Bustin Chops

July 11

Read: Mark 11:27- 12:34

Bustin’ Chops

There is no end to the ways that people will challenge the authority of Jesus. This is not just a matter of the Pharisees, Scribes, and High Priests from long ago… it is the same today. They come with the “sticky questions” in an effort to derail the work of Christ. Why is that? There is a rapid fire series of questions in Mark that are posed to Jesus. In each instance it is not really about the question itself… it almost never is… it is simply the an effort to “catch” Jesus! These people are just bustin’ Jesus’ chops.

We do this today, don’t we? We like to pose hypothetical questions with extreme scenarios to try and discredit what Jesus has taught. Or maybe it is that we become wrapped up in politics and try to leverage Jesus to make him say what WE want him to say. In so many of these situations, the questions are just a cover up for the real root of the problem: a reluctance to embrace the authority and direction of Jesus. (cf. 11:27,28) Just look at these exchanges:

On John The Baptist (11:27-33)

Jesus flips the question they asked him back on them and asks them about John The Baptist and the authority HE had. These religious leaders can’t answer… They cannot admit that they were wrong and they are enslaved to the opinion of others. They are caught… stuck… and Jesus hits the nail on the head. Their challenge of Jesus ends with them coming face to face with their arrogance (inability to admit they were wrong) and their enslavement to the opinions of the crowd!

Paying Taxes (12:13-17)

How often do we want to rail against “taxes”? We become quite vocal about how they are using “our tax dollars”. Taxes are still a “hot button” issue 2000 years later! The tax money paid in Jesus’ day was being actively used to oppress and persecute the people of God! They try to hit Jesus up with a question about taxes… get him bogged down in the political debate. “Should we pay taxes?” they ask. They flip him a coin and he responds: “Whose likeness and inscription is this?…Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God’s.” (v.16,17) Jesus is on another level here… it is true what they said about him: “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God.” (v.14) Jesus - again - flips the script and asks them to be more worried about rendering to God what is God’s than worrying about giving a few bucks to Caesar.

Being Married in the Afterlife (12:18-27)

The Sadducees come to Jesus with some contrived hypothetical question about a women and being widowed 6 times… “who will she be married to in the afterlife?” (v.23) These people don’t even believe in the resurrection. (v.18) The question was purely a cover to try and malign the idea of the resurrection. These people didn’t care about the actual question at all. Here Jesus issues a burn of his own: “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?”

These words land like an atomic bomb for me… “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?” When we do not know the scriptures and we have never experienced the power of God… how twisted and side tracked we become! In this instance, Jesus just flat out calls them out… “You are quite wrong.”

Celebrity figures, marriage, and taxes… all of these questions are simply the disguise being worn by a rejection of Jesus authority. Jesus has no problem with questions… but the motives of the question asker… that is quite important. Do we know the motives behind our own doubts and questions? Are we willing to embrace the clear teaching of Jesus? Or do we want to create hypotheticals that make room for us to do what WE want to do? Are we willing to admit when we have been wrong? Or are we enslaved to the opinions of others? Remember the compliment paid to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God.” May he same be said of us. May we not be found wrong “because we know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?” May it never be! There is one question left that we will look at tomorrow… until then. Ask yourself, “what is the question behind the question?” Are we ready and willingly to embrace the authority, direction, and relationship with Jesus that he is holding out for us? It is all of life and it is good! If we have genuine questions… then we must ask them; Jesus will answer them for sure! If they are a smokescreen… an effort to avoid doing what we are called to do… may we set them aside and follow him! Love you guys. - JDP