:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

Continuing my meditations on the Gospel of Mark…

Before we begin… This past Monday I opened my meditations document on the Gospel of Mark and found a blank page for Mark 11. Mark 12-16 was all typed out and edited. So I opened my written journal and found two pages of questions related to Mark 11, but I didn’t find any conclusions or thoughts for my meditations.

Mark 11 is a tough passage. I won’t hit everything of significance here, but I think I have a few things to consider based on a few days of struggling with this chapter. On to the meditation:

As Jesus approached Jerusalem with the certainty that death awaited him (Mark 10:33-34), he adopted a symbolic action to declare his role as Messiah while still challenging the expectations of the people without riding in to Jerusalem to take over. He simply borrowed a donkey, rode in to the praises of the people, looked around a bit, and then left.

I wonder how deflated his disciples felt that day?

Whatever their expectations, Jesus took action the next day with real God-given authority by driving out the merchants from the table. While he challenged the authority of the religious leaders, whose authority in this chapter clearly relied on popular support, Jesus didn’t want to take over their roles. He attacked their authority, but refused to worship God on their terms.

Framing this clearing of the temple is a little visual lesson of sorts about prayer involving a fig tree. While the fig tree may also represent the coming fall of Jerusalem about forty years from the time of Jesus, in the immediate context Jesus was also teaching his disciples about prayer.

At a time when Jesus and his disciples waited for the prediction of Jesus’ death to come true, Jesus encouraged them to pray with boldness and to trust that God could answer their prayers. Though Jesus could not find a way to avoid his road to the cross, he still believed completely in the ability of God to answer prayer, and he used the fig tree as an example.

We also see in this passage some hints that Jesus derived his authority from God and may have been rather poor. He had to borrow a donkey for his big entrance and he sought figs from the tree because he was hungry in the morning. Why didn’t his hosts provide breakfast?

This is a bit of speculation here, but for readers in an American context where money equals God’s blessing, Jesus may have entered Jerusalem with hardly anything to his name. However, he still exercised his God-given authority among the religious leaders who had significant resources.

It could very well be the case that Jesus ministered out of poverty, if not a very limited budget. However, he didn’t let his earthly position influence God’s mission. In fact, his lack of earthly qualifications almost seemed to be an asset by the time the religious leaders challenged his authority at the end of the chapter.

Jesus drew his identity, authority, and power from God. His borrowed donkey, humble procession, and empty stomach did not deter him from the work God set for him. His confidence rested solely in the power of God and the possibilities of prayer.