, my study Bible notes, is that the Messiah is a descendant of David only according to the flesh, but that He is also truly divine, sharing His Lordship with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  It's clear that the implications have not been lost on the Pharisees, as they refuse to answer, out of fear of confessing Jesus is the Son of God.  Following this encounter, Jesus will begin His grand critique of the scribes and Pharisees, His final public sermon (Matthew 23).

 

There are times in life when we really do seek to avoid saying a truth that has become obvious to us, but which is threatening to our identity, to our understanding of ourselves.  Here it is the case with the Pharisees, whose authority is something they stake their lives on.  Their positions within the society are firm, and they seek to uphold the values and meanings of the tradition upon which they stand.  Since their position is that which considers themselves to be the experts in the Scriptures and their interpretation, this is indeed an almost perilous question that Christ poses to them.  How could they, who do nothing but study Scripture and derive numerous commandments from the Scriptures which they scrupulously obey, have missed this implication of this extraordinary psalm of David?  Could the Messiah truly be the Son of God in the sense that Jesus is implying?  And could Jesus Himself, then, be the Messiah (as His disciples and followers seem to believe, having welcomed Him into Jerusalem in His Triumphal Entry a few days prior to this)?   Do they dare to admit that His logic and intuition are the only possible answer to the writing of this psalm by King David?  We do know that there are Pharisees among Christ's followers, such as Nicodemus (see, for example, John 3:1-21).  St. John's Gospel tells us, "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43). In Jesus' condemnation of the Pharisees in the chapter that follows (Matthew 23), He focuses chiefly on their hypocrisy in His grand critique of their practices.  They care for image more than substance; to be seen as holy and pious becomes more important than dealing with the internal life of the soul.  In their refusal to answer is a sign of this hypocrisy, a fear that to state what is, in fact, recognized as true is to tear down their own houses, to force a kind of repentance that needs to reconcile with the One standing in front of them whom they reject and consider an enemy, One whom they wish to destroy.  We might call this behavior outrageous, given the colossal, cosmic importance of what they are rejecting.  But we can observe this behavior all around us as a part of life.  That is, truths we are afraid of admitting openly for fear we'll have to change too much in our lives, disrupting the present order, should we acknowledge such to ourselves.  Denial goes on all the time, whether we speak of small circles such as an individual in denial about themselves, a family that does not acknowledge some harmful habit or practice or failure of a particular member, to larger groups such as social communities of all sorts, even to nations or groups of nations and international institutions.  A self-chosen blindness is frequently the theme of concern in the Gospels, a failure or even deliberate blindness to what and whom Christ is.  In the case of these Pharisees, it comes down to hypocrisy in Jesus' words and His criticism of them and their blindness, and His light is something they do not want.  This hiding from the light is an overarching theme, one that touches all of us and our world (John 1:5), and it is an ongoing reality for all of us to grapple with in one form or another, whether we fight against it or must face our own tendencies to hide from that light which may come to illuminate our dark corners and ask us to change.  But Jesus, the Son, "my Lord" to David, is the central figure here, the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), to whom all need to turn and with whom we will all reconcile (Philippians 2:9-11, Isaiah 45:23), in whom all things converge (Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:17).  

 

 

 

Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things

 

 Then they came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."  

 

- Mark 11:27–33 

 

Yesterday we read of Jesus' second day in Jerusalem, after His Triumphal Entry:  In the morning when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.  And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it.  When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  In response Jesus said to it, Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."  And His disciples heard it.  So they came to Jerusalem.  Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And he would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.  Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?  But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.  When evening had come, He went out of the city.  Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.  And Peter remembering, said to Him,  "Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."  so Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

 

  Then they came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men,'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."   The setting of our reading is now what we know as Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life.  This is the third day He is in Jerusalem.  He has cleansed the temple the day before (see yesterday's reading above), and so these religious leaders demand to know, "By what authority are You doing these things?"  Christ is not a Levitical priest, and so the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders challenge His authority to do so.  My study Bible comments that, as Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, He confounds them with a different question about John the Baptist (Mark 1:1-8).  Both the elders' question and Christ's question demand the same answer, my study Bible explains, and so would lead a person to confess that Jesus has come from heaven.  By not answering them directly, it notes, Christ teaches us not to answer people who come asking about holy things with a malicious intent.  

