Word to the Wise
Saturday, March 5, 2011 - Saturday in the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
[Sir 51:12cd-20 and Mark 11:27-33]As [Jesus] was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?"
Yesterday's scripture from the Gospel of Mark featured the famous scene of Jesus "cleaning house" in the temple. It included also the strange and puzzling action in regard to the fig tree. Today, Jesus is back in the temple and again there is a puzzling interaction between him and the "powers that be" in the Jerusalem Jewish scene. Scripture scholars debate the meaning of these two scenes, but there does seem to be an overarching context which can provide us with a way forward. That context is the temple! Unquestionably, Jesus' action in the temple was a catalyst for the plotting of his enemies. This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
A fig tree with full foliage but no figs (it wasn't yet time to bear them) could stand as a symbol of the temple. Herod's renovation was newly complete and the place was apparently gorgeous. Yet, for all its material beauty, Jesus saw it as being profaned by the "system" that operated it. It was his "Father's house" and was being turned into a "market place" by entrepreneurs. The temple was not bearing the fruit that it should and Jesus' symbolic action with the fig tree and the cleansing reflected his frustration. In point of fact, he would replace the temple with himself! This is why his response in today's gospel to the question about his authority makes sense. If the questioners could not agree about John the Baptist (mostly for political reasons), they would not be able to understand his authority. They would certainly not agree that the temple was Jesus' house, too!
The basic problem here is blindness to the reality of Jesus brought on by human greed and stubbornness. We can construct our own temples (and there are some big and beautiful ones, to be sure) but if we forget or are blind to the reality of the one for whom we have done this work, then it is all for naught. The church is the Body of Christ and not this or that building, no matter how impressive or beautiful. AMEN
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