Christians and Politics

-Disclaimer: I am not and will not claim to be an expert in political theory. I didn’t really want to approach this topic, but I feel like I need to. I am a pastoral theologian who sees it as my job to read, study, and pray so that I can help us as this local people think through how to live in this world God has created.

-As I’ve processed and thought through this issue I have been heavily influenced by 2 books, and a Podcast. Politics After Christendom, How the Nations Rage, Every Square Inch

-We’ve all lost friends and some have lost family to this issue. There’s been a sense of betrayal and for some of us a lot of questions and doubt because of the ways politics has been engaged in our world today. 

-For today, don’t let me be one of those friends you lose! I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: don’t jump to conclusions based on something I’m not saying as we navigate this issue. There are some areas where I’ll speak very strongly, and others less emphatically, which I think we need to do. We all have a tendency to take 1 issue as our only view and neglect other areas that we need to give special attention to

-Remember theological triage! Just as we need to give more significant attention to theological issues, we also need to give more significant attention to political issues, we need to have political triage too.

-We’re entering another Presidential election year, I think it’s important for us to think about this now so we’re not completely reactionary (which is where I think we in the church tend to be!)

-Politics has become too important in our world.

-For many people, as church engagement has waned, political engagement has taken its’ place. For many people, politics has become their religion! They give their time, money, and talents to furthering the cause of their side. They look to their elected leaders as their priests who will help them usher them into their idea of a “promised land.” There’s a language that you must adopt to be affiliated, a way of living that accompanies it, and if the election doesn’t go their way they become despondent, questioning their entire existence. That’s too far.

-At the root, this is a worship issue, as you’ll see when as we walk through today’s message. When people don’t worship God, they’ll worship anything. That’s at the root of so many of the issues in our world today! (Topic for another time!) 

-Also doing a class starting the 21^st looking at a number of these issues in much more detail (using How the Nations Rage as our textbook for it), so if you want to dialogue about this issue further, that’s the class for you!

-Lots of texts, view this as more of a lecture than a sermon because I think we need a biblical foundation to build on, then the last point will get to what this means for us today. But the phrase I want you to keep in the back of your mind throughout this whole message: FAITHFUL PRESENCE

READ/PRAY 

1. Politics is TEMPORARY

–Gen. 8:20-9:7

-God is a covenant making God, but there’s something unique about this covenant. God previously made a covenant with Adam, He’ll go on to make covenants with Abraham, Moses, David, and finally us in what’s often called the “New Covenant.” But there’s something different and unique about the Noahic covenant. It’s post-Fall, but it’s also universal in it’s scope. Every other covenant is geared toward a specific people group (holy, set apart, different from the world). Noah’s covenant doesn’t leave anyone or anything out. This is why we need to begin with this text to understand the role and purpose of government: it’s for all peoples of the earth. But there’s a couple other things that this text tells us. 

-Universal, preservative, and temporary.

-Preservative: first notice 8:21-22 – never will everything be wiped out, and the seasons will continue. Also in 9:1, 5-6 – families are commanded to multiply, and humans are to be treated honorably (death is opposed to God’s intent). God’s intent is for the preservation of His creation. Combine this with the Adamic covenant, we are commissioned by God to steward His creation, preserving it, working it, bringing food and flourishing from it.

-Finally, this is one that I hadn’t really noticed before, but this is temporary. Look at 8:22 “while the earth remains.” This world won’t remain forever. History is moving in a specific direction (which we’ll start studying next month in Revelation). This means that politics is only a temporary endeavor. It’s worth investing in, we’re actually commanded by other passages to remain engaged politically, but don’t treat politics as the ultimate solution to a broken world.

-The reason we need to remain engaged is because we are commanded to “be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth,” and if we’re going to pursue that, what do we need? Some kind of structures that will allow us to raise families. I found the language from Politics After Christendom helpful. I’m just going to mention them briefly, and then move on because if you want to engage further, come to the Equip Class! 

-familial: procreation and raising of children

-enterprise: as procreation takes place we need ways to feed and provide for the growing population (farming, building, technology)

-judicial: ensuring justice is just and reasonable. Provides a way to settle disputes among people

-3 things we see from Genesis: 1-God’s plan post-fall is for humans to expand, filling the earth. 2- To do that means we need some system or way of working together. 3- Governments role in that is preservative in nature, and these governmental structures are only as long as this earth endures. But then what that means for us today is:

• The CHURCH is Political (and not in the way you think!)