 

What I always admire about Christ's style of engagement here is His vigor.  So often in popular culture He is portrayed as a very meek character; in the secular mind which does not correctly interpret "meekness" in the Christian sense, this may be seen as weak or ineffectual.  But when He verbally spars with the religious authorities, we come to understand quite the opposite.  Jesus' vigor shows here, and He doesn't give an inch.  These religious leaders, although nominally in authority in the temple, do not intimidate Him and they do not persuade Him away from His mission and what He needs to do.  On the contrary, He answers their question with a question -- and thoroughly gives them back the argument they wish to avoid.  He turns the tables on them both in the sense that they cannot answer, and that He reveals that it is they who are afraid of the people.  On the contrary, for the past three years, Jesus has courageously preached, taught, and healed all over the territories of the Jewish communities that constitute greater Israel.  Here, perhaps, He shows the greatest courage of all, for He knows that these men wish to have Him put to death (and they will).  See this reading in which He predicted for the third time what would happen to Him in Jerusalem, and in detail, for His apostles, including the suffering He will endure.  Christ's defense of His cousin and saint, John the Baptist, also tells us about Jesus' character.  Like a heroic warrior as portrayed in any kind of traditional story of what it means to be valiant and loyal, Jesus will always step in to defend His own.  He intervenes for His disciples in this reading, and here in today's reading He defends John as sent by God, although the religious leaders did not treat John as such.  What we may observe of Jesus' character then is what truly defines meekness or gentleness in the Christian sense.  That is, strength under control.  He knows what He is to be about, He is thoroughly loyal to God the Father in living His mission in the world as the Incarnate Jesus, and He stands up for that which is His, in the provenance of His Kingdom -- be it the truth and light He is here to teach, or for those who bear that light and truth into the world and belong to Him.  One thing He is not -- He is not going quietly, so to speak.  Until it is time to do so, He continues His mission, and that includes here in this confrontation with the religious leaders over His conduct in the temple.  In St. John's Gospel, we're told that in one of His confrontations with the religious leaders, prior to Holy Week, they asked Him, "Who are You?"  Jesus replied, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him." They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father (John 8:25-26).  The One who sent Him is true, Christ is loyal to Him in all ways, speaking those things which He hears to speak.  In the Revelation, we read that Christ Himself is like His Father, He is "Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war" (Revelation 19:11).  This is the reality of Christ, a spiritual reality we are to follow and live ourselves in the world.  He is faithful and true to the One who is true, and so we are meant to be as well.  He defends His own, and is obedient in freedom and out of love.  In the Orthodox tradition, this is understood more fully as "the love of the beautiful" -- and in that beauty is goodness, and truth, and righteousness.  Let us pay attention and learn from Him.

 

 

 

Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more

 And everyone went to his own house.  But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.  

 

Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery.  And then they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned.  But what do You say?"  This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.  But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.  

 

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."  And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.  Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.  And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours?  Has no one condemned you?"  She said, "No one, Lord."  And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

 

- John 7:53—8:11 

 

Yesterday we read that on the last day (the eighth day), that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet."  Others said, "This is the Christ."  But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?  Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Now some of them wanted to take  Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why have you not brought Him?"  The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"   Then the Pharisees answered them, "Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?  But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee?  Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee."

 

  And everyone went to his own house.  But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  This action describes what people did following the interaction with Jesus in yesterday's reading, above.  Those who go to their own house are the ones from Jerusalem, particularly those on the ruling Council (the chief priests and Pharisees) who sought to have Jesus arrested and who accuse Him.  Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives to stay as a pilgrim -- as do others -- to Jerusalem at this Feast of Tabernacles.  It emphasizes His outsider status, as one not in official authority in the temple, and also from outside of Jerusalem and Judea, as a Galilean. 

 

 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.  Here in this next sentence is a contrast; to be seated to teach the people (while they stand) is a position of authority, for in such a way did authoritative rabbis teach. 

 

 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery.  And then they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned.  But what do You say?"  This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him.  But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.  My study Bible comments that the law dictated the death penalty for adulterers (Leviticus 20:10).  This ordinance was not observed to the letter in the days of Jesus; the Pharisees brought this particular woman because they saw an opportunity to test Him.  If Jesus had objected to this punishment, my study Bible explains, He could be accused of opposing the Law.  But if He upheld the punishment, He could be accused of showing no mercy to sinners.  My study Bible also points out that this is the single place in the New Testament where we are told that Jesus wrote something.  There are various theories explaining what He possibly wrote.  Some suggest that He wrote out the Ten Commandments, which all of these accusers had violated at least once.  Others suggest He wrote the names of the accusers who had themselves committed adultery.  

 

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."  And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.  Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last.  And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours?  Has no one condemned you?"  She said, "No one, Lord."  And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."  My study Bible tells us that Christ's answer confounds the Pharisees, as he upholds a great principle of the Law -- that the wages of sin is death (Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23) -- without neglecting its greater aspect of mercy (Deuteronomy 13:17; Psalm 117:2-118:4; Hosea 6:6).  Christ's mercy is offered freely to all repentant sinners.  So that we may receive this gift, we must in turn flee from sin, as Christ indicates to the woman in His final word here. 

