Mocking the Good

Gospel: Mark 11: 27-33

Jesus went about healing people from all their infirmities.  He liberated people from the demons that oppress and hold them bound.  He nourished people at table.  In today's Gospel portion we find Jesus challenging the injustices of the Temple system that exploits the poor for profit.  He calls out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders and wealthy of his day who speak of law and order, but oppress the poor and marginalized.

Throughout the Gospels we find Jesus' opponents objecting to the good he does.  In today's portion we find them asking on what authority he does such things.  Neither Jesus nor anyone else needs permission to do good for other people. Permission is not needed to defend the weak and powerless against those who oppress them.  It is truth and goodness that provide all the warrant and authority one needs to heal, liberate, nourish, and challenge the systems of oppression in our world.

In our own times we find the oppressor and hypocrite seeking to appropriate Jesus for their own ends.  They claim his authority in their oppression of the poor, in creating more poor and marginalized people through war, in neglecting and exploiting the immigrant, migrant, and refugee.  Here again truth and goodness will be the light that shows us the way to follow the Lord Jesus in the Gospels, the light that will repel the darkness of evil in our world today and always.