-In order to have politics (structure for a society) you need: laws, regulations, leadership of some sort. And what’s crazy is the church has all that! Let’s start in the OT:

-Jer. 31:31-34

-Notice the covenantal language here. God is providing a framework for His people to exist in the world, which means this is the way God wants politics to work. But this covenant is different from the covenant with Noah. Who does this apply to? “The house of Israel” aka God’s people. 

-Unlike every other nation, this time the laws won’t be on stone tablets, or long legal documents, or a constitution, or a monarchy, or tradition. This time the laws will be on our hearts, which means people’s orientation, drive, desire will be correct. It’s not that everyone will be guided by their hearts to do whatever they feel is right, but that we will always only want to do what pleases Him.

-We also see that God will be our ultimate ruler, which means there’s no need for anyone else to tell us how to live. A true theocracy where Jesus it the King!

-Lastly there’s no need for judicial courts. Since everyone is being led by the Lord, and because it’s a theocracy, sin has already been dealt with. There’s justice, but only because God has dealt with it when he took the penalty for everyone’s sin on the cross.

-This is true today! In the church. The church is meant to be a counter-kingdom to the kingdoms of this world. And Jesus gives us some pictures of what that looks like:

-Matt. 5:2-12

-Do you see Jesus tells you how to enter the everlasting kingdom of heaven: being poor in spirit – that is understanding that we aren’t self-sufficient, that we can’t save ourselves and that we need the help of someone else.

-A contrary ethic to the world. I read a blog once that flipped these around to describe the world, and unfortunately some worldly churches. If you want to see what the kingdom of earth looks like, it’s like this. 

-But if you want to be a part of the kingdom of heaven, it looks different. How do stop someone who is meek, merciful, pure in heart, and a peacemaker? You could kill them, which is what Jesus says! But these means of living are meant to describe us in EVERY situation (including political discussions). Are you meek in those talks? Are you merciful (extending charity toward others), pure in heart (assuming the best of others even when they disagree), peacemaker (instead of constantly fighting and bickering).

-Expect persecution! THIS WORLD ISN’T OUR HOME! NO NATION IS MEANT TO BE OUR HOME! We are sojourners, strangers, aliens. We also see this in the way Jesus taught us to pray:

-Matt. 6:9-13

-“Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

-The goal is for earth to look like heaven. But it doesn’t and it won’t because earth doesn’t recognize who the true ruler is (yet!)

-The way Jesus literally commands us to pray is to begin with a recognition that this world and its’ rulers will pass away. Did you know (we’ll get to it in Revelation) the kings of the world will bring the glory they developed into heaven? Rev. 21:26 “They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations.” How cool is that? The technological advances will be purified such that they will no longer be used as objects to sin, but ways to better and further glorify God! 

-What I want you to take away from these 2 passages is the church is meant to be a counter-kingdom to the kingdoms of this world. There are different expectations, different hopes, different leaders, and there’s an eternal direction to them. That means that instead of operating as the world tries to get us to operate, we’re now citizens of heaven! But how do we engage as we’re also still citizens of earth?

-Rom. 13:1-7

-The Bible is explicit in a couple places about the role and function of government, and it’s one that people often run to before they’ve done any of this other work to get there! AND there was a whole HOST of debates about this very text when COVID was going on!

-Begins with a reminder that every earthly ruler is ultimately accountable to God (remember, we saw the basic instructions for earthly rulers back in Gen. 9), which means the default for Christians is to look for opportunities to obey the government. Yes, there are times and places where disobedience is required (think of our brothers and sisters in N Korea, China, Iraq), but the default should be obedience. Christians should be the best citizens! This was true in the early church. Letter to Diognetus, AD 130. 

-Would this be true of you today?

-Do good and not bad, be good citizens! 

-1 Peter 2:13-17

-“Punish those who do evil and praise those who do good.” I love that description! Now I don’t have time today to get into situations where the government is praising evil and punishing those who do good, come to my class if you want to talk more about that!

-Part of the reason we’re called to be good citizens is vs. 15. Think of that letter I just read – if we’re living as God has commanded us our very lives should be the primary explanation and example for what it means to follow Jesus. Remember, if He is our Lord and King (which He is) that has implications in how we should live here and now.

-Both recognition of the legitimacy of the emperor, but he is supposed to be treated differently than God. Peter uses the same word towards the emperor as everyone else, thus affirming the sole Lordship of God and the emperor’s place in our allegiance.

• How CHRISTIANS Should Be Political

-Church has tended to experience either persecution or power. We’ve seen this swing throughout history, and the church has struggled with both of these extremes.