 

 Today's entire reading (this section of St. John's Gospel) which covers the story of the woman caught in adultery is not found in several ancient manuscripts.  Neither is it covered in the commentaries of St. John Chrysostom and particular other Church Fathers.  But nevertheless, my study Bible tells us, it's still sealed by the Church as inspired, authentic, and canonical Scripture; and it bears the same authority as all other Scripture.  In the Orthodox Church, this passage is read on one of the two days in which St. Mary of Egypt, a reformed prostitute, is commemorated.  Regardless of the questions regarding this passage, it seems to fit in with the recent themes we've read in St. John's Gospel, which involve questions of just judgment and righteousness.  In our reading from Saturday, we read Jesus' words, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  In yesterday's reading (above), we read not only the words of the Pharisees claiming that no prophet has arisen from Galilee (a false statement, as the prophet Jonah was from Galilee and a town near to Jesus' hometown of Nazareth), but also Nicodemus reminding his fellow Pharisees (only to be insulted and lied to), "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?"  So questions of judgment, justice, mercy, and righteousness are all relevant here and pertain to the context in which we've just read that the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple officers to arrest Jesus (while still seeking to find charges against Him), but those officers have been converted by Christ's teachings, saying, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" (John 7:46).  So today's story of the woman taken in adultery, and Christ's question of her judgment, is relevant to its context in a number of ways.  First of all, notably, it's a trap like other traps set to catch Jesus in some plausible accusation for the purposes of destroying Him and His ministry.  He's not part of the authoritative power structure, and is a threat to them.  Indeed, His fame is such that He teaches the people in the temple and they are glad to hear Him; moreover, by now He's become a figure of public discussion and dissension; the people are divided on whether or not He could be the Messiah (but, we've been told, they dare not discuss this openly for fear of the authorities).  Importantly, if we look at the letter of the Law against adultery these men purport to enforce, there is a problem with the case, as the Law says the man involved must also be charged, and for him also the penalty is death (see Leviticus 20:10).  In fact, the concern of the Law as written seems primarily to be concerned with the man's conduct, and secondarily with the woman.  Yet, there is no man presented here.  So this particular case is somehow suspect to begin with.  Is the man one of the ones present? Did he collaborate with authorities to set this up?  What did Jesus write for these men to see, after all, and how was it relevant?  These questions aren't answered, but they may certainly be asked.  Once again, in this context, it all points to the desperation of the religious leaders to silence Jesus, to destroy His popularity and threat to their authority over the people.  The story itself not only teaches us about judging with righteous judgment (and not according to appearance), as Jesus has recently taught, but once again about the mistakes that are made when urgency, greed, desperation, and other heightened passions are in play.  Corners are cut, laws and practices meant to safeguard justice are forgotten, and our own "better natures" -- seeking God's way -- become sidelined all too easily, now as then.  Once again, it's another lesson proper to this period in which we approach Great Lent, with its traditional practices designed to help us better practice dispassion and spiritual discipline, to learn to say no to impulses no matter how heightened they may be or seemingly exigent with the times and the demands of those around us and our circumstances.  Lent and its associated historical practices are meant to help us "hear God" more clearly, to turn to our better natures (or, as President Lincoln famously put it in urging a calming of the passions and an effort for peace to avoid war and bloodshed, "the better angels of our nature").  We live in a time when many of these practices have been discarded or forgotten or ignored.  But on the other hand, there are many now who are just discovering and reviving them.  Perhaps it's time we all realized how necessarily they are, how needful it always is to follow Christ's teachings on discarding our own passions and impulses that drive us astray (see, for example, Matthew 5:21-37 from the Sermon on the Mount), and once again begin to take more seriously the need for spiritual discipline in both our public and private lives.  Let us always seek the wisdom of Christ in all the helpful ways these practices advocate and make possible.  We live in a time when heated debates and proclamations speak about justice and judgment, with passions urged and inflamed at every step.  But perhaps we should try the way the Church has always known to look to ourselves first, and better root ourselves in Christ without the self-righteousness that turns us away from God. For even the men who seek to persecute Jesus are convicted by their conscience in today's reading, and yet this capacity seems sorely ignored as a social good in public discourse today.  Moreover, today we can just imagine people taking either side in this confrontation in the temple, and ratcheting up the temperature.  But let us note Christ's equanimity as model.  Jesus balances the scales with both mercy and justice:  "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up

 

 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  

 

So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

 

- John 2:13–22 

 

Yesterday we read that, on the sixth day given of Christ's newly-beginning public ministry, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding.  And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."  Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?  My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it."  Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece.  Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water."  And they filled them up to the brim.  And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast."  And they took it.  When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.  And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior.  You have kept the good wine until now!"  This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.  After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days. 

