Who's In Charge Here? - Wild Heart: Mark’s Portraits of a Radical Messiah
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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this year.
The last time we looked at the significance of the events surrounding the time when Jesus cursed the fig tree and threw the merchants out of the temple. What they showed us was that in each situation the way things appeared on the surface were at odds with what was really going on deep inside.
For us it’s a warning not to allow ourselves to become satisfied with surface “religious” appearances when Jesus is much more interested in a deeper personal relationship with us and He desires us to have honest, accountable fellowship with each other and when we wear that mask of religious ‘goodness’ we prevent that from happening.
The challenge for us is to be honest with God and each other, tear off our masks and be genuine followers of Jesus without pretense and prejudice.
This morning we pick up the story of Jesus’ final week as He returns to Jerusalem and I walking in the temple after having gone in and turned over the tables and open the animal pens.
What that shows me is that He was definitely trying to provoke a response from the Priests and elders. It also shows that He assumed the authority to do what He did.
Today’s confrontation is all about who’s in charge. If Jesus is allowed to continue unchallenged then the religious leaders knew their authority would be undermined and they would be out of power. Jesus knew their dilemma and was pushing their buttons and forcing them into a confrontation.
But Jesus didn’t stop with the religious leaders of His day. He continues this part of His ministry today. Through the Holy Spirit we’re asked ‘Who’s in charge around here?”
Let’s read Mark 11:27-33….
Jesus and His disciples are walking through the temple and they are approached by the Jewish religious leaders. Mark says they were the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. I thought it was interesting that it doesn’t specifically mention the Pharisees. The term elders must then include representatives of both the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
The Pharisees and Sadducees made up the Sanhedrin, which were the rulers of the religious establishment. The interesting thing here is that these two groups didn’t get along, kind of like Democrats and Republicans. They didn’t get along, that is, until they faced what they considered a common threat.
To them Jesus was a threat to their authority so His presence in the temple would require them to respond. They couldn’t just let this rustic ‘rabbi’ from some outlying province come in and take over so they had to challenge His authority. That’s why they asked Him the two questions they did.
By asking who’s authority was behind His actions they were trying to minimize and label Him. If Jesus was operating with secular authority from the Romans they could appeal to Pilate to have Him stopped and labeling Him a Roman sympathizer would undermine Him before the people. If Jesus were the disciple of some radical rabbi then they could label Him a heretic or radical and use that to dismiss Him as just another in a long line of pretenders. And if Jesus is the disciple of a duly recognized rabbi then they could have His rabbi talk to him and settle Him down. In essence their asking Him “Who do you think you are?”
But Jesus answers them in a way that forces a very unexpected response. Instead of provoking Jesus into an argument that would distract Him, they were forced to ‘reason among themselves.’ They reasoned that the tables had been turned and now Jesus held the upper hand. If they were to say that John’s baptism was from God then they would be exposed as hypocrites because they were against John. If they said John’s baptism was his own idea then the people would reject them because the people believed that John was a prophet.
What they had was a gift and they didn’t want it. Jesus was giving them an opportunity to come clean, to quit hiding behind their religious masks and return to God, but the leaders allowed their fear of exposure, their fear of the opinions of people to build an even higher wall to hide behind and Jesus lets them go.
It’s easy for us to look at this story and take great pleasure in how Jesus put these guys in their place. We know that Jesus is really in charge and these guys just didn’t get it or didn’t want to admit it.
Of course if we turn the camera around and put ourselves in this story where would we be standing? While I can’t speak for everyone I know that there are a plenty of us who would be standing alongside the religious leaders. The difference is that we’ve been at this a long time and we don’t directly question Jesus or ask ‘Who He thinks He is?” but… We tend to be a little spiritually hard of hearing.
Deep down we know what He’s asking but we don’t want to surrender to His authority in our life. We like calling the shots for ourselves yet we don’t want to be label as rebellious. So instead of saying ‘We don’t know” like the religious leaders we spiritually plug our ears and say “We can’t hear You.” Somehow we think that fake ignorance will be judged less harshly than rebellion. But it’s the same thing and until we’re ready to confront our fears and answer Jesus honestly He’ll give us room to decide.
What are we afraid of? Sometimes we’re afraid of what other people will think. We don’t want to be considered religious fanatics or weirdoes. Sometimes we fear losing control because if we surrender to His authority we’ll have to give up our control to Him. Sometimes we fear giving up the things we’re attached to and like. We’re comfortable with the way things are and we don’t want to change.
The enemy will use our fear against us just like He used it against the religious leaders. He’s the master of lies and deceit and he uses our fears of loss of control to control us and keep us resistant to Jesus’ authority. When we think we have control we’re deceived and don’t realize that we’re under the control of our sin nature which resists the authority of God in our life.
That leaves us to face this question: Who’s really in charge of our life?
If it’s anyone but Jesus we’re in trouble. The disciples could do anything with Jesus’ authority in their life and they could do nothing without it. If you’re feeling like you’re on a treadmill going nowhere spiritually you might want to ask your self “Who’s really in charge?”
The way to Spiritual maturity and freedom is to surrender to Jesus. That’s counter-intuitive and goes against our natural grain. We want to take more control, to do more but it’s clear that surrendering to Jesus authority is the way we should go.