-The Christian church as a political party isn’t the ideal. America is unique in that: protects from persecution, but doesn’t give the church power. 

-That means that imperfections in our society are manifested in a partisan way: everyone plays partisan games, church is tempted to the same idea and ends up fighting the same “wars.” The trend is when the church is exempt from persecution and power to become partisan, that is identified solely with one political party. Politicians LOVE this! Because it means they can claim hold to an entire demographic of people. I onetime heard someone say: politicians are going to politic, we should expect no less. 

-“Jesus is political, but He is not partisan. The kingdom of God has political implications, but it is not a political kingdom.”  Cunningham, ESI

–Jer. 29:4-7

-Seek the welfare of the city “for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” We must remain engaged as a faithful presence in the world. Jesus describes us a salt, that is a preservative. We’re looking to preserve the things of earth that are signposts of heaven. So if God calls you into politics, do so with a different approach than the world. It’s not for power, but for presence. If God calls you to just be a good citizen, be the best citizen you can be, not for power but to be a faithful presence. (the church as an embassy?)

–Matt. 22:15-22

-Christian political vision: 

-Government legislates morality. Christians aren’t the only one who push their morality, everyone does. Intersection of faith and politics is unavoidable. 

-Jews heavily tax. Rome had “head” tax (a quarter), a reminder of their oppression, on the coin “Caesar, the son of god, the great high priest.” Let Caesar have his silly little tax, politicians prey on this. Jesus has no problem operating in the political realm, but He also operates above them.

-What belongs to God? Everything! Every kingdom is subject to Him. “Give Caesar his little coin, give Rome to God.” We cannot be indifferent or apathetic. My presence belongs in the culture, because the culture belongs to God. Our ambition is a world made right. 

-What is our strategy? We have God’s image on us, so therefore we need to give ourselves to God. His people, as citizens of His kingdom, rendering their lives unto the purposes of His kingdom. Seemed completely indifferent to the politics of the day, because it wasn’t worth His time. Partisan politicians can’t solve the world’s problems!

-We build a rival kingdom! How do you stop the politics of Jesus? If it’s partisan, just vote against Him. We don’t play that game. We don’t pursue power, we don’t ask permission, we don’t care what people say, how do you stop beatitudes, sermon on the Mount, love? Jesus is impervious to worldly games of power.

–Eph. 1:19-23

-Jesus as head of the nations, but especially the church. The church is the only political institution that is going to last into eternity, and it’s the only institution that has a ruler who can’t be outvoted, who can’t be outlasted, and whose entire ethic is one of love.

-Which gets us to this last passage.

–Rev. 19:11-16

-We always have hope, not in the nation states of earth, but because of the nation state when heaven comes down to earth. When Jesus comes to right every wrong and user in His perfect rule and reign.

-We just came off a week where we reflected in Isa. 9 which prophecies that His government will never stop expanding! 

-I want my government to reflect my worldview, but the way our government is built leads to competition. How do we do politics without falling into political idolatry?

1-Though our faith is political, it is not partisan. You can hold strongly, but don’t act as if Jesus fits perfectly in either partisan camp. Both sides try to claim Him, but neither can perfectly represent Him. 

-Consistency (attack both sides equally) & Commonality (more in common with religious convictions or political convictions?)

2-Deemphasize federal politics, high concern for local politics. Life of our local community is has the most on our local lives. Treat federal more like a TV show: county before country political approach.

3-Be the change you long to see, see the limits of political sovereignty. Can’t run a church like a business, can’t run a family like a school. Can’t run the church like the state. We ask the politicians to be the change we long to see, politicians love that! We must make use of our liberties to enact positive changes in our world.

4-Be gracious in conversations with others that disagree with you who are a part of the kingdom of God. We can have disagreements (strongly!) and still be brothers and sisters in Christ. Keep things in perspective, don’t let earthly politics become your entire worldview, let everything you do be done in love (1 Cor. 16:14)

-What do we do with sin? There has to be some way of dealing with it, fixing it, addressing the problems we see in the world.

-I’ve never talked to anyone who thinks everything is going great in the world. Wars, rumors of wars, death, sickness, political polarization. Car breaking down, getting a poor evaluation at work, or abruptly losing a job.

-As Christians, we have what I would argue is the most complete understanding of why there are so many problems in the world around us: sin. Everything is broken, down to our cells producing cancer. Did you know that if you live long enough, cancer is an inevitability because even our DNA decays. But what’s crazy about that is Christians believe in what we call “good news.” Yes, the world is completely broken, but there’s a solution.