 

  Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."   Here in today's reading is another distinctive element of St. John's Gospel.  In the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) this cleansing of the temple occurs at the end of Christ's ministry.  But John places it here right at the beginning.  There are certain patristic commentaries which teach that Christ performed this act twice.  This is the first of three Passover feasts included in St. John's Gospel; it's one way that we know His public ministry lasted three years.  In this incident, those who sold oxen and sheep and doves were trading live animals to be used for sacrifices.  Sacrifices were a true function of the temple, meant to be part of communal meals "setting right" the people with their God and community, a part of the amelioration of the effects of sin, and the understanding of righteousness.  The money changers traded Roman coins for Jewish coins, since Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (worshiped as a god) and were considered defiling in the temple.  Christ's cleansing of the temple is about the corruption which had become endemic and penalized the poor, the greed and hypocrisy of the religious leaders.  My study Bible comments that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God, it notes (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  The disciples remember "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up" as written in Psalm 69:9.

 

 So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  My study Bible explains that, since Jesus is not a Levitical priest, His authority to cleanse the temple is challenged.  In St. John's Gospel, the term Jews is meant most often to refer specifically to the religious leaders.  In this case, it refers to the chief priests and the elders (see Matthew 21:23).  It's important to remember that all the people in this story are devout Jews, including Jesus, His disciples, and the author of this Gospel.  As Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers, my study Bible says, He answers in a hidden way.  The ultimate sign will be His death and Resurrection.

 

The Gospel presents us today with an interesting contrast between what is hidden and what is not.  Here Jesus performs a very open and public act, one which would clearly garner much attention, as it is openly done against the system of the temple and its leadership.  The first question that opens itself up in this circumstance is one of authority, and it is there where the religious authorities zero in and begin to ask Jesus questions.  He needs to prove He has the authority to do this, and show them a sign to do so, as some sort of extraordinary proof of God's presence.  Well, Jesus is not going to do that, and He openly tells them so.  He's not going to give signs and proofs because unfaithful people demand it of Him.  Christ's signs and miracles come to the faithful.  Importantly, as our reading today deals with sacrifices, Christ's signs come in fulfillment of righteousness and communion between God and the faithful, God's people, and through the power and will of God -- not on demand by scoffers or hypocrites whose minds are already made up against Him.  And yet, we've just read (in yesterday's reading, above) about the first sign of St. John's Gospel, the turning of water to wine at the wedding in Cana.  Here was, in a sense, a "quiet" miracle, a sign given through the prompting (or intercession) of Christ's mother.  They had run out of wine at the wedding, and so this first sign of God's extraordinary presence occurred in the 30 gallon stone waterpots filled with water for cleansing, and it was transformed into the best wine.  Note the contrast between that almost private community affair of the wedding (and those who knew and understood about the wine) and this busy Passover festival, with all the noise and hustle and bustle of pilgrims purchasing sacrifices, and the money changers exchanging coins.  It must have presented quite an extraordinary and even cacophonous scene.  There can be no doubt of the attention which Christ's action would have brought upon Himself from both religious leadership and the people.  Now the power of human religious authority will focus its attention in Him, the One who has now challenged that authority with this act of cleansing the temple, and we already know where it will all lead (as Jesus forewarned His mother in quoting the widow Zarephath's question to Elijah in response to Mary's prompting about the wine -- see yesterday's reading and commentary; also 1 Kings 17:17-18).  Here is another riddle, another mystery of our faith?  How is a "sign" hidden?  How is the Christ hidden in plain sight?  How are the religious leaders blind, while the disciples and John the Baptist see?  How is Christ a temple, and so are we?  These are all questions we must begin to ponder and to consider as the Gospel unfolds.  Like the three days He was hidden in the tomb, so we understand the power of God at work, even though we may be completely unaware.

 

 

 

 

Let no fruit grow on you ever again

 

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read, 

'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have perfected praise'?"

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there. 

 

Now in the morning as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.  And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

 

- Matthew 21:12-22 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'" So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.   They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"   So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

 

  Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals which were to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers were trading Roman coins for Jewish coins, as roman coins bore the image of Caesar, and were considered to be defiling in the temple.  My study Bible comments that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As every person is considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), so it is also a sign that our hearts and minds should be cleansed of earthly matters.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7; Jeremiah 7:11.

 

But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?" Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  My study Bible quotes from the Vespers service of Palm Sunday:  "Keep the feast with the children, and holding branches in your hands, sing 'Hosanna.'"  It notes that many liturgical hymns of this day emphasize the perfect praise of the children, which differentiated from the adults in that it was innocent, fitting, unashamed, and from hearts of pure love.  So we also are called to glorify Christ in the same spirit (see Matthew 18:1-4).  In contrast, it says, the adults' praise carried earthly expectations and agendas which, when left unfulfilled, led them to rebel against Jesus only five days later (Matthew 27:20-23).  Jesus quotes from Psalm 8:2.