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We’re continuing our series Wild Heart: Mark’s Portrait of a Radical Messiah this year.
The last time we looked at the significance of the events surrounding the time when Jesus cursed the fig tree and threw the merchants out of the temple. What they showed us was that in each situation the way things appeared on the surface were at odds with what was really going on deep inside.
For us it’s a warning not to allow ourselves to become satisfied with surface “religious” appearances when Jesus is much more interested in a deeper personal relationship with us and He desires us to have honest, accountable fellowship with each other and when we wear that mask of religious ‘goodness’ we prevent that from happening.
The challenge for us is to be honest with God and each other, tear off our masks and be genuine followers of Jesus without pretense and prejudice.
This morning we pick up the story of Jesus’ final week as He returns to Jerusalem and I walking in the temple after having gone in and turned over the tables and open the animal pens.
What that shows me is that He was definitely trying to provoke a response from the Priests and elders. It also shows that He assumed the authority to do what He did.
Today’s confrontation is all about who’s in charge. If Jesus is allowed to continue unchallenged then the religious leaders knew their authority would be undermined and they would be out of power. Jesus knew their dilemma and was pushing their buttons and forcing them into a confrontation.
But Jesus didn’t stop with the religious leaders of His day. He continues this part of His ministry today. Through the Holy Spirit we’re asked ‘Who’s in charge around here?”
Let’s read Mark 11:27-33….
Jesus and His disciples are walking through the temple and they are approached by the Jewish religious leaders. Mark says they were the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. I thought it was interesting that it doesn’t specifically mention the Pharisees. The term elders must then include representatives of both the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
The Pharisees and Sadducees made up the Sanhedrin, which were the rulers of the religious establishment. The interesting thing here is that these two groups didn’t get along, kind of like Democrats and Republicans. They didn’t get along, that is, until they faced what they considered a common threat.
To them Jesus was a threat to their authority so His presence in the temple would require them to respond. They couldn’t just let this rustic ‘rabbi’ from some outlying province come in and take over so they had to challenge His authority. That’s why they asked Him the two questions they did.
By asking who’s authority was behind His actions they were trying to minimize and label Him. If Jesus was operating with secular authority from the Romans they could appeal to Pilate to have Him stopped and labeling Him a Roman sympathizer would undermine Him before the people. If Jesus were the disciple of some radical rabbi then they could label Him a heretic or radical and use that to dismiss Him as just another in a long line of pretenders. And if Jesus is the disciple of a duly recognized rabbi then they could have His rabbi talk to him and settle Him down. In essence their asking Him “Who do you think you are?”
But Jesus answers them in a way that forces a very unexpected response. Instead of provoking Jesus into an argument that would distract Him, they were forced to ‘reason among themselves.’ They reasoned that the tables had been turned and now Jesus held the upper hand. If they were to say that John’s baptism was from God then they would be exposed as hypocrites because they were against John. If they said John’s baptism was his own idea then the people would reject them because the people believed that John was a prophet.
What they had was a gift and they didn’t want it. Jesus was giving them an opportunity to come clean, to quit hiding behind their religious masks and return to God, but the leaders allowed their fear of exposure, their fear of the opinions of people to build an even higher wall to hide behind and Jesus lets them go.
It’s easy for us to look at this story and take great pleasure in how Jesus put these guys in their place. We know that Jesus is really in charge and these guys just didn’t get it or didn’t want to admit it.
Of course if we turn the camera around and put ourselves in this story where would we be standing? While I can’t speak for everyone I know that there are a plenty of us who would be standing alongside the religious leaders. The difference is that we’ve been at this a long time and we don’t directly question Jesus or ask ‘Who He thinks He is?” but… We tend to be a little spiritually hard of hearing.
Deep down we know what He’s asking but we don’t want to surrender to His authority in our life. We like calling the shots for ourselves yet we don’t want to be label as rebellious. So instead of saying ‘We don’t know” like the religious leaders we spiritually plug our ears and say “We can’t hear You.” Somehow we think that fake ignorance will be judged less harshly than rebellion. But it’s the same thing and until we’re ready to confront our fears and answer Jesus honestly He’ll give us room to decide.
What are we afraid of? Sometimes we’re afraid of what other people will think. We don’t want to be considered religious fanatics or weirdoes. Sometimes we fear losing control because if we surrender to His authority we’ll have to give up our control to Him. Sometimes we fear giving up the things we’re attached to and like. We’re comfortable with the way things are and we don’t want to change.
The enemy will use our fear against us just like He used it against the religious leaders. He’s the master of lies and deceit and he uses our fears of loss of control to control us and keep us resistant to Jesus’ authority. When we think we have control we’re deceived and don’t realize that we’re under the control of our sin nature which resists the authority of God in our life.
That leaves us to face this question: Who’s really in charge of our life?
If it’s anyone but Jesus we’re in trouble. The disciples could do anything with Jesus’ authority in their life and they could do nothing without it. If you’re feeling like you’re on a treadmill going nowhere spiritually you might want to ask your self “Who’s really in charge?”
The way to Spiritual maturity and freedom is to surrender to Jesus. That’s counter-intuitive and goes against our natural grain. We want to take more control, to do more but it’s clear that surrendering to Jesus authority is the way we should go.
posted by Jerry Stitzel @ 4:41 PM
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