-In order to deal with the problem of sin, the Creator of the universe came to earth and lived a perfect life, then He died in our place to deal with all the penalties for sin which now means there is hope! Where there once was just wishful thinking, now our hope has a name and a purpose. But at the core of it is this idea of replacement.

-In many cases, we don’t want to be replaced! I remember a call from a boss at my first job out of college where I was going to be pulled from my role to be replaced by someone else because I wasn’t up to snuff.

-But in this case, replacement is the only way for sin to be dealt with. None of us are good enough (perfect) to bear the penalty for our sins. We require a replacement, and that was promised from God all the way back in Gen. 3. But Jesus being the replacement for the world begins with the replacement of 1 man.

READ/PRAY (pg. 497)

1. Interrogation (1-5)

-After holding the fake trial overnight, things took a different turn today. Why wait until morning?

-Roman trials all started at sunrise so they could break in the later morning for their leisure activities. This shows us why last night was so critical for the chief priests to rush through their trial so they didn’t miss being the first in line the next morning to have their Jesus problem dealt with. 

-Theme of bounding (divine passive: 9:31, 10:33, 14:21, 41)

-Look at all the ways Jesus has talked about this up to this point. As you read it, it sounds like Jesus is the passive recipient of all these events. But don’t forget: who’s the Lord of the universe? Who created everything? Who upholds everything by His might? Do you think He is passively sitting back and questioning what’s happening to Him? Absolutely not! He’s in complete control of everything that has happened at each moment of His life. In John’s account of Jesus interaction with Him, Pilate asks Jesus “Do you not know that I have the authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” Jesus answered him “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been give you from above.”

-How frustrating do you think this situation was for Pilate? He’s got a no-win dilemma in front of him! This innocent man is being accused of a whole host of issues, but unless he deals with this Jesus guy, he’s going to have a riot on his hands, and then potentially lose his role in the government! So when he tries to reason with Jesus to get some traction with Him it goes nowhere. Jesus doesn’t play the same political game, He’s not worried about scoring point or the response of the crowds. Jesus is worried about what’s right and being obedient to what the plans of His Father. But don’t view Jesus as some passive observer throughout this! And this should give us comfort anytime we’re walking through a difficult season.

-What has God allowed to happen in your life? What kind of testing has God permitted, where you question where God is, but He’s not sitting back laughing at you, He’s allowing you to grow in reliance on Him, to grow in understanding of Him, and to better know and live the life He’s called you to. 

-Friends, this is a vital message for us to understand today. Jesus doesn’t promise us an easy life. He doesn’t promise us wealth and prosperity. He doesn’t even promise to fix all our problems. What he does promise is Himself. AND He said if you have Him you will face all sorts of difficulties, what’s different is that He’s with you in the midst of those difficulties walking you through them and ensuring that you’re never alone. But nothing ever catches God off guard or by surprise. What looks to us like passivity is held in God’s sovereign hand, so trust in Him and walk with Him.

-And keep that in mind as we continue walking through the rest of Mark’s Gospel. Everything that happens is the way God intended it to happen. All these characters in the story bear responsibility for their role in these events, but God knew what every person’s role would be, from the chief priests, to Peter, and even Pilate.

-Pilate – real person, prefect of Judea from 26-36 (historicity, helps us date Jesus’ crucifixion)

-Often impulsive and caving to crowd’s desires. There are a couple historical stories that help us understand Pilate’s MO. When he first arrived in Palestine, his army came in with armor that had the images of the Romans emperors (idols to the Jews). Protests broke out, and in response Pilate changed the armor the army wore to not have a revolt. Similarly, another time Pilate had shields brought in that had the images on them again, and he once again got rid of them because he was worried they would complain to Rome and tell him about all the other problems they had with him. Philo quote.

-Pilate was not the most upstanding guy! So when he begins in interrogate Jesus, he takes his typical approach of trying to appease the masses.

-“You have said so” Wesley from The Princess Bride “As you wish.”

-Parallels say “You say it” (Matt. 26:46, Luke 22:70) 

-Yes, but we’re talking about VERY different things (John 18:36). Initially the chief priests had accused Jesus of religious sins, but as soon as He’s brought to Pilate it changes to political sins. King of the Jews sounds like Jesus is trying to start an uprising, a revolt against the Roman occupation. What Pilate (and the chief priests) miss is it’s a true statement, but they’re not speaking the same language.

-Accusations continue, Jesus remains silent. Any defense He makes will be twisted and distorted anyway because they’re using a different dictionary.

