Questions

Gospel: Mark 12: 35-37

In today's Gospel portion Jesus gets the opportunity to ask a question of the religious authorities regarding the central belief about the Messiah in the understanding of his day.  The question stumps the scribes and other religious leaders.  In our own day we may not find this issue particularly important or central to faith at all, but this short scene of the Gospel highlights an important element of faith life that is not only overlooked but very often discouraged and suppressed.  

Throughout the Gospels we find Jesus questioning religious leaders and the larger tradition regarding the law and authentic faith practice.  He sets about the task of challenging hypocrisy not to dismantle religion altogether but to find a path to a genuine life of faith.  The questions Jesus poses are to purify our faith.  His questions encourage us to ask similar questions and to challenge hypocrisy within our own religious traditions and faith life.  

Needless to say, the religious authorities of Jesus' time did not appreciate the questions and challenges, just as in our own time and in every age religious leaders do not appreciate questions, calling out hypocrisy, and challenges to their authority.  But a healthy faith must be allowed to question in a healthy way, to pursue truth and an authentic spiritual life.  Suppressing and discouraging the questions only leads to loss of faith and interest in religion.  Creating a culture of healthy conversation and questioning in pursuit of truth and goodness is the way of the Lord Jesus. 

A Loaded Question

Gospel: Mark 12: 28-34

On the surface, today's Gospel portion seems to be a break in the trials of Jesus in Jerusalem we have been observing.  A scribe comes up to Jesus with a question on what the most important commandment is in the law.  The conversation between Jesus and the scribe appears amiable, and apparent agreement on the answer to the question is evident.  Jesus even tells the scribe that he is not far from the kingdom of heaven.  But perhaps he is further away, as are we...

The question about the greatest commandment is the most debated one in Judaism.  There are more than six hundred commandments in the law - which one holds priority?  The answer Jesus gives on the law of love was not controversial.  Many other rabbis had the same answer to the question.  The difference is in the scope of one's circle of concern and care regarding the term neighbor.  For Jesus it includes enemy and friend, stranger and family.  Few others had this interpretation.

This scope of Jesus' love is shown throughout his ministry to others.  He refused no one who came to him.  He provided care for people of all genders, races, creeds, and backgrounds of all types.  Jesus even cared for the untouchables of his day - lepers and those possessed by demons.  Did the scribe hold to this vision?  Do we?  Jesus will lay down his life for all people and forgive all people from the cross.  If we claim to be followers of Jesus, this must be our vision and mission as well. 

The Trials of Jesus

Gospel: Mark 12: 18-27

In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus is in Jerusalem he is put through a series of trials by various groups.  Yesterday, it was the Herodians and Pharisees who seek to find fault with Jesus.  Today, it is the Sadducees who come to interrogate Jesus and find something wanting in him.  Jesus affirms the resurrection of the dead, a direct contradiction to the teaching of the Sadducees.  They concocted an elaborate thought experiment in an attempt to trap him, but Jesus was forthright and openly rejected their teaching.

The Herodians had found fault with Jesus because he had not openly come out to support the Roman occupation.  The Pharisees find fault with Jesus for various interpretations of the law, as well as in not openly condemning the Romans.  The Sadducees now find fault with Jesus for his views on the resurrection.  In a few days Jesus will come before the chief priests and Pilate who will find a way to put him to death.  

How often do we put others on trial in this same way, seeking any and every occasion to condemn someone? We often engage in this activity with public figures and people in the news, but also entire groups of people - foreigners, migrants, refugees, immigrants, and entire nations of peoples.  Our advanced degrees at Social Media University make us experts in every subject and thus entitled to our judgments of others.  We sit in judgment of Jesus a thousand times a day, executing him in countless ways.