 

 Now in the morning as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."  Immediately the fig tree withered away.  And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  The fig tree, as my study Bible explains, is a symbol of prosperity and peace, and it withers because it is fruitless.  This is a prophetic act by Jesus which is directed toward the nation, as after three years of His preaching, teaching, and healing, both the leaders and the crowds were destitute of spiritual fruit.  He curses the tree also to warn those in every generation what will befall anyone who fails to listen to His message. 

 

 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  While there is no recorded incident of an apostle literally moving a mountain, my study Bible says, in patristic commentary it's clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen (certain saints did make crevices appear in mountains).  Moreover, not all things done by the apostles were written down.  Beyond the literal meaning here, this promise illustrates the power of faith and prayer in all areas of life.  According to Theophylact, "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for things which are spiritually profitable.  

 

 

The story of Jesus' withering of the fig tree is what we might term "a hard saying."   Why would we term it that?  Because what it indicates is judgment, and the kind of judgment that we don't really want to hear.  It's about Christ's pronouncement of judgment on those who are "unfruitful."  That is, upon those who have benefited nothing from His ministry, who cannot receive it nor honor it, who refuse the salvation that He offers.  What it teaches us is something hard that, normally speaking, we don't want to accept.  That it is possible for people to lose this priceless gift through rejection, because they don't want to receive it.  When Jesus forgives from the Cross, saying, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34), we may understand this in a number of ways.  There is first of all a sense in which people really do not know what they reject when they reject Christ.  That is, the life of salvation that He offers, and the eternal life of the Kingdom.  This certainly would have applied to the Roman soldiers who followed their orders to crucify Him.  It can apply to all kinds of people in all of these stories in the Gospels of Christ's ministry.  The religious leaders and others know that Christ is a holy Man, and yet they reject Him; they know the works of the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament Scriptures.  But still, there may be ways in which they "do not know what they do," and yet are in some sense and through their own hard-heartedness, beyond repentance.  But we are assured in our faith that there is no sin which cannot be forgiven through repentance.  The question remains, however, what of those who reject and never repent?  This is, fortunately, not up to us, but up to only Christ who is the ultimate Judge, and the ultimate knower of hearts (Acts 1:24; 15:8).  In St. John's Gospel, Jesus tells the religious leaders, "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.  And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me" (John 8:15-16).  So we must ask ourselves again about this withering of the fig tree, a symbol of condemnation of that which is fruitless, which does not bear the spiritual fruit of its promise and potential -- even that for which it was created.  It certainly tells us something powerful about life itself, that there is life in Christ, and without His light we have the darkness that is death, that does not bring life into this world.  Is our life meant to be only about eating and drinking, or survival on its barest level, or the goods we can consume?  Life in Christ's light is so much more than this, and teaches us that we are so much more than this.  We diminish ourselves and our communities by refusing Christ and His love and light guiding us in His compassion.  Jesus will lament over Jerusalem, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'"  (Matthew 23:37-39).  Let us consider the reality of this rejection, and what it means for people's lives, for we can see the barrenness of life without God's love and hope and compassion.  There are no systems or philosophies that can replace the intrinsic understanding of the priceless value of the soul placed upon it by God, by the One who died so that we can live.  Let us give careful thought to the reality of this teaching in the withering of the fig tree.  

 

 

 

 

Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury

 

 Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?  For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'  Therefore David himself calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?"  And the common people heard Him gladly. 

 

Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces,  the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  These will receive greater condemnation."

 

Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury.  And many who were rich put in much.  Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."

 

- Mark 12:35–44 

 

Yesterday we read that one of the scribes came, and having heard Jesus and the religious authorities reasoning together in the temple, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him. 

 

  Then Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, "How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?  For David himself said by the Holy Spirit:  'The LORD said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'  Therefore David himself calls Him 'Lord'; how is He then his Son?"  And the common people heard Him gladly.  Jesus asks this question to lead the people to the only logical conclusion:  that He is God incarnate.  He quotes from Psalm 110.  My study Bible explains that they supposed the Messiah to be a mere man, and therefore the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David.  But David, as king of Israel, could not and would not address anyone as "Lord" except God.  But here in this psalm, David refers to the Messiah as "Lord."  So, therefore, the Messiah must be God.  My study Bible remarks that the only possible conclusion is that the Messiah is a descendant of David only according to the flesh, but is at the same time also truly divine, and sharing His Lordship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit.  

 

 Then He said to them in His teaching, "Beware the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces,  the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.  These will receive greater condemnation."  Here Jesus urges the people to beware the scribes because of their hypocrisy, and says that such hypocrisy will receive greater condemnation.  In St. Matthew's Gospel, a very extensive critique (and condemnation) of the scribes and Pharisees is reported in chapter 23.  