-How often is this the case? And how often are Christians misunderstood because we mean different things by the words we use?

-Christians were initially accused of being atheists because they only worshipped 1 God. Accused of being cannibals (drinking blood and eating a body). Accused of having incestuous sex parties (brothers and sisters in the faith, communion was called a love feast). Why would we expect anything different from people who are deceived, and looking to the wrong sources of inspiration for how they should live in the world?

-I was listening to a podcast this past week that was talking about the need for Christians to live distinctly different lives, and unfortunately that hasn’t always been true for those claim the name of Jesus on their lives. There are 3 ideas that philosophy calls “transcendentals” things that transcend every human culture and experience. They are: truth, beauty, and goodness. Christianity is true, but it’s not just true, it’s also beautiful and good. And we as Christians are called to live lives that are all 3 of these things. Do you/are you living a life that is beautiful and good? Is your marriage (or singleness) beautiful and good? Is your work beautiful and good? Is your parenting (or encouraging other parents) beautiful and good? 

-Friends, this is the call for all of us today! Everyone saw Jesus’ life that was marked by truth, beauty, and goodness, and all of us today are meant to live those exact same lives. And what will the response to that be? Look at the end of vs. 5.

-Why was Pilate amazed? Jesus’ silence. How does the world train us to respond to accusations (even when they’re true!) With anger, bitterness, cancelling, but how does Jesus teach us to respond? With love and graciousness.

-Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX). Crypto-currency company that went completely bankrupt, losing billions (with a B) of investors dollars. What I read about the trial was he made a bold (and foolish) move of taking the stand himself, because he was convinced his testimony would exonerate him. But it did the opposite! The jurors only took 4 hours to find him guilty on all accounts! 

-Yet so many of us live like that! We’re trained that we always need to defend ourselves, we view ourselves as the hero of every story instead of seeing Jesus as the hero. I’m just as guilty as anyone else of responding poorly, that’s why we need grace and forgiveness extended to each other on a regular basis. If we live in such a way where we don’t respond with harshness or bitterness we will leave people amazed, we will be a faithful witness to others.

• Insurrection (6-15)

-These other sections build off that first one, which is why I wanted to spend so much time on it! These next 2 sections are more detail about what was happening in those first 5 verses.

-The first thing we see is this odd tradition of a prisoner release.

-Again, opportunistic Pilate, follows the theme of Passover by “passing over” a convicted felon. But the felon Pilate chooses to contrast with Jesus is Barabbas.

-Not a lot of info about Barabbas, some early manuscripts name him “Jesus Barabbas” adding even more weight to Pilate’s question. Which Jesus do they want? 

-Notice the difference right away between these 2 Jesus’: one was convicted. He had committed murder! The other had done nothing wrong.

-Vs. 10. Pilate wasn’t dumb! He realized it was a sham, and the only thing Jesus was guilty of was influence. The chief priests were threatened by Him, so they deal with him the way they know how: hand Him over to the Romans.

-Pilate tries 3 times to change the outcome of these events.

-First is the ironic title “King of the Jews.” Had this story gotten back to Rome it would have led to major issues for Pilate! The ultimate king of the Jews was in Rome! Tiberius, ruling over the entire Roman Empire! Pilate thought (wrongly) that if these 2 men were contrasted with each other, the people would make the right decision. What he hadn’t counted on was the conviction of the chief priests. Look at vs. 11. These are the same people who had paid Judas to betray Jesus. Conjecture, but wouldn’t surprise me if they were bribing the crowd to ensure their way! Doing anything they could to continue their hold on their power.

-So Pilate tries again. The crowd has chosen the convicted felon to be released, so he asks “ok, fine, but then what should I do with this other Jesus?” The first tactic didn’t work, let’s try just outright asking for His release! But how do they respond? Capital punishment! 

-So Pilate tries a third time: What is he guilty of? At this point, the mob mentality has taken over and they will not be appeased until they get what they want. 

-Is Pilate more worried about pleasing people or doing what’s right? Just as we read the stories before, he just caves into the demands of the crowd. He’d rather stay in his position of power than live in an honorable way.

-Scourging is nearly a death penalty. Tied to a wooden post, stripped naked, whipped with a rope braided with pieces of bone and rock.

-Historical accounts of people dying merely from this. Read a story of someone who’s intestines spilled out from this beating, another whose bones were showing. I don’t share that to be grotesque, but to help us understand what Jesus went through. The Romans were MASTERS of torture and death, they had to be do continue exerting their influence over the expanding empire. And as if that penalty wasn’t enough, the abuse continues.

