Which is worse, divine anger or divine silence?
Reading for Tuesday April 10, 2006
Bible Section: Gospel of Mark 11:27-33
“I won’t tell you.” These words from the man whose mission was to tell us about our Father in heaven. Not because he can’t tell but because he chooses not to.
Why? Because the priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders didn’t really want to know. What they desperately wanted was to stop Jesus interfering in their idea of what religion should be. They challenged him; asking by what authority he did things like this. By ‘this’ they meant what Jesus had done on his second day in the city. He had gone to the temple, the great centre of religious worship in his country and time, and had not liked what he found there. Because the people were still offering animal sacrifice, the temple was like a market, full of people selling cattle and sheep; payment could only be made in temple coin which had to be changed from Roman currency at exchange tables. The rate of exchange meant an unfair profit for the exchange makers. Jesus called the temple a 'den of thieves', drove out all the animals and turned over some of the loaded currency tables. The interesting thing is that not one person stopped him. After all with all that money changing hands, and the buying and selling of oxen, lambs and birds there must have been a lot of people. And now, the priests and religious leaders are trying to discredit him. They ask him a question to which he responds with another question.
If the Bible were a fictitious book God and Jesus would not be portrayed as asking questions. They would be portrayed only as delivering pronouncements.
But the Divine asks questions of humans, and when humans answer their own answer may startle them more than the question does.
The priests and lawyers were trapped; they had a choice of two answers and either one would have been wrong. So they refused to continue conversing with God’s messenger, and Jesus refuses to answer them.
There was no safe answer for the priests. And because they would not answer the conversation stopped. It was never resumed! For them, the divine silence had begun; it would probably last until the end of their lives.
At times in our lives as we think about or converse with the Divine we have questions. God accepts honest questions. But the Divine also asks questions of us. For instance, "What do you want me to do for you? What have you done? Why are you afraid? Are you going away from me? Who do you think Jesus is?” These are questions that must be answered in order for the conversation to continue. But the answers are fearful, the questions probe too deep and the answers will reveal too much about ourselves. Since God knows all about us anyway why fear to answer, the only person we will shock will be ourselves. God does not ask because he needs to know but because we need to know. As we answer we learn about our secret selves and voice our desires, confess our crimes, and open ourselves to hear that nothing is too hard for God, he has made sacrifice for our sins, and is willing to be our leader, savior and protector. He invites us to return home to him and live peacefully in his company.
Bible Section: Gospel of Mark 11:27-33
“I won’t tell you.” These words from the man whose mission was to tell us about our Father in heaven. Not because he can’t tell but because he chooses not to.
Why? Because the priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders didn’t really want to know. What they desperately wanted was to stop Jesus interfering in their idea of what religion should be. They challenged him; asking by what authority he did things like this. By ‘this’ they meant what Jesus had done on his second day in the city. He had gone to the temple, the great centre of religious worship in his country and time, and had not liked what he found there. Because the people were still offering animal sacrifice, the temple was like a market, full of people selling cattle and sheep; payment could only be made in temple coin which had to be changed from Roman currency at exchange tables. The rate of exchange meant an unfair profit for the exchange makers. Jesus called the temple a 'den of thieves', drove out all the animals and turned over some of the loaded currency tables. The interesting thing is that not one person stopped him. After all with all that money changing hands, and the buying and selling of oxen, lambs and birds there must have been a lot of people. And now, the priests and religious leaders are trying to discredit him. They ask him a question to which he responds with another question.
If the Bible were a fictitious book God and Jesus would not be portrayed as asking questions. They would be portrayed only as delivering pronouncements.
But the Divine asks questions of humans, and when humans answer their own answer may startle them more than the question does.
The priests and lawyers were trapped; they had a choice of two answers and either one would have been wrong. So they refused to continue conversing with God’s messenger, and Jesus refuses to answer them.
There was no safe answer for the priests. And because they would not answer the conversation stopped. It was never resumed! For them, the divine silence had begun; it would probably last until the end of their lives.
At times in our lives as we think about or converse with the Divine we have questions. God accepts honest questions. But the Divine also asks questions of us. For instance, "What do you want me to do for you? What have you done? Why are you afraid? Are you going away from me? Who do you think Jesus is?” These are questions that must be answered in order for the conversation to continue. But the answers are fearful, the questions probe too deep and the answers will reveal too much about ourselves. Since God knows all about us anyway why fear to answer, the only person we will shock will be ourselves. God does not ask because he needs to know but because we need to know. As we answer we learn about our secret selves and voice our desires, confess our crimes, and open ourselves to hear that nothing is too hard for God, he has made sacrifice for our sins, and is willing to be our leader, savior and protector. He invites us to return home to him and live peacefully in his company.
posted by Jessie Coates at 11:18 PM
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