 

 Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury.  And many who were rich put in much.  Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans.  So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."  My study Bible comments that, according to patristic commentary, the Lord accounts the value of a gift not by how much is given, but by how much is kept back.  So, this poor widow is counted to have given a very great gift, as she kept nothing for herself.  Those who give out of their abundance but keep plenty for themselves, my study Bible says, are counted by God to have given very little.  In the conversion of Cornelius, we learn that God takes note of our giving (Acts 10:4).  According to some estimates, a modern (US) equivalent to the widow's two mites might be about approximately $2.00; in a cash economy and for a dependent person without income this amount becomes quite believable.  

 

 What does it mean to give?  In yesterday's reading (see above), we were given the two great commandments.  The first commandment teaches, "Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength."  The second adds, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Jesus grouped these two together as the greatest commandments, which sum up all the law and the prophets.  Loving one's neighbor as oneself is often seen as manifested in the practice of charity, and acts of charity can take on many forms and many expressions.  When we think of giving, we most often think of money, as in the case with the poor widow giving all she had to the treasury of the temple.  But perhaps we should expand our concepts of giving to include the many other things that we can give in life.  We can give of our time.  We can give of our care, and kindness to others.  We can do many works which are charitable even if not nominally called that:  a good word to someone, letting someone know you think of them, paying attention where attention is needed.  Sometimes just spending time sitting with someone is a charitable act.  In this sense, if we should truly fulfill the first and greatest commandment Jesus gives to us, then possibly we might just find out what it is to give our all.  For if we really deeply love God in all the dimensions of focus in the commandment, then we might find that we give our whole lives to this spirit of giving, depending upon the need and where we are called should we live truly prayerful lives mindful of God.  We can practice giving our lives to God, and seeking that direction for God's will for us at any given time, whether we are at work, at home, no matter where we are and what we are doing.  This is a kind of fullness of giving that's not obvious to the world but incorporates the spirit of giving nevertheless, of being "all in" and deepening our faith in the process even as we practice giving in this way.  Expressing love is so often the process of giving, even giving when we don't know or think we have much else to give at all.  Anyone who has cared for a loved one -- even a pet that needs care -- knows this.  We find that we can give so much more than we thought we could when we're motivated by love.  This extends to our world, the care and stewardship of the creation which God has given us and put us in charge of properly cultivating and guiding it.  Genesis 2:15 reads, "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it."  The whole of the Bible is filled with verses about proper stewardship of our world and what we do with this gift of resources we're given.  This poor widow in today's reading gives us a sense that even when we don't think we have much to offer, there is always something we have to give if we are "all in."  If we love God, we find resources we didn't know we have.  More importantly, if we have a full abundance of things we can give, we can "hand them over" in prayer to God to find the right role for our stewardship and giving.  St. James writes, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning" (James 1:17).  Thus, all that we have, every blessing comes to us from God in the first place; we may practice the fullness of giving in returning all to God for God's blessing and guidance in how to use it and live God's will for creation.  In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, there are repeated prayers that combine a commemoration of the Virgin Mary as an icon of the fruitfulness possible through faith, together with the prayer, "with all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God."   We entrust ourselves to the Lord, and find fulfillment in so doing, giving ourselves to Christ's direction and guidance as Mediator for all things.  Let us find our gifts and live His teaching together with the poor widow He commends so highly in today's reading.

 

 

 

 

The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD'S doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes

 

 Then they came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

 

 Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A men planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.  Have you not even read this Scripture:

'The stone which the builders rejected 

Has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the LORD'S doing, 

And it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away.  

 

- Mark 11:27—12:12 

 

Yesterday we read that, when Jesus and the disciples had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.  And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it.  When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."  And His disciples heard it.  So they came to Jerusalem.  Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.  Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?  But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.  When evening had come, He went out of the city.  Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.  And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

 

  Then they came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."   Here is the great concern of the religious leaders:  authority.  Since Christ is not a Levitical priest, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders challenge His authority to cleanse the temple (see yesterday's reading, above).  But Christ is careful not to reveal Himself to scoffers.  So He confounds them with a different question about John.  Both the elders' question and Christ's question require the same answer, my study Bible comments, and therefore would lead a person to confess that Jesus has come from heaven.  By not answering them directly, my study Bible notes, Christ teaches us not to answer people who come asking about holy things with a malicious intent.  