• Inside the Palace (16-20)

-Most likely those who were stationed at the governor’s palace. A fairly boring, routine night was broken up by the arrival of a newly condemned prisoner who was accused of looking to start an insurrection (but that guy was just freed).

-The irony reaches its pinnacle with the soldiers crowning Jesus with royal colors and a crown.

-The crown that connects back to the original problem with the world: sin. Gen. 3:18 “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” Instead of being royally crowned as the sovereign king of the universe, the true king is crowned with all the effects and penalties of sin. 

-The soldiers thought they were heaping abuse on Jesus, and they were! But it wasn’t any worse than the abuse that was coming because of the problem of sin that was affecting the whole world. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ last week of life, he tells the story of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. He sees the way sin has completely broken all of humanity and it grieves Him. Instead of living in truth, beauty, and goodness, people look to lies, ugliness, and evil, and all that will be heaped upon Jesus to deal with it once and for all. The weight of that burden would be far too much for any of us to bear, yet Jesus did, in full obedience and knowing exactly what was coming, He allowed all this abuse to be heaped upon Him. 

-Once they’d finished their humiliation of Jesus, they put his bloody clothes back on Him and took Him to the outside of the city.

-Jesus taking the place of Barabbas serves as a picture for the ultimate replacement Jesus would take for the entire creation order. And that replacement means that for us today, we have a new lease on life. We can now live lives that are marked by: truth, beauty, and goodness. We can amaze others with a life fully surrendered to Jesus, being content in all circumstances. Not by putting on a front or pretending that everything is fine when it’s not, but by living the life Jesus calls us to.

-Jumping back in to Mark, been a few months since we were in this book, so some refreshers:

-Jesus is the focus of this book, unlike the other Gospels, Mark is straight to the point. Jesus’ focus is on teaching, other ministries flow out of that.

-Theme of “immediately”

-Ended with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem: Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, people shouting praises to Him who is seen entering as a king! 

-Today’s text can be viewed through the lens of a high school – at least a high school like I grew up in! There were various clicks/groups in high school who all had a certain standing in the school and didn’t have a lot of overlap with each other.

-Jocks played sports, theater kids put on shows, nerds played chess (Bob asked me to change this to scholars, your future boss). There was a social hierarchy that was meant to be followed! Sometimes those social standings would be messed up, or someone new would move to town who would attempt to join one of the groups, and it was always viewed with suspicion. The school was already operating well, didn’t need someone new to come in!

-It also tended to threaten the social standing of someone in the group! In basketball, only 5 guys are starters. In football, only 11 guys are on the field at a time. If someone was going to be replaced, they weren’t going to be happy! 

-Unfortunately, that sentimentality doesn’t just stop in high school, does it? If a new hire is brought into work and starts succeeding it’s viewed as a threat. In churches, if a new pastor is hired at the church down the road and they start growing it’s hurtful. We all have places and spaces where we have some kind of social standing and position that if we were being pushed on would struggle.

-That’s what’s been happening to the Jewish leaders throughout this book. Pharisees, Sadducees have been seen as Jesus’ opposition. Questioning, doubting, looking for ways to trip Jesus up, sow seeds of doubt in others, and eventually stir up enough people to kill Jesus. Why? Because Jesus was threatening the social order of the day.

-If we go back to the high school illustration, Jesus was mixing all the various groups together and changing the way people were meant to spend their time. He was upsetting the apple cart, and in the beginning of Mark 11, he upsets the entire temple by kicking out those looking to make a profit off God’s people. How do you think people would respond to their source of power and influence being questioned?

READ/PRAY (pg. 495, or 72)

1. Doubting God’s Work (11:27-33)
   1. Questioning (27-28)

-After Jesus had run out the money changers, he and his disciples left the city to stay outside, but then returned back to Jerusalem the next day. Not only did they come back, notice that they went back to the temple.

-How do you think He was received? The market, the place where offerings were sold so people could worship God correctly, had been a place of chaos the day before. Jesus was upsetting the social order! 

-Look who approaches him: chief priests, scribes, elders. These 3 groups comprised the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council. They help all the power and influence for the rest of the Jewish people. 

-They were the “cool kids” of the high school, or the 3 bodies of the government if you’re thinking in adult terms! They held all the power and all the societal influence in their day. 

-Their next attempt to discredit Jesus gets to the source of his authority.

-This question isn’t a flippant one! Jesus has been going around telling people “truly, truly I tell you!” Where does he get the right to tell people what’s true? God’s people have, since the beginning of human history, been people of the word. God’s Word has been the highest authority since Adam was formed from the dust of the ground. Sanhedrin were people of the word. Trusted it, studied it, worked their hardest to apply it to every area of their lives and everyone around them. They were considered the authority, and they sure hadn’t authorized Jesus to tell people how to interpret and live out God’s Word!

-Think of it like a teacher in a school. If one of the kids were to begin telling the class how they should study the material, how they should apply it to their lives, the teacher would rightly be upset! Here we have Jesus who is viewed to be the student telling all the other students how to live and study. Would be wildly inappropriate if he was stepping out of line! 

-From a worldly perspective, they’re asking the right question. All of us are accountable to someone and refusing to acknowledge that reality demonstrates a hardness of heart, and need to be corrected. But Jesus is a major exception to the normal rules, and he produces some evidence that points to that truth:

• The Evidence (29-32)

-Just as they asked Jesus a question, Jesus answers their question with another question. You can imagine this being a frustrating proposition for the Sanhedrin. They’re used to being respected and responded to quickly.

-But what is the evidence Jesus produces? It’s not His teachings, not His healings, not His exemplary life, it’s the work and ministry of someone else – His cousin John.

-Remember, John was a divisive person too! He preached in the wilderness, baptized people for repentance, and called out the sinful leaders. It all culminated with John condemning Herod for marrying His husband’s ex-wife. As you can guess, Herod (and his new wife) didn’t appreciate that, so John was eventually beheaded for betrayal, but not before creating quite a following and a stir throughout Israel. Just as Jesus had a following, John had a following, and the leaders had gone out to visit John. So Jesus asks them – who gave John authority? Was he a madman? Leading people astray, forcing people to disobey the one true God, or was he right? 

-Why does Jesus jump to John?

-There was a special even that Mark records all the way back in the first chapter that answers the question being asked. Remember, John had created quite the following, but he wasn’t he main event, he was just the hype man! He came in to stir up the crowd, get them ready and excited for someone else to come. Someone who had more power and authority than John could ever dream of! Enter Jesus.

-Jesus first act in ministry (at least from what we see in Mark’s Gospel) is being baptized by John. This was the initiatory right for Jesus’ ministry, so if the leaders wouldn’t believe that John was speaking on behalf of God, they wouldn’t view Jesus’ call to ministry as legitimate.

-But another reason Jesus asked this question was because something unique happened at Jesus’ baptism. Many people were being baptized by John, John’s call to all them was to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Meant to signify a radical change of their lives. But something different happened when Jesus came – no repentance needed, no change in life required from Him, instead look at what the text says:

-heavens being torn (just as the heavens will open when Jesus returns), they were getting a glimpse into the normally unseen realm. At a conference this week walking through Exodus, one of the speakers was assigned Ex. 24. Could you imagine seeing God like this? But look at the description of Him: look at His feet. Anytime throughout Scripture that people are given a peek into the greater reality, suddenly they all become tongue tied, as if there are no words that could adequately describe the reality their eyes are beholding. But what’s even crazier about this is when heaven came down to earth as a man, suddenly people refused to believe Him, as we’re seeing in this story! 

-It’s really easy for us who know the story, who know what’s going to happen to act as if we’d have gotten it right, that we always know and respond to Jesus as we should. But we’re only lying to ourselves! The temptation for everyone who encountered Jesus at His first coming wasn’t to fall at His feet and worship Him, it was to mock and belittle Him because He looked just like everyone else. Remember, we’ve seen His family try to take Him back home, we’ve read about others who dismissed Him because they knew the rest of His family. The incredible truth about God’s redemption plan is how seemingly ordinary it was. Except for a few rare moments where the greater reality breaks through, which was seen at Jesus’ baptism.

-Spirit descends on Jesus with the appearance of a dove. Finally, God the Father Himself also speaks from heaven and commissions Jesus to begin His ministry. If anyone wanted to question who authorized Jesus, do you think they would take this as authorization enough? All 3 persons of the Trinity demonstrated in power at Jesus’ baptism.

-Think of it like if someone were to walk up to the White House and walk in like it was their home, how successful would their approach be? They wouldn’t get very far before facing some VERY unpleasant circumstances! But what if it’s a child of the president? Not only would they be welcomed in, anyone who stood in their way would face some pretty negative repercussions! Similarly here – who gave Jesus permission to minister? God the Father, as evidenced by His baptism.