 

 Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A men planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read this Scripture:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD'S doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away.  In this parable, my study Bible explains, the man represents God the Father, and the vineyard refers to God's people.  The vinedressers are the religious leaders who were entrusted to care for the people.  Each servant sent by the owner stands for an Old Testament prophet who comes to call people back to God, while the one son, his beloved is a reference to Christ Himself.  When the Son is killed and cast out of the vineyard it may be understood various ways.  Christ was killed outside of Jerusalem, and He was crucified by foreign soldiers rather than those of His own "vineyard."  He was cast out by the religious leaders and rejected at His trial before Pilate.  The others who will later receive the vineyard are the Gentiles brought into the Church.  Jesus quotes Scripture from Psalm 118:22-23.

 

It's interesting to consider Christ's use of Scripture here, after He tells the parable of the Wicked Vinedressers.   Clearly the religious leaders -- as the text of the Gospel tells us -- understand that Jesus has told this parable against them.  But in quoting these verses from Psalm 118, Jesus is doing more.  He is the fulfillment of the Scripture; He is the stone which the builders rejected, and which will moreover become the chief cornerstone.  That is, He is the One who will determine the foundation of an entirely new "building" and one which will replace the old, although having been rejected by the builders.  In this sense, the Psalm forms a kind of prophecy, to be fulfilled through the spiritual history of the people, and we are meant to understand it this way.  In fact, our reading for today has many overtones of prophecy in it, as it begins by Jesus using the image of John the Baptist to demand an accountability on the part of the chief priests, scribes, and elders who question Him about His authority in the temple.   The suggestion of John the Baptist as a person of authority to practice his baptism comes from Jesus as a reminder to these religious leaders of the authority of a prophet.  John the Baptist was recognized throughout the Jewish communities as a holy man and treated with that kind of reverence.  Like the Old Testament prophets before him, he "spoke truth to power" as the modern saying goes, and was eventually martyred for criticizing the marriage of King Herod Antipas for being outside of Jewish law.  So the figure of John -- in the context of the Church -- comes to us as the last and greatest in the long line of the Old Testament prophets.  And among the people of his own time, he was widely recognized for his holiness, as people came from all over the Jewish territories for his baptism.  He is the one whom the Church calls the Forerunner, because he himself was also the fulfillment of prophecy.   When St. John the Baptist appears in the Gospels, it is presented in fulfillment of earlier prophecy by Malachi and Isaiah.  St. Mark's Gospel begins, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  As it is written in the Prophets: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.' 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight" ' " (Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3).  So, when Jesus asks where the authority for John's ministry of baptism came from, He is asking the religious leaders to consider the authority of God's grace by whom gifts of prophecy come.  These leaders, whether or not they accepted John, would not speak up before the people who listen, for the people all regarded John with the authority of a holy figure.  So John the Baptist, last in the line of Old Testament prophets, the prophets who came before him (and whose prophecies he fulfilled), all the prophets suggested in the parable of the vinedressers as the prophets killed before John by those in the same positions of authority these men hold to whom Jesus speaks, and Christ Himself as fulfillment of prophecy in the Psalm of David  -- all these come by the power, grace, and authority of God, Jesus suggests here . One after the other, they come "in the name of the Lord," and one after another have been questioned as to their authority to speak, and persecuted in turn, as the parable suggests.  Jesus is the beloved Son, who in fact speaks with greater authority, and the consequences of His rejection and death will be much more far reaching for the descendants of these authorities in the temple.  Jesus is, of course, much more than a prophet, but He is a figure about whom many wondered in His own time if He was "the Prophet," a figure prophesied by Moses (see Mark 6:15; Deuteronomy 18:15).  The importance of prophecy and its fulfillment, and most particularly the authority carried by the grace of God the Holy Spirit plays a great part on many layers in today's reading.  This is the authority of Christ the Lord, and is carried by the rest to whom that grace of true prophecy is given, as well as the figures who form the fulfillment of prophecy.  But let us remember that Jesus has also taught that "a prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house," a saying so important that it appears in all four Gospels (Matthew 13:57; Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; John 4:44).   Let us respect the power and grace of God, which works through all things in ways that are surprising, despise the efforts of rejection and manipulation to do otherwise. 

 

 

 

 

Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away

 

 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.  And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it.  When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."  And His disciples heard it. 

 

So they came to Jerusalem.  Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.  Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?  But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.  When evening had come, He went out of the city. 

 

 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.  And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

 

- Mark 11:12-26 

 

On Saturday we read that when Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, "Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat.  Loose it and bring it.  And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it,' and immediately he will send it here."  So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it.  But some of those who stood there said to them, "What are you doing, loosing the colt?"  And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded.  So they let him go.  Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.  And many spread their clothes on the road, and the others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"  And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple.  So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. 

 

Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.  And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it.  When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.  In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."  And His disciples heard it.   It was not the season for figs, my study Bible explains, means that this fig tree had sprouted an early fall foliage, which indicated a first crop, but without bearing any fruit.  So Jesus, finding not even one fig, condemns it.  In Scripture, my study Bible says, a fig tree is often a symbol of Israel (Hosea 9:10).  Her fruitfulness has ceased, so the Kingdom will be taken from her and given to another people, who are called to bear spiritual fruit (see Matthew 21:43; Galatians 5:22-23).  After three years of ministry, Christ has arrived in Jerusalem, where He will find refusal and rejection, rather than spiritual fruitfulness.

 

 So they came to Jerusalem.  Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.  Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'?  But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"  And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.  When evening had come, He went out of the city.  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in life animals to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers would trade Roman coins for Jewish coins; this is because Roman coins bore the image of Caesar, who was worshiped as a god, and they were considered defiling in the temple.  The cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 to make His point clear regarding the use of the temple.  

 

  Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.  And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."   The cursing and withering of the fig tree is a prophetic act which signifies the judgment of Israel.  The disciples need to learn that the old covenant with Israel is becoming "obsolete" and will "vanish away" (Hebrews 8:13).  My study Bible explains that they will establish His Church, ultimately to be filled with Gentiles and Jews, and need assurance that they are following Christ's will.  The fig tree will be an indelible image in their minds. 

 

 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."  To have faith in God is to believe and follow.  From this faith in God, then, it follows that what one asks in prayer means necessarily prayer according to the will of God, not simply our own whims or aspirations alone.  My study Bible comments that while it is not recorded that an apostle literally moved mountain, patristic commentary is clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen (certain saints did make crevices appear in mountains).  Additionally, it explains, not everything the apostles accomplished was written down.  Beyond the literal meaning, my study Bible adds, this promise is also an illustration of the power of faith and prayer in all areas of life.  Theophylact comments that "whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.  This passage is inseparable from Christ's words that follow regarding forgiveness.  

 

 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."   Here Jesus insists upon mutual forgiveness between people as a precondition of God's forgiveness.  Those who do not forgive are not forgiven -- period, my study Bible claims.  This teaching is repeated in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35), which concludes with this same teaching.  To not forgive others is to willfully flee from the forgiveness of God for ourselves.  

 

In today's reading, St. Peter draws attention to the fig tree, now dried up from its roots.  He says, "Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."   All the disciples know very well this sequence of events, the curse by Jesus for fruitlessness (noted as metaphor to people), and then witnessing its complete desiccation (dried up from the roots).  Jesus' response is interesting, as He does not speak of the tree per se, but rather He speaks about faith.  He says, "Have faith in God.  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."  There are those who seemingly read these words as if Jesus is saying that no matter what we think we want or need, if we just pray for them without any doubt that Jesus will make them happen for us, then they will.  But this is not what Jesus is teaching here.  Prayer is not a magical incantation; it's not bargaining or bribing or manipulating God; it's not a formula for manifestation.  First of all, in the prayer that Jesus gave us Himself (the Lord's Prayer), He has taught us to pray, "Our Father in heaven . . . Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:12; Luke 11:2).  Moreover, we recall from Christ's own life and practice His memorable prayer to the Father on the night before His Crucifixion.   Christ's first prayer, as reported by St. Matthew was as follows:  "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."  Christ's natural human response to death is to seek to let this cup pass from Him.  But His prayer ends with "not as I will, but as You will."  His next prayer is as follows:  "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."  This further enforces that Jesus prays above all not for His own (human) will to be done, but for the divine will He shares with the Father, "Your will be done" -- even if it means this cup of Crucifixion He wishes to avoid cannot pass away by any other means except that He drinks it, accepts it.  So Jesus is not saying that all we have to do is believe that God will do what we ask God to do; He is teaching us about the power of faith in God, and the reality that brings to us in seeking God's will.  This is the way to effective prayer.  That is, as my study Bible puts it, when we ask for spiritually profitable things.  What He says next emphasizes this, for He speaks about forgiveness: "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."   To forgive is to give up, to let go (this is the literal meaning of the word in Greek translated as forgive).   It is precisely as it is when a debt is forgiven; it is let go off the books.  When we thus "forgive" in this sense, when we let go and give it up, we are turning it over to God for God's will.  It's the same sense in which we are reminded by St. Paul that "'Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19; quoting Deuteronomy 32:35).  To forgive in this sense, and particularly in the sense of giving up seeking vengeance, is to seek God's will instead of our own.  We let things go, and ask for God's way.  In this sense also, we are reminded that it is our work to seek God's will in all things, and to pursue that as best we can.  In this sense, our practices help us to discern God's will, to give ourselves to that will, to ask for the things we're led toward by that faith in God which Jesus says is of utmost importance.  And in this way, our prayers become effective and powerful.  We seek to align our will with God's will, to learn how to do that as best we can, and not the other way around.  Christ Himself gives us the ultimate example in seeking God's way.  It is this in which we are to place our faith and do not doubt.  Let us try as best we can to follow His word and teachings.