-But the Sanhedrin didn’t want to admit that – and notice their thought process: 

-John was viewed as a threat too, and they didn’t believe him which means they didn’t view his baptism from heaven. But if they say it was only from man (earthly with no spiritual reality) they would face an uprising from the people because the people knew he was a prophet.

-And notice the irony of vs. 32: who are they afraid of? The people! Who should they be afraid of? God!

-The run ins with the high priests doesn’t stop here either. We read of a run in Peter (and the rest of the apostles) have with them, and as if condemning them for their questioning of Jesus here, Peter responds “We must obey God rather than men.” Yet another example of the Jewish leaders having their priorities misplaced, leading to misunderstanding God’s message and messenger in Jesus. So what’s the outcome to this debate?

• The Solution (33)

-Instead of being honest, they respond with “No clue!”

-These were supposed to be the leaders of the day, the people with all the answer! The ones to whom everyone else looked for how to faithfully interpret, understand, and apply God’s Word, yet they couldn’t give answer to a simple question from Jesus. 

-So Jesus won’t answer them, because the answer was right in front of them, but they refused to acknowledge it. Their pride and drive for power and prestige blinded them to the realities of what God was doing among them, and they refused to admit where even their authority came from.

-This seems to be a timely message as authority has gotten a really bad rap recently. We’ve all read the stories of pastors who have abused their authority, or elder boards who have enabled unqualified leadership to perpetuate instead of calling out sinful behaviors, or maybe you’ve experienced one of those issues yourself! Life east of Eden is full of difficulties, abuse, and sin. But that doesn’t mean we just dismiss all leadership as wrong or inherently sinful. Instead, the only way to combat abuse of authority is to double down on good authority, and go back to what the Bible commands.

-Read a book this past week titled ‘Authority: How Godly Rule Protects the Vulnerable, Strengthens Communities, and Promotes Human Flourishing’ The author uses David’s last words recorded for us in 2 Samuel 23 to demonstrate what godly authority looks like: begins with fearing God, then uses that authority to provide a context of flourishing for those under his care. Could summarize this as using authority like Jesus did: not to demean others, not to be served by others, but to serve others. 

-Which means Christian authority is supposed to be equipping authority. Doesn’t meant that everyone gets to do whatever they want (read the book of Judges to see what happens when that’s the reality), but it means that everyone is using their gifts to serve each other, recognizing godly leadership as those who will have to give an account to the Lord for how they lead, but also recognizing that I will give an account for how I submit to godly leadership. Notice what I said there: godly leadership. Leadership the way God has designed, and in the contexts that He commands. There’s more that could be said about this, but that’s not where Jesus goes next:

• Response to God’s Work (12:1-12)

-The last parable Jesus tells also happens to be probably the easiest to interpret! Using a well-recognized practice in the first century to tell His story.

-Wealthy landowners would entrust their fields to various tenants to take care of it while they were gone. The stipulation was the tenants had to pay some of the fruit back to the owner each year as their rent for the use of the land. It wasn’t their land to keep, they were merely tasked with caring for it.

-As they should have expected, the owner sent a servant to collect his dues. And how do they treat him? Shamefully! And this continues through numerous servants, with the owner never getting what he’s owed.

-Your first reaction should be “this was a really dumb owner!” Don’t you think he should have just kicked these crazy guys out? That’s when we are reminded that God’s authority is never vindictive. Remember God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness to those who fear Him. God wants no one to perish, but wants all to love Him, so He will continue being faithful even when His servants are punished.

-The last person He sends is His one beloved son. Instead of honoring Him as the Son, they kill him too in an attempt to steal His inheritance. Guess what, that doesn’t work at all! Finally the owner comes and kills the tenants and gives it to others.

-This story serves to demonstrate that Jesus fulfills a prophecy from Psalm 118 (connects back to Jesus’ entry where the people quoted Psalm 118 to Him)

-The leaders reject Jesus as the true heir of God, but then God uses His Son to be the primary stone of His unfolding plan of redemption. 

-Think of the song we sing: “Who would imagine so great a mercy? What heart could fathom such boundless grace? The God of ages stepped down from glory to wear my sin and bear my shame.” What person in their right mind would be so gracious to people who continually refuse to submit to His rule?

-Even the Sanhedrin could understand this parable, and it made them upset! Instead of fearing God, they continued fearing the people and remained in their sin.

-As we come to the end of this text, the question in front of us today is whose authority do you submit to? Do you trust godly leadership in your life, or do you refuse to acknowledge God’s good design for our good and His glory in our life?